Sharks SNL travelled to the Braehead Arena on Sunday evening to take on unbeaten west coast rivals the Paisley Pirates.
Taking to the ice with two lines due to work commitments and players away on October half term breaks, the spirited Sharks looked to play a gritty counter attack road game.
This was executed perfectly on 3:41 when Conor Smith broke up the right wing and found Tom Watson arriving at the back post with a precision pass and the youngster met the puck first time to send it into the roof of the net.
Minutes later on 5:37, Watson would find Smith and as Smith attempted to tee up Watson again, his pass was redirected beyond Meechan in the Pirates goal by a Pirate skate.
This caused Pirate’s coach Ian Turley to call a time out to rally his troops and the Pirates would then put further pressure on the Shark’s goal however Kyle Johnston was on hand to turn any shots made to safety.
The Pirates started the second like a wounded animal and pressured the two lines of Solway utilising their numerically stronger bench. On 23:06 Chris Wilson was on hand to shoot the puck home after a David Orr attempt beyond sprawling bodies.
Orr on 25:43 then squared the puck to Fraser Campbell and he one timed the puck beyond Johnston to tie the game.
As the opening spell of Pirate’s pressure subsided, Sharks utilised the classic sucker punch counter attack on 33:32 when Captain Mikey Corbett sent Watson goal-ward again and the young gun sent his second of the night into the postage stamp top corner again. The Shark’s rear guard anchored by the inspired Johnston saw the period out in economical fashion as the short numbers saw the legs start to fade.
The final period again saw Pirates spend spells in the Sharks end as the Sharks also looked to counter further. However former Shark David Orr was on hand for a third time to set up another former Shark Chris Wilson on 50:11 to send the game into the final ten minutes all square.
The Sharks were looking comfortable in absorbing the Pirate’s possession and attempted inroads to Johnston’s net however on 55:37 a dubious interference call on Shark’s Craig Higgins was made further frustrating when Higgins penalty was double as an additional two minutes were added when Higgins’ helmet was knocked off, the sharp whistle not allowing Higgins time to react and head for the bench as per usual protocol in such instances.
This gave the Pirates a four minute power play from which a game winner by Orr assisted by McCalmley on 56:24 resulted following a springy aid from a missed shot off the back wall allowed Orr to prod home.
The Sharks pulled their goalie for the fifth game in a row to mount a last ditch attack on their return to full strength but following close efforts from Watson, Corbett and Henderson the full time buzzer sounded.
Man of the match awards went to Pirate’s Chris Wilson and Shark’s Tom Watson who both bagged two goals.
Sharks player-coach Jamie Kerr expressed great satisfaction in his young bucks endeavours. He said ‘With a short bench and young squad, the lads stuck to the plan well and ground out a hell of a game. The penalty at the end cost us as we were comfortable containing what the Pirates were throwing at us until they got that man advantage’ He concluded ‘That’s five games in a row now we have pulled our goalie to close a game out and these tight games are priceless in the building of experience for the young guys, they are a real credit to themselves. Winning and then losing out like tonight goes along way in building their characters on the ice.’
Sharks SNL head to the City of Discovery on Scottish Cup duty on Sat 24th Oct with a 7:30pm f/o at the Dundee Ice Arena.
SHORT BENCHED SHARKS SNL RUN TITLE HOPEFULS TO THE WIRE.
