|
 The
Solway Sharks, sponsored by the Black Bull of Moffat, travelled
north on Saturday night to take on the Dundee Texol Stars in the
first leg of their Scottish Cup semi-final.
Whatever Kevin Doherty said to the team in the dressing room
before the match seemed to push all the right buttons as the
Sharks came out with all guns blazing. With just thirty-three
seconds on the clock Bari McKenzie latched onto a pass from Mark
Gallagher and fired a shot high past netminder Mathew Michie’s
right hand and into the top corner of the goal. For the next
eight minutes play flowed back and forward with no side able to
claim total dominance over the other and both netminders
performing well when called into action. Then with 8:49 gone in
the first period disaster struck for the Sharks. First Matt
Seddon was given a two minute penalty for tripping then the
referee, Mr Allsopp, took exception to a comment made from the
Sharks bench and he awarded a further two minute penalty which
was served by Shaun Kippin. Being two men down against a side of
Dundee’s quality is never a good idea but the visiting side
defended doggedly, keeping their shape well and looked like they
might just hold out. Sadly for the Sharks that was not to be
with just thirty seconds of their advantage remaining John Dolan
finished off some good work by Jeff Marshall and Kris Petrie to
draw the home side level. The game returned to the previous
stalemate for the remainder of the first period and the players
headed into the first break with the scores tied at one apiece.
The Sharks started the second period looking the stronger and
more likely side to break the tie and it appeared to some of the
visiting support that the Stars might be beginning to tire after
two tough games in a week against the Fife Flyers. Just on the
twenty-five minute mark the teams lined up for a face off in the
Dundee defensive zone to the right of Michie’s goal. As the
players fought for possession Shaun Kippin drifted totally
unmarked in front of the goal and when the puck broke to him he
opted to place it into the net. But Mathew Michie did well to
spread himself and save the point-blank shot, unluckily for him
the puck broke back to Kippin who did well to force it into the
net from a narrow angle. With the game swinging in the Sharks
favour they looked to press home their advantage and as the game
approached the half-way mark Chris Gracie and Mark Gallagher
combined to set up Bari McKenzie for his second goal of the
game. Far from “throwing in the towel” the Stars regrouped and
were possibly the better team for the remaining ten minutes of
the period, but neither team could add to the score and the
second break arrived with the Sharks leading by three goals to
one.
 Sports
commentators often state that the next goal is crucial and often
the are proved correct. This was a perfect example of that
maxim. Surely if the Sharks went three ahead fatigue would set
in and a few heads would drop in the Dundee camp. Roger Hunt
obviously was aware of this too and his side mixed with raw
young talent and wise old heads came out determined and renewed.
With 3:35 gone in the final period the Sharks found themselves
with two men in the ‘sin bin’, luckily the Stars had a man in
there too. As John Churchill re-joined his Dundee team-mates on
the ice the puck broke invitingly to young Willie Nicholson who
thrashed it through a gap in the players in front of him and
past Scott McMeeken’s right hand for his sides second power-play
goal of the evening. Within seconds of the restart things got
worse again for the Sharks as an altercation between Scott Plews
and Tim McKay resulted in the referee turning in time to see the
Dumfries players retaliation and Mr Allsopp had no hesitation in
handing McKay a ten minute penalty for fighting. How many more
times can things get worse? Well only once more really. As he
headed for the ‘sin bin’ the red mist came down and Tim lost his
temper at the perceived injustice and received a second ten
minute penalty which effectively ejected him for the remainder
of the game. While both teams battled hard for the remainder of
the match neither team troubled the scorer although the Sharks
were probably the more relieved side to hear the final hooter.
Sharks statistics on the night were: Bari McKenzie (nominated
Sharks man-of-the-match) two goals
and no assists, Shaun Kippin 1-0, Mark Gallagher 0-2 and Chris
Gracie 0-1. Sharks netminder Scott McMeeken saved thirty-eight
of the forty shots that he faced, a save percentage of 95.00.
View more
from Sunday nights on the
match photographs
page.
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks. |
