|
 The
Solway Sharks, sponsored by the Black Bull of Moffat, won an
exciting contest on Saturday night at Dumfries Ice Bowl when
Bari McKenzie (pictured left) fired in the winner with just
thirteen seconds to play in overtime. The
win over the Whitley warriors solidified the Sharks in second
place in the Northern League table and moved the club ever so
close to securing a final four play-off spot.
The constantly improving Warriors entered the
game on the back of some promising results including a 5-1
victory over the Sharks on Tyneside just a few weeks ago and
they certainly played their part in a great advert for ice
hockey in this thriller.
The opening period was a steady flow of end to
end action but it took most of it to produce the first and only
goal of the initial twenty minutes. Sharks' Bari McKenzie was
the scorer at 17:18 after a great individual effort while the
Sharks Wayne Slater was in the penalty box serving a two minute
penalty for tripping.
The teams hit top speed after the first
intermission as a massive thirty-eight shots were taken on both
nets combined. The Sharks increased their lead five minutes into
the second period when Tim McKay managed to beat Warriors
netminder Stephen Hoult with one of Sharks twenty-two shots
during the period. The Warriors though, with several experienced
players, continued to work hard and were rewarded three minutes
later as Karl Culley beat Dewar Anderson in the Sharks net to
pull one back.
The game continued to flow along at a fast pace
and both teams had several good chances on goal. Solway were
playing some great hockey at this point and Kevin Conway latched
onto a McKenzie pass and snapped a low, hard shot into the back
of the Warriors net. This was on a power play just after the
midway point in the second period and it restored the Sharks two
goal cushion. Andrew Tindale for Whitley and another power play
effort from Sharks' Tim McKay, assisted by Cammy Currie,
finished off the period and sent the teams into the second
intermission with the Sharks in front at 4-2.
In the last few games the Sharks have played very
well up to this point only to be undone in the final frame and
for the benefit of the supporters' excitement the Sharks managed
to throw away a third period once again. Whitley tied the game
by the five minute mark with strikes from Tindale and Sam Zajac
and the result was now hanging in the balance . With ten minutes
remaining Conway pounced on a rebound from a McKenzie shot and
the Sharks had their noses back in front. But the Warriors kept
coming and got the tying marker with less than two minutes left
on the clock when Andrew Carter fired home to set up OT as
Conway sat in the 'sin bin' after a high striking infraction.
This was the first experience of the sudden-death
five-minutes extra period for the Sharks after twenty-five
Northern League encounters and for the crowd a special treat as
the Sharks did not disappoint them. Solway out-shot the Warriors
five to one in the extra minutes and looked the most likely to
score right up until the winning shot beat netminder Hoult high
to the blocker side after a frantic goal-crease scramble with
the game just thirteen seconds away from being decided on
penalties. Bobby Chalmers and Kevin Conway provided the assists
as they tapped the puck about before finding a wide-open Bari
McKenzie.
The match was sponsored by A & A Property Management and the man
of the match award went to the last-gasp hero Bari McKenzie.
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 |
