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 On Saturday
evening the Sharks travelled to Braehead to face the Pirates and
for the opening minutes of the match the atmosphere was
strangely subdued as players and fans alike waited to see if
there was to be any repercussions from Scott Cowan’s unfortunate
injury at the Ice Bowl the previous Sunday night. The sides
traded minor penalties before Fraser Goldie fought for and won
possession on the left-hand boards. His pass found Corrie Telfer
who headed around behind the Paisley net before beating the
netminder at the back post with a fine wrap around goal to open
the scoring.
On the six minute
mark Bari McKenzie broke up the left wing and his pinpoint cross
found Shaun Kippin racing towards the goal in support but the
Sharks forward couldn’t quite deflect his shot onto the target.
As the Pirates broke forward the inevitable flashpoint occurred
as Scott Plews and Matt Seddon dropped their gloves at
centre-ice. After the fracas died down both players were given
five minutes plus game penalties which in hindsight may have
been a good decision by the referee, Neil Wilson, as it took
both players out of the contest and made sure there would be no
further trouble between them. Just before the ten minute mark
the Sharks received another powerplay when McCaig was called for
slashing and after patient build-up play the puck found its way
to Struan Tonnar at the right point position and he fired in a
shot that beat the netminder at his far post. At that point
Paisley changed their netminders but for the rest of the period
most of the play was contested in the centre of the rink with
only sporadic goalmouth action to trouble either keeper.
 The second period
began as the first ended with the Sharks controlling play for
the most part, although Paisley were always more than capable of
producing a goal threat on occasions. With seven minute left in
the period the Pirates were enjoying a good spell of possession
in Sharks territory when the puck fell to Conaboy eight yards
from goal and he crashed a shot past Scott McMeeken but
fortunately for Solway it ricocheted off the pipes to safety. A
minute later the Sharks found themselves under pressure when
Kevin Conway was penalised for hooking. On the resultant
“penalty kill” play swung over towards the Pirates right wing
where Conaboy seemed more concerned with checking a Sharks
defender on the boards than fighting for possession. Shaun
Kippin on the other hand read the play well and intercepted the
puck and raced up centre ice before cutting across in front of
the Paisley goal and lifting his shot into the net. As the
period drew to a close Bari McKenzie found himself one-on-one
with the Paisley netminder but after drawing him out of position
the Solway forward couldn’t quite get his shot back onto the
target. Paisley then raced to the other end of the rink where
Fowley found himself with a clear shot on goal but as he pulled
the trigger John Downes somehow managed to get a stick in to
save the day. Then ex-Sharks forward John Churchill found
himself free in front of goal with just the keeper to beat but
he also pushed his shot wide of the target.
 The third period
began with the Sharks comfortably ahead but the game wasn’t won
yet, an early goal could easily give the Pirates the confidence
to mount a comeback. Instead of keeping things tight Solway went
one better. Straight from the face off they went on the attack
where Kevin Conway found Mark Gallagher along the left-hand
boards and his square pass was turned home from close range by
Isaac Gracie. Four minutes later Paisley opened their account
when Conaboy and Watson combined in defence to set ex-Sharks
forward John Churchill free and he cut in from the right to fire
a low shot into the net through the keepers legs. Seconds later
the home side almost scored again when Brian Miller set up his
brother Stuart at the back post but his shot rebounded wide from
the goal frame. But this was to be the Sharks night and seven
minutes into the final session they scored a powerplay goal when
John Downes and Bari McKenzie combined after patient play to
find Kevin Conway on the left wing and he drifted inside to fire
a low shot past the keeper. In the fifty-first minute penalties
left the sides four-on-four when a Bari McKenzie pass deep in
Sharks territory found John Downes on the right wing. He raced
up the wing into the Pirates “D”, finding no-one in support the
big defenceman decided to try his luck and fired a low shot
across the netminder that found the net at the back post.
Sharks statistics
for the Sharks were as follows; John Downes and Kevin Conway
both one goal and one assist, Struan Tonnar, Isaac Gracie Corrie
Telfer and Shaun Kippin all 1+0, Bari McKenzie 0+2, Fraser
Goldie and Mark Gallagher 0+1. Scott McMeeken in the Sharks goal
was awarded the man of the match award for the visitors and he
saved thirty-four of the thirty-five shots that he faced for a
save percentage of 97.14%
The views and statistics in
this report are individual and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the Solway Sharks.
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