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 On Sunday evening the Fife Flyers were the visitors to the ice
bowl and things started badly for the home side when a penalty
against Jamie Creighton gave Fife an early powerplay, Bell duly
found McAlpine at the back post and the Sharks were a goal
behind. A double penalty against the visitors gave the Sharks
the perfect chance to reply with a five-on-three man advantage
and, after patient build-up play, John Ballentyne and Bari
McKenzie were the providers for Mark Gallagher to open the
Solway account. Fife are making a habit of producing a purple
patch against the Sharks and to the dismay of the home fans they
did so again on Sunday night. Between the eighth minute and the
first break the Flyers rattled in a further four goals. First
Glasgow scored from close range after being set up by Dutiaume
and Lynch. Next McAlpine added his second of the night when his
cross come shot slipped below Scott McMeeken’s body and trickled
over the line. A delayed penalty call against Solway allowed the
Flyers to pull their netminder in favour of an extra skater and
the extra pressure paid dividends when McAlpine found the net to
complete his hat trick. Finally Gunn set up King and while his
shot was saved player /coach Todd Dutiaume was on hand to slide
the rebound home.
 Dutiaume was on the score sheet again at the start of the second
period when a Mitchell bullet from the blue line was parried
back out to him by McMeeken but the Sharks were still fighting
to get back into this match. In the twenty-sixth minute Mark
Gallagher intercepted a clearance from the visitors defence, he
was forced to wait for players to get back on-side before his
pinpoint pass allowed Tim McKay to pick his spot. Thirty seconds
later the home fans were given further cause for hope when a
melee around the Fife net saw Bari McKenzie and Shaun Kippin go
close before Matt Seddon netted to reduce the deficit to three.
But this was as good as it was going to get for the Sharks as
Fife pulled themselves out of their lethargy and stepped up a
couple of gears. By the time the hooter sounded for the second
interval the Flyers had added three more to their tally through
Gunn (2) and Bell although Shaun Kippin brought a fine save out
of Arthur as he sought to capitalise on a slip by a Flyers
defenceman. The only real action of note in a flat third period
came three minutes from the end when Dutiaume and King found
Gunn behind the Sharks goal. He brought the puck out and found
the net through the keeper’s pads at the second attempt.
Scoring Statistics for the Sharks were as follows; Mark
Gallagher one goal and one assist, Tim McKay and Matt Seddon
both 1+0, Bari McKenzie 0+2 and John Ballentyne and Shaun Kippin
both 0+1. Scott McMeeken saved twenty-six of the thirty-three
shots that he faced for a save percentage of 78.79% before being
replaced at the mid-way point by Dewar Anderson who saved
twenty-nine out of the thirty-two shots that he faced for a save
percentage of 90.63%. The Sulwath Brewers man of the match for
the Sharks was collected by Struan Tonnar while Ian Bell picked
up the award 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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