The death knell for Stars’ current league — the British National League — was sounded when both Edinburgh and Newcastle announced their intentions to join the Elite League.

Since then, Bracknell Bees, last season’s league winners, and Hull Stingrays have said they would like to join the English Premier League, which is semi-professional and allows four imports.

This left three teams without a league — Stars, Fife Flyers and Guildford Flames.

The Taysiders did apply to join the Elite League some months ago, and initial indications from the board of Elite League directors were good. However, circumstances seemed to change, with rumours that some top-flight outfits didn’t want more than a 10-team league.

Flyers and Flames have also applied to join the Elite League.

Stars’ co-owner Charlie Ward remains “cautiously optimistic”.

He said, “We have been speaking to the Elite League for some time and we are hopeful we will be accepted.

“We have been getting mixed vibes, so we will just have to wait and see. Hopefully, we will know today. Fingers crossed it is good news.”

Meanwhile, several Stars players from last season will play alongside some of the best players in the world at Dundee Ice Arena tonight.

Dundee born-and-bred John Dolan, Canadian Jeff Marshall and Scottish National League Stars captain Andy Samuel will take to the ice with a group of National Hockey League players, who are in Britain on a charity tour.

They will be joined by other BNL players, including Martin Cingel and Daniel McIntyre from Edinburgh.

The Hockey Stars for Hope tour aims to raise money for youth development, and Dundee is their only Scottish date.

Big names on the roster include Aaron Downey of Dallas Stars and Sebastian Charpentier of Washington Capitals. Face-off is 7.30 and tickets are priced at £15.