The Solway Sharks, sponsored by Building Craftsmen (Dumfries) Ltd, return to the Ice Bowl on Saturday evening for a mouth-watering English Challenge Cup fixture against old enemies the Blackburn Hawks. After last weekends two cup defeats the Sharks will be more than keen to return to winning ways and prove themselves in this new cup competition. One of last weekends defeats came in the Blackburn where the Hawks picked up no less than eighty-four penalty minutes which included two players receiving a match penalty for spearing and butt-ending respectively. Whatever happens after Saturday’s 7pm face-off at Dumfries Ice Bowl, it won’t be uneventful.
Last Saturday evening the Solway Sharks, sponsored by Building Craftsmen (Dumfries) Ltd, entertained the Billingham Stars at the Shark Tank in the opening fixture of the new season which was also the opening match in the inaugural English Challenge Cup. Unfortunately for the home team a disastrous second period ultimately condemned them to a four-two defeat although there were some positives to be taken from the game.
With just over two minutes played Thomas Keeley received a Scott Ward pass and skipped through the slot and cut back before finding a gap between netminder Gary Russell and his near post to open the scoring. However, the Billingham fans had barely ended their celebrations when Gordon Horne and Aidan Fulton combined to send Struan Tonnar through the centre of the Stars defence and the Sharks marksman made no mistake with his shot from the high slot.
For the next few minutes play was fairly even with neither side dominant, the best chances falling to the lively Struan Tonnar and to James Moss for the visitors. With ten and a half minutes gone in the session Tonnar picked off a loose Billingham pass just outside the visitors blueline. Immediately he powered forward, cut right to left across the face of goal and lifted the puck over the netminders dive and into the net. On the balance of play it was possibly a little more than the home team deserved but they duly held the lead under pressure until the first interval.
The visitors returned to the ice in a more determined frame of mind and levelled the scores three minutes later when Michael Bowman slotted home a Paul Windridge pass at the near post. Within a minute Solway were on a penalty kill when Richard Bentham was penalised for tripping and Richie Thornton found the net to put his side ahead once more with an accurate shot from a tight angle after good work in the build-up from Chris Sykes and Paul Windridge.
On the twenty-eight minute mark the home side were on another penalty kill when Bentham committed an unnecessary tripping penalty in the Billingham defensive zone to give the visitors a two man advantage. The Stars flooded into Sharks territory and a minute later Thomas Keeley and Gary Down combined to allow Michael Elder to score. The Sharks were clearly rattled and three minutes later the Stars made it five-two when Elder scored his second of the night from the left-hand face-off circle after being set up by Bowman and Sykes.
The final period was something of an anti-climax as Billingham, with a three goal advantage, calmly killed off the game with a professional defensive display that killed off any hopes of a Solway revival. The home side pressed for the goal that could have brought them back into the game but in truth they never really looked likely recover from the disastrous second period while the visitors always looked dangerous on the break.
Scoring statistics for the Sharks were as follows: Struan Tonnar two goals and no assists, Gordon Horne and Aidan Fulton 0+1. Gary Russell in the Sharks goal saved thirty of the thirty-five shots that he faced (save percentage 85.71%). The Building Craftsmen Man of the Match Awards were presented to Chris Sykes for the visitors and to Struan Tonnar for the Sharks.
On Sunday the Solway Sharks, sponsored by Building Craftsmen (Dumfries) Ltd, travelled down to Blackburn Ice Arena to take on the Hawks, who are celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary season, but lady luck was not to be on their side as they returned on the wrong side of a bruising four-nil scoreline.
From the start the home side piled forward and the under-strength Sharks defence was forced to work hard to protect back-up netminder Andrew Little with regular goalie, Gary Russell, unavailable through work commitments. Little performed admirably under pressure but was helpless to stop the Hawks taking the lead on the eight minute mark when Daniel Mackriel picked up a loose puck and forced it home at the near post. Buoyed by this the Hawks redoubles their efforts and were rewarded when they went ahead by two goals ninety seconds later. With the Solway defence stretched, Matthew Viney sent Aaron Davies around behind the goal from where he fed the puck back out to the unmarked David Meikle who gave Little no chance with an expert finish.
While the home side continued to hold the upper hand Solway steadied the ship and with two minutes to play in the period they had the puck behind the Blackburn goal when Craig Mitchell was felled back on the blueline. After a lengthy period of discussion with his linesmen the referee awarded Blackburn captain, Chris Arnone, a match penalty for spearing. Unfortunately on the resulting five minute powerplay the Sharks rarely looked like scoring and the score remained two-nil.
On this occasion the second period proved a little kinder to the Sharks with play a more even contest although the home side generally held the upper hand. For Solway Bob Chalmers, Stevie Moore and Joe Coulter all caused problems for the home defence. At the other end of the ice Andrew Little was celebrating his birthday in style with a string of fine saves and young Stuart Kerr, playing up from the juniors, did his reputation no harm at all. Midway through the session the Sharks believed that they did have the puck in the Blackburn net but it was ruled otherwise by Mr Abbott. When all was said and done the second period remained scoreless and the Hawks went into the second intermission with their two goal lead intact.
The home side again started the brighter in the final period but once more their attacking rhythm was stunted by a string of unnecessary penalties which the Solway powerplay failed to take advantage of. On the forty-seven minute mark the Hawks surrounded the Sharks goal and Little made three tremendous blocks before his luck finally ran out and the final rebound fell to Adam Brittle who prodded home goal number three from two yards out. Two minutes later Solway were on a powerplay when a loose pass in their own defensive zone was picked off and drilled home by Adam Brittle to make the score four-nil.
In the aftermath of the goal something was said and Brittle floored Craig Mitchell which caused another melee on the ice. When the dust settled the officials handed out their second match penalty of the evening, this time to Adam Brittle for butt-ending. There was very little incident to report after this. The Hawks duly ran down the clock for a deserved four-nil victory but at the end of the day only Andrew Little emerged from this game with his reputation enhanced.
Scoring statistics for the Sharks were as follows: There were no offensive points scorers for the Sharks. Andrew Little in the Sharks goal saved thirty-one of the thirty-five shots that he faced (save percentage 88.57%). The Man of the Match Awards were presented to Ollie Lomax for the Hawks and to Andrew Little for the Sharks.
