Solway Sharks Juniors welcomed Belfast to Dumfries Ice Bowl last weekend. After a stormy journey across the Irish Sea Belfast Under 12s came storming on to the ice against their Solway counterparts, and it wasn’t long before the visitors showed how much they have improved over the last few seasons.
Belfast notched up 5 goals in the first period, and despite Kyle Carruth scoring a power play goal from Lewis Gibson and Scott Kirkpatrick Solway didn’t really have much reply. The second period continued in much the same vein, and despite their best efforts the young sharks fell victim to another 4 goals, seeing the period finish 9-1 to Belfast.
The third period saw Solway rally, and another power play saw Lewis Gibson score from Cameron Stevenson and Owen Rae, but this was small consolation against a further flurry of scoring by Belfast that saw them finish 13-2 victors. Joe Little was man of the match for Solway.
Coach Craig Jackson reflected on his team’s performance, saying, “The weekend showed how much ice hockey In Northern Ireland has come on over the past few years, and this is great to see. Today we were unfortunately unable to match the strength of the Belfast team, which resulted in our players becoming very frustrated. I can’t fault our players for their work effort during the game. Yet again it highlighted how much we need to work on our defensive zone positioning and understanding. Going forward we look good, and know what we should be doing but frustratingly we are missing that finishing touch in front of the net, which I am sure through time will come. We will be looking to bounce back this weekend against Aberdeen who, like Belfast, have been getting stronger every season.”
Solway Under 14s were up next, and they too struggled against a much improved Belfast team, who quickly dominated the ice and went 2 goals ahead. Liam Stenton pulled one back for Solway with an unassisted goal, but Belfast managed another before the end of the period to finish 3-1 ahead. Despite the Sharks best defensive endeavors the second period saw Belfast demonstrate more of their strength and determination, and they managed to score another 4 goals in quick succession, before Scott Rae got on the end of a Mekhi Caven pass and scored a second for Solway. Another Belfast goal saw them go on to finish the second 8-2 up.
Solway regrouped in the break, and despite Belfast making it 9 shortly into the third period, play was much more even. A determined Solway attack resulted in a goalmouth scramble which the Belfast netminder couldn’t thwart, and ended with Jack Little finding the net from Scott Rae and Liam Stenton. The score remained until the end of the game, despite Solway being stronger and more organised, and the game finished 9-3 to Belfast. Josh Leuvennink, beleaguered in goal, was awarded man of the match for his efforts. After the game Coach Martyn Mitchell said, “I think we underestimated the team from Belfast. They are improving leaps and bounds year in year out. The team didn’t gel tonight and after changing the lines we improved, but it was too little too late. We’ve got a few weeks until our next game, and we’re going to need to work hard and get little bits sorted and finish the season strong.”
