The Sharks welcomed for the first time the Hull Seahawks to Dumfries Ice Bowl for the Halloween game looking to get back to winning ways. Both teams started strong and generated chances at both ends, but it was the Sharks who took the lead after some brilliant work from John Dunbar and Craig Peacock found Kieran Hair, who slotted it
home past Jordan McLaughlin to make it 1-0.
As the period progressed, both teams had chances and a few altercations after the
officials whistle, which led to a couple of stints on the powerplay for the Sharks. The first
period saw both teams go close but no further goals in an action packed period at the
Shark Tank. The Sharks had 1.15 on the penalty kill as the Sharks had a delay of the
game penalty, which was sat by Struan Tonnar, and they fought off the Seahawks
pressure on Calum Hepburn, but there was no powerplay goal and we returned to five on
five hockey.
Both teams had opportunities, and both netminders deserved praise for limiting the
score to only one goal. Lewis Houston helped the Sharks take a 2-0 lead after some
excellent work by Stuart Kerr and Nolan Gardiner. As the second period came to a
conclusion, both sides generated chances and came close to scoring, but the score
remained 2-0 heading into the third period.
The Sharks started the first on the powerplay after a hooking call. Olivier Arseneau did a
great job keeping the puck in the offensive zone three times to keep the pressure on the
Seahawks net. This pressure paid off as John Dunbar and Nolan Gardiner found Craig
Peacock to make it 3-0 Sharks early in the third period. The Sharks were inspired by
goal number three and some excellent work from Ross Murray to find Lewis Young, who
saw returning Callum Boyd to make it 4-0 to the Sharks. Despite being four down, the
Seahawks got on the board with a goal from Bobby Chamberlain.
Stuart Kerr had this to say after the Sharks big win on home ice, “After a good week’s
work both on and off the ice, it’s nice to finally put in a 60-minute performance I knew
we were capable of. Staying composed after a few late goals from a team we knew had
come back late in games before is a huge step for the team going forward. We are
looking forward to seeing the shark tank packed this weekend on back to back nights.”
The Sharks were scheduled to travel to Hull to play the Seahawks on October 29th, but a
terrible tragedy in UK hockey occurred. An event occurred during the Sheffield Steelers
vs. Nottingham Panthers game, and as the hockey community came to terms with what
had occurred, both teams decided to postpone the game as a token of respect.
There will be two games at the Dumfries Ice Bowl this weekend, as the Sharks and
Wildcats play in the first double header of the season. The Saturday fixture is at 6pm
(doors open at 4.30pm) and Sunday at 3pm (doors open at 1.30pm) so go get your
tickets now for a weekend at hockey. Tickets available at https://sharksihc.com/tickets/.
