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The Black Bull of
Moffat Sponsored Solway Sharks travelled to Tayside on Sunday
night to face the Dundee Stars. In a match that was in total
contrast to the night before, when there was only twelve minor
penalties called in total, as one hundred and seventy-nine were
dished out and the Sharks suffered badly at the hands of the
referee who directed one hundred and twenty of them at the
Dumfries side.
 The
game was played with one team on powerplay most of the night and
Dundee took advantage of this in the first period scoring two
extra man goals as Sharks took eight minutes in penalties in
this period alone. Stars' Canadian defenseman, Jeff Marshall,
started the red light flashing at the thirteen minute mark with
the first powerplay effort. John Dolan then scored a rare
even-strength goal four minutes later to send the home side
two-nil up. Solway found themselves playing catch-up with player
sat in the 'sin bin' for the remainder of the period and Willie
Nicholson added to Stars' lead nineteen seconds before the
break. In the dying
seconds the farce that engulfed the match began when Sharks'
Matt Seddon and Stars' Liam Greig (pictured left) went
toe-to-toe in a well-fought battle The large Dundee crowd
enjoyed the fisticuffs and both players were sent to the penalty
box. In hindsight the referee might have excused the players to
their respective dressing rooms to cool down during the first
intermission. The buzzer
then sounded to end the first twenty minutes and as the
penalised players were leaving the ice something was said and
that is when everything got out of control. Sharks Kippin went
to the aid of his team mate and clashed with a Stars player who
fell to the ice. That set of Stars' Scott Plews who took
exception and rushed Kippin from behind cross-checking the
Whitley Bay native in the back while also catching the linesman
and sending both crashing to the ice. Seddon and Plews then had
a tussle as both benches of players surrounded the fracas.
Kippin
(pictured below right) was cut badly above his left eye on the fall
and lay motionless on the ice as Greig dragged him along
on his front and threw at least one big right hand that
connected with the injured Sharks forward. Both teams eventually
left the ice and went to their respective dressing rooms for
what turned out to be a forty minute break as the
 officials
tried to sort out the penalties. Greig, Plews and Seddon all hit
the showers early and proceeded to the rink bar for an early
refreshment where Greig was informed to get kitted back up and
ready for the middle session. Meanwhile Seddon, Kippin and Plews
all received match penalties.
To add insult to injury the Sharks had to start
the ensuing period with a five minute major and were still three
scores down. The visitors did well to kill off the man advantage
and prevent Dundee from extending their lead. Solway then took
the game to the Stars and turned the tables. In a spirited
fight-back, Mark Gallagher beat Stars netminder Nichol
assisted by Tim McKay and stated the swing of power eight
minutes into the session. Less than a minute later Neal Haworth
left his blueline position an finished off a Gallagher pass to
bring the Sharks to with in one. Sharks continued their
dominance and minutes later Bari McKenzie levelled the sores at
three-three. The Dundee Ice Arena fell silent as the crowd sat
in shock at the revelations before them. But in similar fashion
to the first period Sharks found themselves serving penalty
after penalty in the closing stages of the period and the
earlier ejected, then re-admitted Greig followed by Marshall put
the smiles back on the faces of their support and headed in for
the second break back in the lead at five-three.
The Sharks could have gave up all hope heading
into the last period but instead picked up the pace again and
forced the play at the Stars end. Bari McKenzie scored in the
second minute after the restart on a powerplay aided on this
occasion by Tim McKay to set up an exciting finale. Scott
McMeeken and the young Stars stopper, Nichol, kept both teams
shooters at bay for the next fourteen minutes as chances were
thwarted at both ends until Stars managed another powerplay
effort through Greig. More Sharks headed to the penalty box as
Solway tried to regain the momentum and they finally hit back
short-handed as Conway turned back the years with a fine
slapshot to the top right-hand corner after decking through the
Stars in the neutral zone. The crowd were back on the edge of
their seats for the remaining minutes as netminder McMeeken
headed for the bench as Solway opted for an extra attacker.
After play was broken up outside the Stars' goal Nicholson
turned and fired rink-long into the Sharks goal to seal the win
for the home side.
Statistics for the Sharks were: Bari McKenzie two
goals and no assists, Mark Gallagher 1+1, Kevin Conway and Neal
Haworth 1+0, Chris Gracie 0+2. Solway Sharks netminder Scott
McMeeken saved an astonishing sixty-seven of the seventy-four
shots that he saved (Save percentage 90.54%).
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 |
