Sharks SNL rolled into Murrayfield on Sunday evening to take on the country’s only remaining team with a 100% league record, the Edinburgh Capitals SNL. The young Sharks knew a top level performance was required to take anything away from the experienced Caps, but could take heart at having won the last encounter by the odd goal in nine back in August’s Autumn Cup second leg.
With the Cap’s Elite League team on a night off they were bolstered with the presence of further quality, however the game started with some open end to end play, Calum Hepburn (Sharks) and Craig Mallinson (Caps) both turning away some early shots from their respective nets.
A tripping call on Sharks Michael Corbett offered a powerplay opportunity for the Caps to open their account, however a shot block from Jamie Kerr was slid to Joe Coulter and his sublime defence-splitting pass allowed Duncan Speirs to slot home on the breakaway at 5:05; 1 nil Sharks.
The game remained fairly even with chances going begging for both teams, Corbett’s breakaway well saved by Mallinson. The last few minutes of the first period saw the league’s most dangerous line of Cap’s Mark Patterson, Joel Gautschi and Sean Donaldson really find their groove, and it was Patterson who scrambled the puck home after a good shift of pressure and blocked shots, leaving the score an even one all at the break.
The second period started again very open, until that same Caps trio linked up when Patterson was tee’d up by Donaldson and Gautschi to give the Caps the lead. A phase of four on four hockey allowed the Caps to take advantage of a slack defensive Sharks pass with Patterson intercepting to square the puck to Gautschi to make it three-one Caps at 30.39.
The Sharks then showed the resilience which has served their young bucks well this season by taking the game to the Caps. This saw Speirs, Coulter and Corbett cycle the puck well before a reverse pass by Coulter allowed Corbett to slip the puck past Mallinson to close the gap back to one. The sustained Sharks pressure saw Caps Gary Hughes take a slashing call and the subsequent Sharks powerplay went to work. It took just 36 seconds and some good movement when Sharks Gordon Horne slid the puck to Jamie Kerr at the centre of the blue line and his slap shot was well saved only for Calum Henderson to pounce on the rebound to tie the game at three each on 34:50.
For a certain Caps trio of players, the latter part of the game brings out the best in them on a frequent basis and so it would prove once again. At 37:40 Caps Jay King finished off a Tyler Plews set up before Gautschi grabbed his brace on 39:42 from another Patterson play.
The final period saw the Sharks come out hard and create some early chances, Mallinson in the Caps net dealing with the pressure well. However, a good counter saw Gautschi and Patterson move the puck well this time to see Donaldson
finish off a nice wave of attack. The Caps were soon after awarded a penalty shot when Craig Higgins was adjudged to have covered a loose puck, but getting down well to easily halt Sean Beattie’s attempt Hepburn was again looking impressive in a Sharks shirt.
The Caps concluded the scoring on 50:30 with Donaldson’s pass allowing Gautschi to find the net for his hat-trick goal to see the game game end 7-3 to the table topping Capitals.
Man of the Match awards went to Shark’s Hepburn and Capital’s Gautschi.
Sharks player coach commented after the game, “We played a really solid first period to
nullify the Caps obvious experience and talent. We again showed good character
when the Caps jumped up a gear or two in the second period to pull it back from
three-one to three each. After that I think it’s simply a case that the hands-down best forward line in the league used their experience and skill to get the job done. Some of their play was fantastic so hats off to them, I fully expect them to come to us on the last night of the season already champions. We can look to the fact though that we are by far the youngest team in the league, and gave them a real fright until their sixth goal sealed it for them.”
Sharks SNL now have two free weekends before they make the fourth of five consecutive road trips to Ayr where they face North Ayr Wild on Sat 21st November.
*Please note Sharks SNL away game to Moray Typhoons (Elgin) on Sat
14th November has now been rescheduled to Sat 16th January.
