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 The
Solway Sharks, sponsored by Border Utilities, played host to the
Braehead Paisley Pirates at Dumfries Ice Bowl in their SPHL home
opener last Saturday night. From the opening face-off the match
was a closely contested, nail-biting affair, but unfortunately
it was the visitors who ran out 4-3 victors at the end of the
night.
From the first drop of the puck it was clear that neither team
was in the mood to play second fiddle and the initial exchanges
saw both teams test out the opposing defences. Sharks iced a
first line of Defty, Howarth, Conway, McKay and Tonnar and they
combined well early to allow Struan Tonnar the first meaningful
shot at goal in the second minute of the game. However, it was
to be the visitors first shot of the game that was to break the
deadlock. Scott McMeeken in the Sharks goal did well to parry a
shot from Cowan out to the Pirates right wing. The defence,
puck-watching, all drifted towards Miller leaving Thorp
un-marked in the middle and when Millers’ pass found him the big
man made no mistake.
The Dumfries side made strenuous attempts level the scores but
any time they did manage to break through the well organised
Paisley defence they found Edinburgh Capitals metminder Gary
Russell, guesting for the Pirates, in excellent form between the
pipes. As the visitors weathered the storm they began to come
more into the match and a period of extended Paisley pressure
resulted in a long range shot from Turley which McMeeken did
well to save with his pads. The rebound found its way out into
the middle of the Sharks defensive zone where Wilson picked up
the loose puck, slipped a defender and fired into the net
through the netminders legs.
As the clock approached the fifteen minute mark the Sharks
received their second powerplay of the night when McCaig was
given a two minute penalty for interference. From the face-off
Sharks drove deep into the Pirates defensive zone where Tonnar
found Kevin Conway lurking behind the net. The Canadian used all
his experience to hold the puck until a channel opened up
allowing him to thread a pass through to Neal Haworth eight
yards out and he smashed a first-time shot high past Russell
into the Paisley goal. Within seconds of the re-start an
equaliser looked on the cards for the home side as Tim McKay
robbed a Paisley forward deep inside the Sharks defensive zone
and drove at speed up the rink but the Pirates keeper did well
to smother the Carlisle man’s shot.
The second period began brightly for Solway as they began to put
more and more pressure the visiting defence which forced them
into making a number of mistakes which resulted in penalties.
First Hassan made his second trip to the penalty box for
tripping McKay and then within minutes he received his third
penalty of the night, this time for interference. The damage to
the Pirates was compounded when the referees brother, Scott
Cowan, was given a penalty for charging leaving the home side
with a five on three advantage. From the face-off Ian Defty
fired a shot from the blueline wide to the left of the visitors
goal where Kevin Conway gathered the puck, faked to go around
behind the goal, but cut sharply back to the near pipe where he
managed to squeeze the puck home from a tight angle.
 As
the period wore on it was the Sharks second line of Downes,
Crane, Churchill, Chalmers and Gallagher who were catching the
eye as the three forwards started to gel as a team. Twice in
short succession Chalmers set up Churchill but on each occasion
the experienced forward couldn’t quite find the mark. Then it
was the first line’s time to shine again as Ian Deft brought the
puck out of his own “D” and beat three Pirates before firing in
a shot which Russell saved with his pads. But the break wasn’t
long in coming. On the thirty-one minute mark Underwood was
penalised for slashing and on the resultant powerplay Mark
Gallagher, in a fast flowing attack, found Chalmers who’s
delightful reverse pass found Churchill unmarked and this time
John made no mistake to give the Sharks the lead.
The Pirates were desperate to reply quickly and thought they had
equalised when the puck found the back of the net in a
goal-mouth scramble, but the referee had already blown his
whistle believing that the Sharks netminer had covered the puck.
McCamley then skated strongly up centre ice and his reverse pass
left Wallace free but McMeeken had his angles right and made a
good save. From the face off the home netminder made a fine save
from Wilson and when the Pirate followed up on his own rebound
Scott made a good save low to his left. As the period drew
towards its conclusion it was the Sharks who looked more likely
to add to their lead with Russell in the visitors goal making
several fine saves. For a second the home support thought that
Chalmers had scored his first goal since returning to Solway
colours to increase the Sharks lead but, as with Paisley
earlier, the referee had already blown thinking the puck was
covered.
As the final period began it was clear that Paisley were in
determined mood and that every puck would have to be fought for,
but you would expect nothing less than that against the Pirates.
McCamley, playing a captains role, skated dangerously up the ice
from left to right before cutting back inside from where he
crashed a shot against the Sharks crossbar. Then with the Sharks
attacking Chalmers lost the puck and showed that he still has
some way to go to get back to full match fitness as he had to
resort to hooking the Paisley player as he broke dangerously.
Things got worse got for the home side midway though the penalty
kill as Alan Crane tried to clear his lines by firing the puck
around round the boards. Unfortunately for the Sharks defenceman
he lifted the puck a little too high and he could only watch
despairingly as it flew over the plexi glass. This gave the
Pirates a five on three advantage and they took just twelve
seconds to cash in on it. From the face-off McCamley found
Wilson and while McMeeken saved his shot it fell nicely for
Thorp to fire the rebound into the net.
 The
Sharks still had the rest of penalty kill to deal with but,
while still a man short, Tim McKay robbed a Pirate and broke at
speed up the ice before shooting high into the netting behind
the Paisley goal. From the face off it looked like the Sharks
were the team with the man advantage as they pressurised the
visitors goal but nothing would quite fall Solway’s way. As the
Pirates powerplay ran out McMeeken had to make a good stick save
low to his right from Wilson before the Sharks got back to the
serious business of regaining their advantage. As Solway
pressed, Russell, in the visitors goal, gathered a loose puck
and fed Scott Cowan. He in turn passed it deep into Sharks
territory where it was gathered by Thorp who cut inside Ian
Defty and lifted the puck over the advancing McMeeken to give
Paisley the lead once more. Unfortunately it was a lead they
were never to relinquish. For the remaining eight minutes the
Sharks continuers to exert pressure on the visitors goal but
they held their shape and stood firm. With thirty-five seconds
remaining the Sharks pulled their netminder in favour of an
extra skater but it was to no avail and time ran our with
Russell diving to cover a rebound from a long range effort from
John Downes.
Overall this was a much improved performance from the Sharks and
there did seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. In defence
the team was looking stronger as the new pairings began to get
used to each other but they were still not clearing their lines
as quickly as they should and are still prone to puck-watching.
The netminders are making good saves but are allowing too many
rebounds which the defence are slow to react to. On the positive
front the second line combination of Chalmers, Churchill and
Gallagher looks like it could provide a hatful of goals over the
coming months. If the starting line can work as well together as
we would expect them to then there is every reason to believe
that this can be a successful season for the Solway Sharks.
After the game head coach Kevin Doherty added; “We played our
best game to date but came up short. It shows you the level of
commitment it is going to take to win games in this league. We
failed to pick up our check in front of our net a few times and
didn’t do our best against their counter and that cost us.
Offensively we had a lot of pressure in their zone but scored
three times from forty-five shots. We will keep improving and
will need to continue to raise our intensity from week to
week and we will get there.”
The Sharks scoring
statistics were as follows: Kevin Conway one goals and one
assist, Neal Haworth 1+0, John Churchill 1+0, Robert Chalmers
0+2, Struan Tonnar 0+1, Ian Defty 0+1 and Mark Gallagher 0+1.
Netminder Scott McMeeken saved twenty-nine of the thirty-three
shots that he faced (save percentage of 87.88%). Kevin Conway
received the man of the match award for the Sharks while
three-goal Richard Thorp was awarded that accolade 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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