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The Solway Sharks, sponsored by Border Utilities, travelled
up to Tayside on Sunday night to take on the Dundee Texol Stars
in their opening Scottish Premier Hockey League fixture of the
2007/08 season. The Dumfries side knew that they would be in for
an extremely competitive fixture as the Stars, pre-season
favourites in many peoples books, had lost their opening two
SPHL matches the previous weekend when the Edinburgh Capitals
won a double-header over the Dundee outfit.
 Both sides looked aggressive from the opening face-off and it
was no surprise when the scoring started early. Unfortunately it
was Dundee who found the net. Kyle Doig found John Dolan out on
the left wing and he fired a hard shot through a crowd of
players into the Sharks net. The Dumfries side tried to strike
back immediately and Tim McKay very nearly did so as he latched
onto a loose puck in the Dundee defensive zone and fired a
stinging shot over the centre of Craig Arthur’s goal with the
keeper beaten. Sharks got an early break when Heeles was given a
two minute penalty for hooking and Tonnar, Telfer and Gallagher
all tested the home netminder but he stood firm. As the game
neared the mid point of the opening period John Churchill
received the puck deep from defenseman John Downes and set off
at speed up the left wing. This rink was John’s home ice last
season and he showed that he remembered it well as he beat two
Dundee defenders before cutting inside and firing a scorching
drive high into the top right-hand corner of the Stars net to
level the scores.
The Sharks had the bit between their teeth at this stage and
when they got their second powerplay of the game in the tenth
minute they pressurised the home defence. First Downes had a
long range shot well saved by Arthur, then McKay did well to
keep the puck within the blueline and set up Struan Tonnar but
the youngsters shot found the same glove as Downs had moments
earlier. Not that it was one way traffic by any means, when
Dundee’s first line was on the ice they always looked dangerous
and Dewar Anderson was called on to make several goods saves,
most noticeably from young phenom Willie Nicholson. As the
period drew towards its conclusion the Sharks surrendered what
momentum they had built up when first Alan Crane visited the
penalty box and then Mark Gallagher joined him. Gallaghers'
penalty for hooking giving the Taysiders a five on three
advantage. During this penalty kill the Sharks Canadian forward,
Kevin Conway, almost stunned the Stars when he broke clear but
with just the netminder to beat but he couldn’t force the puck
past Arthur. With possession back with the Stars they fought
hard to regain their lead and Anderson had to save well from
both Dolan and Greig to ensure that the interval score stood at
one apiece.
The second period began with the Gallagher still serving the
remainder of his penalty and the visitors fought hard to ensure
that Dundee would get no clear sight of goal. This they managed
successfully only to find they had to immediately repeat the
process as Ian Defty was given a two minute penalty for hooking.
The home side pressed Solway hard throughout the powerplay but
just couldn’t find away through the Sharks defence. As the
penalty ran out, and Solway returned to full strength, Dewar
Anderson made a good save from Dolan. The rebound found clear
ice in the over-stretched Sharks defence and the Stars import
defenceman Jeff Marshall gave them the lead once more. As the
home side strove to consolidate their advantage the two sides
traded further powerplay opportunities and both netminders were
called into action several times to keep the score-line as it
was.
 Against a team as strong as the Dundee Stars you simply cannot
keep giving away a man advantage and not expect to be punished
and the Sharks indiscipline seemed destined to cause problems.
This proved to be the case midway through the second period.
With Ross Edgar in the penalty box for holding, Stars pressure
forced a face-off in the Sharks defensive zone. As the puck was
dropped the Stars pulled their netminder to give them an extra
skater, but before the extra man could count the puck broke
through a goalmouth scramble to John Haig who gave Dundee a two
goal cushion. Within thirty seconds that lead became three as
Anderson dived low to his right to parry a shot from Greig, the
rebound found Gordon Latto unmarked and the former Fife Flyer
lifted the puck over the Sharks keeper to make it 4-1 Stars.
Throughout the second period the Stars had looked a far more
cohesive and determined team and were, to be honest, well worth
their lead. But the Sharks themselves were far from beaten as
first John Churchill and then Tim McKay forced Craig Arthur to
make two excellent double saves as the period wound down to a
close.
The last time the Stars and Sharks met was in April at
Dumfries Ice Bowl. On that occasion the Dumfries side outscored
Dundee 4-1 in the third period and the same here would give the
visitor a share of the spoils. After just sixty-two seconds of
the final period that dream looked about as likely as a decade
without flooding on the Whitesands, as Dolan and Petrie combined
well to set up Haig for the kind of chance that he just doesn’t
miss. Although they were now on the wrong side of a 5-1
score-line the Sharks continued to try to claw their way back
into the match. But in the 46th minute further misfortune befell
the visitors. Alan Crane was making his way off ice, part of a
routine line-change, when he became entangled with Liam Greig. A
little pushing and shoving resulted in the Sharks being handed a
two minute bench penalty be referee Neil Wilson for having too
many players on the ice. A fact that the Sharks hotly disputed.
Indeed the feeling on the Solway bench was so strong that over
two minutes later John Downes was given a ten minute misconduct
penalty for continuing his verbal disagreement with the referee.
Sometimes incidents like these can spur a team onto action and
so it was in this instance with the Dumfries side. Ian Defty
received the puck as it broke from a face-off in the Stars
defensive zone and crashed a fierce shot towards goal. Kevin
Conway then found himself in the right place to re-direct Deftys’
shot past Arthur and into the Dundee net. Hope was short-lived
however, as within a minute Conway was penalised for playing
with a broken stick and John Haig set up Kris Petrie on the
resulting powerplay to put the home side four ahead once more.
Four minute from time the Stars laid any lingering Solway hopes
to rest when Nicholson broke from deep before passing to Doig on
the right-hand boards, he duly fed the puck inside towards Liam
Greig who hit a crisp wrist shot on the turn which flew past
Anderson in the visitors’ goal. The Stars rounded of the
evenings entertainment when a fine Nicholson pass found Doig who
finished crisply to give the home side a richly deserved, though
possibly slightly flattering, 8-2 victory.
The man-of-the-match for the Solway Sharks was awarded to John
Churchill and the fact that Dundee Texol Stars netminder Craig
Arthur picked up the honour for the home side is perhaps
testament to the fact that the Dumfries side never gave up
trying on the night. The Solway Sharks now return to Dumfries
Ice Bowl for the next two Saturday nights when they face firstly
the Braehead Paisley Pirates on the 15th and then face a return
fixture against the Stars on the 22nd of September. Both matches
are in the SPHL and have 7:30pm face-off times.
After the match Sharks' head coach Kevin Doherty said, "We were
playing a great road game through two periods and were ahead in
shots on goal but penalties got the better of us. They have a
dangerous powerplay and when they notched two in nineteen
seconds it flattened us. Now we must improve on this performance
and make sure we are focused on Paisley. Every game is going to
be a battle and Saturday is no exception."
Statistics for the Sharks were as follows: John Churchill one
goal and no assists, Kevin Conway 1+0, John Downes 0+1 and Ian
Defty 0+1. Netminder Dewar Anderson saved 34 of the 42 shots
that he faced for a save percentage of 80.95%.
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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