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The Border
Utility sponsored Solway Sharks meet with the Fife Flyers at
Dumfries Ice Bowl on Sunday night in a Northern League fixture
that has a 6:30pm face-off and nor 8pm as originally advertised.
The Fifers will be without injured player coach Todd Dutiaume
and the Solway faithful will remember that the last time Fife
visited the Ice Bowl without him the match was a thriller that
went to overtime. On the Saturday night the Sharks are away at
Blackburn Hawks and anyone wanting to support the side can
travel on the team bus providing they are at the Ice Bowl in
time for its 1pm departure.
The Sharks met
the Braehead Paisley Pirates last Saturday evening needing just
a single point to mathematically secure their participation in
the Northern League play-off weekend. They were also keen to
impress new head coach Paul Heavey who had agreed to take charge
of the team until the end of the current season. But it was the
Pirates, brim-full of confidence after back to back victories
over Solway last weekend, who were first to make their mark.
With just under two minutes gone Linton fired the puck down the
boards to Brian Miller who promptly set up his brother Stuart
with a simple tap in at the back post. As play swung from end to
end Bari McKenzie rattled a shot of the Paisley pipes and Scott
McMeeken was forced into an excellent double save from McCaig
and McCamley but the next piece of excitement was provided by
Shaun Kippin and McCamley when they dropped their gloves in the
eleventh minute. Both players received two plus two minute
penalties for their pugilistic efforts and the game went back to
being a dogged battle between two evenly matched teams. With
three minutes left in the period the Sharks cane close to
grabbing an equaliser as Fraser Goldie fired in a rocket from
left point which the keeper parried to John Downes at the
opposite point but Downie knocked his effort wide too. Six
seconds from the end of the period the Sharks got a double break
when two Pirates were penalised on the same play, it was too
late to have much effect before the break but it did mean that
the home side would start the second session with a two man
advantage.
After the break
the Sharks played the puck around patiently as they tried to
draw the opposition out of position, but the Pirates defence
stuck to their task and were within a few seconds of surviving
when Mark Gallagher fed Bari McKenzie. The Solway forward
drifted across the visitors “D” before firing in a shot that
Downie could only block out to Struan Tonnar who flipped the
puck into the empty net. But Paisley were immediately back on
the attack and took the lead once more in the thirty-second
minute when, after an extended period of pressure. Orr and
Wallace played the puck around behind the Sharks goal before
setting up Fowley to smash home from close range. The home side
almost equalised immediately as Corrie Telfer charged through on
goal but Downie had his angles covered and saved well, however,
the second equaliser wasn’t to be too much longer in coming.
With five minutes left in the session Scott McMeeken pushed a
loose puck out to Bari McKenzie on the right wing, he then raced
up the boards before cutting inside and letting loose a shot
that the keeper looked to have covered but the puck slipped
through his grasp into the net.
The final period
began badly for the Sharks as McCamley and Plews combined to set
up McCaig with an easy chance in front of the home goal and the
Paisley man duly put the visitors three-two ahead. But the
Solway team showed far more resolve than they had the previous
weekend and three minute later they were once more on level
terms as the impressive Robbie Brown set up John Downes for a
long range effort. Downie had no need to deal with the puck as
it was drifting wide but once more he left his goal to initiate
an attack. On this occasion his weak pass only found Corrie
Telfer who slotted his shot into the empty net. Ninety seconds
later Jamie Kerr found Struan Tonnar on the right-hand boards,
Downie blocked his shot but Bari McKenzie was on hand to pick up
the rebound and fire the Sharks ahead for the first time. Two
minutes late Mark Gallagher and Tonnar combined to clear their
lines and once again McKenzie was the beneficiary as he picked
up possession and put the Sharks ahead by two. With eight
minutes to go McKenzie fed Gallagher at his own blueline and
after skating up the left wing the Sharks forward swept inside
his marker and fired into the Pirates goal.
The scoring
statistics for the Sharks were as follows; Bari McKenzie three
goals and two assists, Struan Tonnar and Mark Gallagher both
1+2, Corrie Telfer 1+0, Jamie Kerr, Robbie Brown, John Downes
and Scott McMeeken all 0+1, Scott McMeeken in the Sharks goal
saved thirty-five of the thirty-eight shots that he faced (save
percentage 92.11%).The Border Utilities Man-of-the-Match Award
was presented to Mark Gallagher for the Sharks while Colin
Downie 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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