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 Last Saturday night the Sharks
hosted the unbeaten Fife Flyers at the ice bowl and came within
a whisker of causing the upset of the season so far when they
took their illustrious rivals all the way to overtime. Solway
were immediately under pressure when Anthony Payne was penalised
after just thirty-four seconds for tripping but the penalty kill
held firm and they almost stole a short-handed goal when a Tim
McKay snapshot forced Marr into making a good low save. As play
swung from end to end a Beattie break-away for the visitors
looked dangerous before the home defence got back to marshal him
away to safety. Kevin Conway broke up a Flyers attack on his own
blueline and waited patiently until Anthony Payne found free
space, he then raced up the ice in support but when he received
the return pass his shot was well dealt with by Marr in the Fife
goal. Gallagher was next to test visitors when he broke through
centre-ice but, under pressure, he couldn’t find the power that
he needed and Marr was well placed to save once more. But it was
far from one sided and Glasgow almost surprised Scott McMeeken
in the home goal when he chose to shoot instead of pass from a
tight angle but the home netminder saved well at his near
post.
In the fifteenth minute, with the
referee indicating a delayed penalty against the Sharks Steven
King broke free up the centre of the rink but he was forced to
delay his shot as McMeeken had his angles covered perfectly and
the home keeper was able to smother the shot when it eventually
came. Thirty seconds into the powerplay Fife gained a five on
three man advantage when Payne was called for delaying the game.
The Flyers were in no hurry and passed the puck around the
Sharks defensive zone as they tried to pull the penalty-kill out
of position and the breakthrough finally came when Derek King
found Wands free ten yards out and the Fife youngster calmly
lifted his shot over McMeekens’ left hand. Just as the second
penalty was ending the home netminder was called on to perform
heroics once more when he saved well low to his left from Gunn
and high to the same side from Steven King on the rebound. With
just over two minutes left in the period a boarding close to the
Sharks bench led to a minor altercation and within this Matt
Seddon and Muir (pictured below right) exchanged pleasantries before dropping their
gloves. While the fight lasted for some time it consisted mostly
of pushing and pulling each others shirts and it concluded when
a Seddon ‘haymaker’ missed its target and the momentum took both
players to the ice. Both players received matching 2+2+10 minute
penalties for their efforts while Ross Edgar and Lynch were also
given two minute penalties for roughing.
 The second period started just as
badly for Solway as the first had done when Ian Defty was
penalised for boarding after just forty seconds of play. Last
week against Dundalk Defty had been given a match penalty when
he backed up Payne after the later had been boarded and this
time Payne felt the need to tell referee what he though of the
decision and he received a ten minute misconduct penalty for his
trouble. Unfortunately the veteran forward continued his verbal
tirade from the ‘sin bin’ and the official added a game
misconduct to the original penalty. On the resultant powerplay
both Wands and McIntyre tested McMeeken from long range but each
time the home netminder was up to the challenge. Gradually the
Sharks began to pull things together and John Downs made a great
break from defence which saw him through on the Fife goal but
Marr spread himself well to foil the Solway defender. McMeeken
was in fine form once more when he made another tremendous
double save from Gunn at close range before his defence finally
cleared the danger.
The home side made another
successful penalty kill before they gained a man advantage of
their own when Mitchell was called for interference and that
became a two man advantage forty seconds later when Steven King
joined him in the penalty box. John Ballentyne almost brought
the sides level when he latched onto a John Downes pass and
thundered a shot on goal that Marr did well to deflect wide and
the Fife fans gave a collective sigh of relief seconds later
when the first penalty ended. But the Sharks still had a man
advantage and Kevin Conway fed a pass back along the right-hand
boards to Ian Defty at the blueline. The Sharks defenceman fired
in a wicked low shot towards the Fife goal that was redirected
five yards out by John Downs and the puck flew into the roof of
the net to bring the sides level. Both sides attacked for the
remainder of the period and only the excellent form of both
netminders kept the scores level at the second intermission.
 The final session started with
the home side again on the penalty kill as Edgar sat out the
remainder of his penalty from the previous period but things
turned brighter for the Solway when they received a powerplay of
their own in the third minute as Wilson was penalised for
tripping. The Sharks were pressing hard when the referee
indicated a delayed penalty call and they immediately pulled
netminder McMeeken in favour of an extra skater. As the puck
bobbled around the Fife goal both John Ballentyne and Tim McKay
had shots charged down before it fell to Kevin Conway to slot
home from close range. Sharks now had their noses in front but
both teams continued to press forward at every opportunity and
in the forty-eighth minute a Fife attack saw Flemming in acres
of space in front of the wide open Solway net. All he had to do
was pass the puck into the net. He did everything right and the
puck was headed straight into the goal when McMeeken appeared
from nowhere and, diving full-length, he somehow managed to get
his stick onto the shot and knock it wide.
The pressure was mounting on the
Sharks defence by the minute and two penalty calls on Kevin
Conway only gave further impetus to Fifes play. On the second
powerplay Gunn worked his way up the right wing before squaring
a pass to the unmarked Lynch who finished with ease. Fife had
stepped up a gear and another penalty call on Conway saw the
Sharks defence facing another penalty kill and this time Beattie
and Wands combined to set up Lynch to give the Flyers the lead.
If you hang your head against Fife at a time like this then they
go on to kill the game and run out easy winners. Kevin Conway
had no intention of hanging his head. From the face-off he drove
Solway forward and a quick interchange between Mark Gallagher,
John Downes and Kevin Conway gave the likable Canadian the
chance to bring the home side level at three. The atmosphere in
the crowd was electric and special mention should be made of the
seven young Sharks fans behind the Sharks penalty box who made
up their own chants and sang their hearts out to the amusement
of some Fife fans, the chagrin of others. In the remaining eight
minutes the netminders were called on numerous times and once
more it was only their skills that kept the scores level and
sent the match into sudden-death overtime.
There was little time to draw
breath before extra time began and unfortunately for the home
support there was little time to blink before it was over. From
the face-off Fife charged towards the Sharks goal and in just
forty-six seconds McMeeken performed miracles to deny Steven
King twice from close range but was helpless when the second
rebound fell to Lynch who fired high into the roof of the net. A
single point for an overtime loss may have been scant reward for
Solways’ effort on the night but the strides that the team have
taken from their early season malaise was clear for all to see.
Scoring statistics for the Sharks on the night were as follows:
Kevin Conway two goals and one assist, John Downes 1+1, Mark
Gallagher, Ian Defty, Tim McKay and John Ballentyne all 0+1.
Scott McMeeken saved forty-two of the forty-six shots that he
faced (save percentage 91.30%). Castle Compost man of the match
for the visitors was Steven King while Scott McMeeken rightly
picked up the award for the Sharks.
The views and statistics in this
report are individual and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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