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 On Saturday night the Sharks entertained the Dundee Texol Stars
at the Ice Bowl and from the opening face-off showed their
intent as they put the Taysiders under pressure. Within ninety
seconds they took the lead when Jamie Crichton found Alan Crane
eight yards from goal, his shot was well saved by Arthur in the
Stars goal but the rebound fell kindly to Tim McKay and he made
no mistake. Solway were chasing down every puck at this stage
and, for long periods, had Dundee on the rack. As the clock
passed the eight minute mark they got their reward when Euan
Edgar sent Jamie Crichton chasing a pass behind the Dundee goal
and his pass gave Tim McKay an easy finish from close range. As
play ran down towards the first interval Dewar Anderson was
called on to make a fine triple save from Latto and Robertson
while at the other end Chris Gracie fired a trademark
pile-driver from centre ice that had Arthur scrambling to cover
but there was to be no further scoring.
The second period began with Dundee looking to fight there way
back into the match and Robertson and Haig combined well to set
up Philips for the Taysiders opener but within a minute the
Sharks had restored their two goal advantage. Chris Gracie
showed good vision to spot Shaun Kippin moving unmarked into
free space; the Whitley Bay native collected the pass and
outpaced the Stars defence before throwing the keeper a dummy
and lifting his shot into the net. A boarding call on ex-Shark
Bob Chalmers gave the home side another powerplay and after
patient build-up play Kippin found McKay along the boards and
his pass allowed Alan Crane to score from close range. Three
minutes later Chalmers atoned for his earlier indiscretion when
he netted for the Stars from close range after being set up from
behind the Sharks goal by Dolan.
 But Solway went back on the offensive and quickly restored their
three goal advantage when Gordon Horne and Chris Gracie both
tested Arthur in a goalmouth scramble. The Dundee keeper was
able to block both shots but the puck came loose and slid
agonisingly close to the visitors goal line. Shaun Kippin was
first to react to the situation as he dived forward and prodded
the puck home from fully an inch. But Dundee still have title
aspirations and they dug deep to pull themselves back into the
contest as Haig and Robertson combined well to set up Latto for
their third goal. A penalty on Matt Seddon for interference gave
the visitors a powerplay and as the pressure built on the home
defence Greig fed McCluskey at the blueline. Dewar Anderson did
well to get a glove on the youngster’s thunderbolt shot but he
could do nothing to stop Dolan following up to score on the
rebound. With just ninety seconds left in the period Robertson
and Haig once more were the providers and Latto the beneficiary
and he displayed fine stick work to take him past Anderson and
level the match at the second intermission.
The visitors went on the offensive from the opening face-off of
the final session and within a minute Gordon Latto had completed
his hat-trick when he capped a good move involving Marshall and
Robertson. But it wasn’t all one way traffic and Struan Tonnar
showed good form when he broke from defence and fired in a shot
from the blue line that forced Arthur to block and hurriedly
smother the rebound. At the mid way point in the session Greig
and McCluskey gave Dolan the opportunity to add his second of
the night from a tight angle and the big man took his chance
well to put the visitors up by two. A boarding call against Doig
gave the Sharks a powerplay with eight minutes remaining and
they set about reducing the deficit but a sloppy pass gave
possession to Dundee and Greig moved forward at pace before
finding Dolan at the back post who completed his hat-trick from
another tight angle. Solway continued to try to fight their way
back into the game and Mark Gallagher scored a late consolation
goal with Alan Crane and Bari McKenzie taking credit for the
assists but the Taysiders ran out worthy winners.
Scoring Statistics for the Sharks were as follows; Tim McKay and
Shaun Kippin both two goals and one assist, Alan Crane 1+2, Mark
Gallagher 1+0, Jamie Creighton and Chris Gracie both 0+2, Euan
Edgar, Gordon Horne and Bari McKenzie all 0+1. Dewar Anderson in
the Sharks goal saved forty-one of the forty-nine shots that he
saved for a save percentage of 83.67%. The Sulwath Brewers man
of the match award was presented to Shaun Kippin for the home
side and to Willie Nicholson for the visitors.
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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