|
The Solway
Sharks, sponsored by the Black Bull of Moffat, suffered
their sixth defeat of the season to the top-of-the-table
Fife Flyers after going down 6-1 at the Dumfries Ice Bowl on
Sunday evening.
A large, but
subdued crowd witnessed an exciting contest and a very tight
one – until the visitors scored four times in the first nine
minutes of the third and final period to pull away and keep
their unbeaten season alive. The Sharks remain in second
place in the Northern League with thirteen wins and six
losses to stay clear of Whitley Bay and Dundee Stars. It is
now looking likely that the Sharks will face either of those
teams on the semi-final of the Northern League play-off
weekend in Fife on April 21st and hand Solway an excellent
opportunity to clash with the Flyers again in the final of
the competition played the following day.
 Fife opened the
scoring midway through the first period when Todd Dutiaume
netted his first of three goals for the evening. The score
remained at 1-0 until Andy Samuel was the benefactor of a
deflection off a Sharks player that found its way past
starting net-minder Dewar Anderson with two minutes
remaining in the second period. Two quick strikes from the
Flyers opened the third frame before Chris Gracie (pictured
right) tallied
the Sharks loan goal with assists going to Mark Gallagher
and Bari McKenzie. Fife managed two more goals soon after
before Scott McMeeken replaced Anderson in the Sharks net
and held Fife at bay for the remaining ten minutes.
Speaking after
the match Sharks coach said “The lads were fully committed
for the entire sixty minutes and I cannot fault their
effort. We were in with a shout until we broke down
defensively by not clearing the front of the net after the
initial shot. That gave Fife too many rebounds. They are a
good solid out fit but we will be looking forward to our
next meeting.” Speaking about the season to date he added
“Last summer our goal was to build a team that could compete
with the best in the country and we have achieved that. But
like any other competitive programme, we want to move to the
next stage now and beat the best.”
Elsa’s Hockey
sponsored Sundays’ game and Fiona Hennesy presented the man
of the match award to Todd Dutiaume for the Flyers and to
John Downes or the Sharks.
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 |
