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On Sunday evening the Border
Utility sponsored Solway Sharks travelled to Dundee Ice Arena to
take on the Dundee Texol Stars on Northern League duty and in
the first minute served notice of their intentions when John
Ballentyne fired in a low, hard shot to Arthur’s left that the
netminder did well to cover. But it was to be Dundee who opened
the scoring in the third minute with a powerplay goal when Haig
found Petrie on the right wing. His pass found Latto arriving
late at the back post and the Dundee man picked his spot and
fired past Dewar Anderson. Solway immediately went in search of
an equaliser and Alan Crane did well to bring possession around
behind the Dundee goal before passing back to John Downes on the
right point position. His low thunderbolt may well have beaten
Arthur but Crane got a touch to the shot that deflected the puck
past the keeper and into the net. Then a holding call against
Carnegie gave the Sharks their first powerplay of the evening
and Bari McKenzie brought possession up the left-hand boards
before picking out Shaun Kippin free in the centre and the
Whitley Bay native made no mistake from five yards out.
 Play was now flowing from end to
end and a low drive from Petrie was blocked by Anderson.
Unfortunately the rebound fell to Haig eight yards from goal he
fired towards the bottom left-hand corner of the goal, Anderson
somehow got down to make a tremendous save but this time the
rebound fell to Latto and he placed his shot into the empty net.
Two penalty calls on Solway gave Dundee the upper hand for most
of the remainder of the period but the Sharks penalty kill was
proving effective and only two long range shots from Nicholson
and a fine Anderson double save from Latto trouble the Solway
goal.
Solway went on the attack from
the opening face-off in the second period and it wasn’t long
before Kippin picked up a loose puck in the Dundee “D” and
brought possession around behind the net. Carefully he threaded
a pass through traffic to Kevin Conway and the Canadian saw his
first effort blocked by Arthur but he was able to pick up the
rebound and force the puck below the goaltenders body to give
the Sharks the lead once more. Another interference call, this
time on Anthony Payne, gave the Stars a man advantage and
Anderson did well to save low once more, this time from
Carnegie. From the face-off Petrie brought the puck around the
net and found Haig with his pass. As the Sharks defence rushed
to block his shot the Dundee man coolly slipped a pass back to
Latto and who duly completed his hat trick. Play then swung back
to the other end and a slack pass in the Stars defensive zone
was picked off by Bari McKenzie seven yards from goal, he calmly
took his time before slotting his shot past Arthur’s left-hand
and into the net.
Through the middle section of the
period the two teams swapped penalties as they stove to gain the
upper hand and a Dolan breakaway together with a Nicholson
pile-driver kept Dewar Anderson occupied. However, five minutes
from the second interval Dundee drew level as Haig brought the
puck around behind the Sharks goal, he waited until Marshall
found free space in front of the goal before delivering an inch
perfect pass that gave the Dundee defenceman time to pick his
spot high to Anderson’s left. Almost immediately after the
re-start Hamilton was penalised for tripping and on the
powerplay a patient build-up between Mark Gallagher and Kevin
Conway eventually found Bari McKenzie in clear ice in front of
goal and he fired low into the net from seven yards out. With a
minute to go in the period Hamilton broke out of defence with
two Stars in support and only one Sharks defenceman to cover all
three, but the Dundee man opted to shoot when a pass may have
been a better option and Anderson saved easily. Solway
immediately broke back and John Downes fired in a long range
effort that looked a goal all the way until Arthur somehow got a
glove up to deflect the puck wide.
 The game was there for the taking
by either side as the final session began and neither side
seemed capable of dominating the other. Six minutes into the
period Solway were attacking along the right-hand boards when
Hamilton did well to knock the puck into free space, Dolan
picked up possession and charged down the left wing towards the
visitors goal with Greig in support. A dummy pass fooled the
sole Sharks defender into covering the free player and in an
instant Dolan fired his shot past Anderson. Almost immediately
after the re-start Dundee lost possession to Kevin Conway at
centre-ice and he raced into Stars territory and fired in a
wicked shot that cannoned off the Dundee goal frame. But another
good spell of Dundee pressure saw McIntosh and Dolan combine to
set up Haig five yards from goal and the Dundee hit-man just
doesn’t miss chances like that. On the fifty-two minute mark a
penalty call on Philips gave Solway a powerplay but they missed
out on a five on three man advantage when the referee missed a
clear trip on Payne in front of goal on the same possession.
If that was an error on the
referee’s part then his next two were to prove crucial to the
outcome of the match. On the powerplay Bari McKenzie looked to
have brought the Sharks back level from close range but referee,
Mr Allsopp, wrongly ruled the goal out as a hand pass when the
puck deflected into the net from the back of the Solway man’s
glove while it was still on his stick. To add insult to injury
the referee gave a triple penalty against the Sharks on the
fifty-five minute mark when he called a two plus two on Ian
Defty for accidental high sticks and a second penalty on Payne
for holding. On accidental high sticks a second two minute
penalty is only tagged on when blood is drawn but, while Petrie
undoubtedly took a sore one, there was no sign of blood on his
face and certainly no blood was mopped from the ice. However,
Solway dug deep and only two attempts from Marshall troubled the
Sharks goal despite total Dundee territorial dominance. Then
with just four second remaining on the penalty Marshall fed
Hamilton who hit a cross come shot that was diverted home at the
back post by the un-marked Dolan.
 Solway now had only a minute left
to score twice and force overtime, the task looked impossible.
But Bari McKenzie picked up possession deep in his own half and
charged up centre-ice towards the Dundee goal. It looked like he
would shoot at the blue-line but he dropped his shoulder and
swooped past a bewildered Stars defenceman before crashing an
unstoppable shot past Arthur. There was now just thirty seconds
left to play and when Solway won the face-off they immediately
pulled their netminder in favour of a sixth skater. However,
that was where their luck ran out. Despite a massive goal-mouth
scramble Dundee managed to block every Shark effort and the
clock ran down to zero to rob them the chance of overtime.
Scoring statistics for the Sharks
were as follows; Bari McKenzie three goals and one assist, Shaun
Kippin and Kevin Conway 1+1, Alan Crane 1+0, John Downes and
Mark Gallagher 0+1. Dewar Anderson saved thirty-seven of the
forty-four shots that he faced (save percentage 84.09%) and
picked up the man of the match award for the Sharks while Gordon
Latto received the award for the Stars.
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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