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The Solway Sharks entertained the Fife Flyers in a first round,
first leg, Autumn Cup tie at Dumfries Ice Bowl on Sunday evening
and after the previous nights victory over the Pirates hope were
high that the home side may spring a surprise.
 From
the opening face-off it was the visitors who took the initiative
and Dewar Anderson had to be in top form as he was called into
action to make multiple saves as Fife threatened almost
continually. It was of no real surprise when the visitors did
take the lead on the two minute mark. Lynch picked up a pass
from McAlpine on the right-hand boards in the neutral zone and
he drifted diagonally across the ice before lifting his shot
back across Anderson into bottom right of the goal. The opening
goal only seemed to whet the Flyers appetite and with just 04:35
on the clock a blocked shot from Glasgow fell nicely for Lynch
who slotted it into the net through a crowd of players.
Solways’ first serious shot on goal didn’t come until the eighth
minute when Alan Crane stole possession deep in the neutral
zone. The defenceman skated diagonally across the ice before
laying a perfect pass back to John Churchill who hit a smart
backhand shot which Marr was well placed to save. But the Sharks
were soon back under pressure in their own defensive zone and
Anderson did well to save from Wands and Wilson in quick
succession. On the sixteen minute mark the home side were
enjoying a rare period of extended pressure on the visitors goal
when Gunn picked off a loose pass and sped up the ice to find
himself one-on-one with Anderson but the Sharks netminder spread
himself to make a terrific save. Seconds later Marr in the
Flyers goal was called on to show his skills when he was down
fast to smother a net-bound shot from Mark Gallagher.
In the eighteenth minute the game suddenly found an edge which
hadn’t previously been seen. Fife player/coach, Todd Dutiaume,
brought the puck around the back of the Sharks goal and tried to
find a gap at the near post which Anderson covered well but John
Churchill took offence to something, words were exchanged, then
both players dropped their gloves and went at it. To be
perfectly honest it was all a bit “handbags at ten paces” but
both players were sent to the penalty box leaving the sides four
on four. A minute later with the Sharks on the attack Struan
Tonnar and Wands tussled resulting in Wands attempting a massive
check which Tonnar saw coming and evaded. In the ensuing scuffle
Wands was penalised for use of his elbows and the Sharks had a
four-on three powerplay. From the face-off the Sharks pounded
the Fife goal and in the goalmouth scramble Alan Crane prodded
home the puck off a defenders skate to send the teams into the
first interval just the one goal apart.
 Hopes
were high as the second period began that an upset could still
be on the cards if Solway were to score first but that dream
lasted just thirty-six seconds. A loose pass out of defence by
Gallagher was picked up by King who quickly fed Gunn and he
fired high into the top left-hand corner of the net. Within a
minute it was four-one as Samuel picked up possession on blue
line and, seeing no-one free, fired his shot past Andersons’
outstretched glove hand. At this point the Sharks were mostly
reduced to trying to hit Fife on the break and a
defence-splitting pass from Bob Chalmers found Cammy Currie in
the clear but the pass was just too strong and Currie could only
deflect his shot at Marr with no real power. Fife were
immediately back on the attack as Bell brought the puck up the
right-hand boards before cutting his pass back inside to Samuel
who finished low to Andersons’ left through a ruck of players.
As the match approached the mid-way point the Flyers were once
more enjoying an extended spell of pressure when the referee
called a delayed penalty. Fife immediately pulled their
netminder, Marr, in favour of an extra skater and they enjoyed a
full thirty seconds of pressure before the play was finally
called dead. When the dust settled the referee had penalised
Anderson for tripping, Crane for interference and Ross Edgar was
given a ten minute misconduct penalty for disputing the referees
decision. On the resulting five-on-three powerplay the Flyers
laid siege to the Sharks goal but the Solway penalty kill stood
defiantly firm. As the Sharks returned to full strength they
enjoyed a spell of extended pressure on the visitors goal and
Fraser Goldie, John Churchill and John Ballentyne all went close
in quick succession before Fife replaced netminder Jordan Marr
with Blair Daly. But it was to be the Flyers forwards who were
to finish the period on a high as Lynch collected the puck close
to the Sharks goal-line before he drifted back out and across
the goal and fired the puck across Anderson and into the top
left-hand corner of the Sharks net.
 The
start of the third period was to be no kinder to the Sharks than
either of the previous two as within a minute Wilson picked up
another loose pass from the Solway defence who, caught out of
position, were unable to get back and cover and the Flyer set up
Bell who made no mistake low to the right. Less than two minutes
later Mitchell brought the puck down left-hand boards where he
found Dutiaume who fed the puck back from behind the goal to
Bell who lifted his shot over Anderson. Fife took just thirteen
seconds from the restart to make it nine when Wilson and Gunn
combined to set up Wands on the blueline and he thundered a shot
past the shell-shocked Sharks netminder.
Throughout the match the Sharks never stopped trying to get
forward whenever the chance arose and their second goal came
when Struan Tonnar gained possession deep in his own defensive
zone and sped up the right wing before cutting inside a defender
and firing his shot high into the top right-hand corner of Dalys’
net. But Fife weren’t finished either as a long shot from Wands
rebounded off Scott McMeekens’ pads (Scott had replaced Dewar
Anderson after the ninth goal) to Glasgow who drifted to the
keepers left and slotted his shot home from the edge of the blue
ice. All that was left now was for Lynch to add his fourth goal
of the night when he was set up by Mitchell.
After the match Sharks head coach Kevin Doherty said: “The lads
gave everything they had over the weekend and came away with two
valuable points at Paisley while Fife showed us why they are the
best. We don't play again in the SPHL until the new year as Cup
and Northern matches fill in the schedule. The domestic table
may look bleak but with a few bounces our way we could have had
five wins. We took a few on the chin but know we can redeem
ourselves after Xmas. Paisley in the Cup is always going to be
special. For the most part the games are tight checking and
if last Saturday was anything to go by it's going to be exactly
that. The goalies played well at Braehead and this will be a key
for both sides again. Tim McKay misses after suffering a
fractured knuckle (last Saturday at Braehead) and John
Ballentyne is unavailable. We will miss the experience of these
guys but we will have some reinforcements at training Friday.
It's going to be tough but we will be looking to keep it tight
as we have home ice advantage in the 2nd leg the following
week."
The views and statistics in this
report are individual and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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