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On Saturday night they travelled to Braehead to take on the
Paisley Pirates in the Dumfries’ side final SPHL match of 2007.
The contest, a vital game for both clubs in the domestic table,
was also a dress rehearsal for the upcoming Scottish Cup
quarter-finals.
The game started at a frenzied pace as the Pirates took the
early ascendancy and immediately put pressure on Sharks’
netminder Dewar Anderson. Some focussed defending repelled the
attack and the Sharks started to turn their game up with an
offensive flourish of their own. The pressure paid off six and a
half minutes into the opening session when John Churchill broke
down the left wing and fired a slapshot that beat Pirates’
goalie Colin Gooding on the glove side. The remainder of the
period saw the teams play some tight-checking, end to end stuff.
The game promised more goals at this point and very easily could
have if it wasn’t for the performances of the men in the cages.
Pirates were the stronger team in the second period and were
unlucky not to get an equaliser while the Sharks had a Tim McKay
goalmouth scramble attempt ruled out.
The match was set up for an exciting finish and the players did
not disappoint. Three minutes into the final period Sharks’ Ross
Edgar received a two-minute penalty that resulted in the
ejection of the player. On the ensuing powerplay the Pirates’
Chris Wilson levelled to the joy of the home support. With the
game in the balance the Sharks’ Tim McKay managed to use his
speed to get through the neutral zone and he blasted a shot from
the same angle Churchill had earlier scored from. The puck
struck the short side pipe and rebounded through the crease to
the opposite corner. McKay would play no further part on the
evening as he suffered a fractured knuckle on the play when
Pirates’ Scott Plews received a slashing penalty.
The teams reached the 10 minute mark with nothing to separate
them. The home support was hoping for a late victory but no one
in attendance would have predicted what was to ensue. At 51:21
Bobby Chalmers came in off the left side, after a spirited rush,
and his snapshot regained the lead for Solway. Paisley then
fought back once again via David Orr on 53.58. The Sharks’ Mark
Gallagher scooped up a rebound to put his team in the lead again
at 55:02 while Orr was in the sin bin. Amazingly the Pirates
kept pushing and at 56:12 defenceman Plews caused havoc in front
of the Sharks’ netminder and backhanded a shot into the top of
the net. Four minutes and fifty-one seconds had passed and a
remarkable four goals see-sawed the battle to and fro. The
excitement among the spectators was now visible and chances at
both ends kept them glued to the finish. With thirty seconds
remaining the Sharks’ Churchill won a neutral zone face-off to
Chalmers. Churchill proceeded up the middle and as he received a
pass back form Chalmers that split the defence and set up a last
gasp breakaway. With pressure coming from behind the recently
returned forward coolly deeked Gooding to beat him on the
backhand.
The win lifted the Sharks off the bottom of the table they
shared with the Pirates and gave the Dumfries Ice Bowl side a
moral boosting victory. Sharks coach Kevin Doherty had this to
say following the match “That was an exciting hockey game which
no team deserved to lose. The result is the main thing however
as it is nice to level the series with the Pirates after our
disappointing loss earlier this season at home when I thought we
deserved to win.”
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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