Solway Sharks Juniors got back onto the ice last weekend after the festive recess with back-to-back games for the Oakbank Sponsored Under 16 team.  First was a short trip up the A76 to face rivals Ayr Bruins in the Scottish Cup.  The game started evenly, Ayr working hard to contain the Solway attack, and their keeper pulling off repeated saves, until Scott Rae broke through to score after 10 minutes. It was Rae again at the start of the second period, taking advantage of a powerplay and sending an Oliver King pass to the back of the net after 15 seconds.  Andrew Craik put Solway 3 ahead on 23 minutes with an unassisted goal, and with Ayr making the young Sharks work hard for every chance the score stood till the end of the second period.

The third period saw an increase in pace, and with Ayr overwhelmed and their hard-working netminder tiring, Solway stepped up the scoring and managed another 9 unanswered goals before the final buzzer – third period points going to Liam Stenton (3+2), Mitchell McEwan (2+1), Matthew Watters (2+1), Joe Little (1+0), Scott Rae (1+0) and Jack Little (0+1) .  The 12-0 Solway victory sees them progress to the next round of the cup, and Andrew Craik was named man of the match.

After the game coach Jamie Kerr said, “Saturday’s game was very much a grinding down exercise. We dominated possession in all 3 periods, but it took us till the last period to tire Ayr down and make the spaces to produce more straight forward goals. Period scores of 1-0, 2-0 and 9-0 reflect this, and out shooting Ayr 45-4 highlighted their grittiness which initially held us till we kicked on. It gives the team a chance to test themselves against a top team in the Scottish Cup semi final in coming weeks.”

The under 16s were back on the ice the following morning, facing their counterparts from Belfast at Dumfries Ice bowl.  This was a very different game against much tougher opposition.  End-to-end play between evenly-matched teams ensued, with neither side giving anything away easily, and the score see-sawed between the teams.  Belfast were formidable opponents who brought the play to Solway, and despite 4 goals from Liam Stenton and assists for Joe Little, Scott Rae, Jack Little and Lennon McNee, and thanks to some spectacular saves from netminder Callum NcGrellis, Belfast emerged 5-4 victors in a closely fought game.

Coach Kerr commented, “We knew Sunday’s game would be tough as the Belfast team are a fast, skilful unit. Our team worked hard in a yo-yo type game that was already super tight. Young Callum made his first start in nets in an u16 match and turned in a solid man of the match display to help out our defence. We created a lot of chances and their keeper was in equally hot form. In the end there were just a few slack decisions through fatigue by a number of players that cost us. Hopefully the team will learn from this and put in the extra work away from the rink to benefit their game and bounce back with a view to some tough games ahead and to ensure we pick up the points we should.”

The S K Joinery under 12s followed, welcoming North Ayrshire to the Ice Bowl.  In one of their strongest performances so far this season the youngest Sharks battled hard and drew first blood after barely a minute had passed, Cassie McGregor finding the net from Tomas Vyrostek and Fraser Garner.  Ayrshire were quick to reply, and scored a goal of their own a minute later.  Play continued apace for the next ten minutes, until Ayrshire managed another on 12:23. Undaunted, Solway dug deep and replied just before the period break, Garner finding the net from Vyrostek and McGregor for his first ever goal, evening the score at 2 each.  The second period saw North Ayrshire score another, while the hard-working Solway had plenty of shots but no reply.

The third period saw Solway equalise, Captain Vyrostek finding the net from a Samuel Wojcik pass to make the score 3 – 3.  Ayrshire drew ahead again 2 minutes later, before McGregor equalled the score once more with an unassisted goal.  Ayrshire applied yet more pressure and scored another two goals in quick succession, and the final buzzer saw the score at Ayrshire 6 Solway 4.

After the game coach Craig Jackson said, “Sunday saw the visit of North Ayr for an U12s league match.  Both teams have had similar results in the league up to this fixture and we were looking to get a positive result from this match.  Due to the recent U20s world championships earlier in December and the festive break ice time for our u12s has been limited and far between.  Both teams took to the ice and put on a fantastic performance, showing that junior ice hockey in Scotland continues to thrive and the individual talents of players continue to grow.

The result of the game unfortunately did not go in our favour this week getting beat 6-4. Individual errors and decision making/composure was our major downfall today, but this as normal gives us an area to work on in coming weeks. Fortunately we are able to take lots of positives from this game which we can continue to build on during the coming weeks as our training schedule gets back to normal.  We welcomed back Bailey Thomson to the team and it was good to see him continue where he left off.  Cassie McGregor picked up the player of the game for Solway after picking up 2+1 during the game.”

Solway Sharks Juniors are currently recruiting players of all ages.  Anyone interested in playing ice hockey should contact Dumfries Ice Bowl on 01387 251300 for details of weekday and weekend Learn to Play sessions.