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 Last Saturday night the Sharks travelled down to Blackburn
looking for revenge after losing by a single goal when the Hawks
visited Dumfries back in mid-December. However, within the first
minute the Sharks found themselves with a man disadvantage when
Anthony Payne was penalised for cross-checking in the first of a
number of decisions that would be hotly disputed by both teams.
Midway through the penalty the lineswoman appeared to wrongly
call icing on the Sharks and the match was re-started with a
face-off at centre ice. As the penalty was running out the
referee indicated a delayed penalty call on the Sharks but the
Hawks missed a golden opportunity to give themselves a six on
four man advantage as they took an eternity to pull their
netminder. On their second powerplay Blackburn tested Dewar
Anderson in the Solway goal for the first time with a low shot
from Brunton down to the keepers left and just after the Sharks
returned to full strength Bentham broke up the right wing and
fired in a shot that cannoned off the pipes.
The match was flowing from end to end but it was to be the home
side that broke the deadlock in the seventh minute when Meikle
found Dunford on the left-hand boards at the blueline and he
fired low across Anderson and into the bottom left-hand corner
of the net. Solway immediately went in search of an equaliser
and received a man advantage when ex-Shark, Wayne Slater, was
penalised in the tenth minute. On the powerplay Bari McKenzie
found himself free on the left wing and he duly picked out Kevin
Conway at the back post, his lay off was perfect for Bob
Chalmers to score from close range. As the game approached the
first interval the Sharks again found themselves a man down but
midway through their opponents’ powerplay McKenzie picked off a
loose pass in his own “D” and raced up the ice, unfortunately he
couldn’t quite beat Russell in a one on one situation. Seconds
later a loose pass from Russell went straight to Tim McKay but
the Solway forward couldn’t find the target as the Blackburn
netminder frantically tried to cover the net. In the dying
seconds of the period the Sharks found themselves on the wrong
end of another bizarre decision when John Downes was given a ten
minute penalty for incitement to fight.
 The second session began with a period of early pressure from
the Sharks and Chalmers found McKenzie in clear ice six yards
from goal but the Solway forward couldn’t find a way past
Russell. As the Sharks onslaught continued the Hawks broke with
a three on one advantage but the telling pass was too late in
coming and, while the Blackburn forward got his shot away, it
had little power to trouble Anderson. As the match approached
its midway point Blackburn were enjoying a five on three
powerplay when Anthony Payne broke free and found himself one on
one with Russell, but yet again the Blackburn netminder covered
his angles well and made an excellent save. Throughout the
second period both sides had chances and both sides missed
chances as play constantly swung from end to end but there was
no further score.
As the players took the ice for the final session the PA
announced that there would be no ice time available for overtime
or a penalty shootout should the scores be tied after sixty
minutes and if that was to be the case Blackburn would forfeit
the match giving the Sharks a one goal victory. With this in
mind an opening goal for Solway would mean that the Hawks would
then have to score twice to deny the Sharks victory. Within
thirty seconds the visitors sent their travelling support wild
as, in an almost carbon copy of their first goal, Kevin Conway
found Anthony Payne at the back post and he set up Bob Chalmers
to put the Sharks ahead once more. Within five minutes Solway
again found themselves with a man disadvantage and they survived
all but five seconds of the Hawks powerplay before Bentham found
Brunton on the right wing and he set up Arnone to score from
close range at the back post.
 With six minutes remaining in the game the Sharks scored their
third powerplay goal of the night as Bari McKenzie again made
inroads down the left wing before hitting a long pass over to
Payne on the right. He immediately laid a pass off to Kevin
Conway who flicked the puck over the diving Russell from eight
yards out. Two minutes later good stick work from Chalmers took
him past two Hawks defenders before his pass found Corrie Telfer
in a good position, but his shot was once again blocked by
Russell. Briggs then picked up the rebound from the netminders’
pads and raced up centre ice before picking out O’Reilly who
fired past Anderson to level the scores. This set up a frantic
finish to the game where Blackburn tried everything they knew to
force a winner but Solway, mostly on the break, had equally as
many chances to seal victory. In the end both netminders stood
firm and the match ended at three apiece and a very unusual
victory for the Sharks.
Scoring Statistics for the Sharks were as follows: Bob Chalmers
two goals and no assists, Kevin Conway 1+2, Anthony Payne and
Bari McKenzie both 0+2. Netminder Dewar Anderson saved
twenty-one of the twenty-four shots that he faced for a save
percentage of 87.5%. Bob Chalmers took the man of the match
award for the Sharks while Ian McDaid received that accolade for
the home side.
* As a player must be stated for the winning goal the referee
nominated Kevin Conway as the scorer and the time of the goal as
60:33
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
Please note that some statistics
such as the Blackburn Hawks line up and some penalties have
still to be confirmed
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