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The Solway Sharks, sponsored by the
Black Bull of Moffat, visited the Capitals on Sunday night in
what was a superb
advert for the Scottish National League. Edinburgh iced their
strongest team to date, including Elite League import and former
Dumfries Vikings player Dino Bauba. Both teams were up for the
game and right from the opening face-off the tempo was high.
The Sharks again scored
first via defenseman John Ballentyne’s unassisted slap-shot goal
on the powerplay. The Caps hit right back though with two nice
efforts of their own, as Solway were shorthanded with a man in
the penalty box. Mark Garside and Bauba were the marksmen on
target.
The second period started
with a superb fight-back from the visitors as the Sharks netted
three times in four minutes.
 New boy Shaun Kippin
(pictured left)
provided the equaliser with a gutsy display poking in a Corrie
Telfer rebound before Mark Gallagher fired home from close range
after Chris Gracie was stopped by the Edinburgh goalie Flockhart.
With a 3-2 lead and Solway pressing Bari McKenzie popped up with
his first of the evening assisted by Raymond Haslam and Wayne
Slater.
Capitals did pull one back
before the end of the middle session as Garside notched his
second to get within a goal and set up a thrilling final period.
Both teams managed to keep
up the speed of the first 40 minutes as they came out of the
dressing rooms with the result hanging in the balance. In the
first minute Sharks’ McKenzie scored the goal of the weekend as
he managed to dangle his way through the Caps defence and round
Flockhart with a nice move. New signing Kevin Conway assisting.
At 5-3 down the home side
started to press harder and were rewarded when Ross Dalgleish
pulled another goal back five minutes in. Solway showed their
strength though and responded quickly as Conway was the provider
again after a neat steal behind the Edinburgh net to set up
McKenzie for his hat-trick goal.
The final minutes were
stressful for the Sharks supporters as Capitals peppered the net
with shots but Ross Hay was the only player able to beat Scott
McMeeken in the Solway net. Man-of-the-Match McMeeken stood
strong stopping a tricky Steven Lynch shot and team hung on for
an impressive victory.
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
Report courtesy of the Dumfries &
Galloway Standard |
