An exciting day of hockey took place at Dumfries Ice Bowl on Sunday, with thrills aplenty.
First onto the ice were the Solway U12s, welcoming their near neighbours Lanarkshire Lightening in the Scottish Cup. The young Sharks wasted no time getting onto the scoreboard, Nathanael Fleming scoring from Niall Duignan in just over a minute. Lanarkshire reacted by upping their tempo, and managed to hold off until Kyle Carruth scored just after 9 minutes from Tomas Vyrostek. Some lovely passing play from Owen Rae to Lewis Gibson saw Carruth capitalise and make it 3 nil just before the break.
The second period saw Solway dominate, with Carruth and Gibson each scoring lovely unassisted goals before Lanarkshire scored a surprise goal against the run of play, managing to sneak one past an on-form Brodie McGinty in the Solway net. Solway were quickly back on their game, captain Mekhi Caven finding Cameron Stevenson, who found Lewis Gibson, who found the net for his second. Captain Caven was quickly back in the action, sending Joe Little goalward to make the score 7 to 1. Niall Duignan found the net from Jack Slater to end the period 8 goals to 1 ahead.
The third period continued in the same vein with the Sharks dominating, Scott Kirkpatrick, Robert McLardy, and Nathan Wojcik getting involved in the play, which eventually saw Carruth scoring his 4th and Solway’s 9th from Vyrostek, and Joe Little slotting home a Slater pass to make the final score 10 – 1 to Solway. The players were all justly proud of themselves and their performance, Brodie McGinty in goal was man of the match. Stand-in coach Jamie Kerr said, “It was a great experience to take these kids into today’s game. Craig (Jackson) and Mo (Muir) have obviously been doing some good work with them, as there were a lot of individual skills on show. As a progression, once they find some chemistry as a unit and utilise each other to make the puck do the work rather than individual legs constantly overworking, they will mature in to a real handful of a team for the top teams to play against.”
Next up were the U16s, facing stiff competition against league leaders and undefeated Kirkcaldy to progress in the Scottish Cup.
A fast-paced, high-tempo game from the start, the young Sharks had to draw on every reserve of strength and determination they had against much bigger and more numerous opponents. Lewis Chalmers opened the scoring for Solway within a minute, flying down the ice from a Kain Briggs pass to find the back of the net. Furious end-to-end play saw numerous challenges from both teams, and Rebekah Scott in the Solway net had lots to do to keep the score static. Kirkcaldy managed to break through the Solway defence and past Rebekah after 5 minutes, but this only spurred Solway on. They were quick to take advantage of the only powerplay in the game, Chalmers passing to Lewis Houston who set up Liam Stenton to strike the puck home and put Solway ahead again, the 2-1 advantage standing until the end of the period.
The second period opened fast, and Solway were caught on the hop when Kirkcaldy broke out and scored after a few seconds to even the score. Another Kirkcaldy goal 2 minutes later saw the pressure on Solway increase as they trailed by 2 goals to 3, but the players again met the increase in tempo and pace head on. Lewis Chalmers restored the status quo with a delightful solo effort, and the whole Solway team dug deep to defend against the unrelenting Kirkcaldy attack. Lots of skilful play and solid defending from both teams saw a very entertaining display which supporters of both teams appreciated. A fourth Kirkcaldy goal saw them finish the period a goal ahead once more.
A stirring team-talk from coach Jamie Kerr saw the team start the third period eager to keep the momentum up, but an intense period of pressure from Kirkcaldy saw them break through to make it 5 goals to 3 a few minutes in. More passionate play and resolute effort from both teams saw strong end-to-end play, and it took a concerted effort for Lewis Chalmers to break Kirkcaldy’s defence to score his hat-trick, bringing Solway within a goal with two minutes to go. Seeing an opportunity to draw the game, coach Kerr pulled netminder Rebekah in the final minute in favour of an extra attacking skater in a do-or-die final challenge. After intense goal-mouth action, Kirkcaldy managed to whip the puck from Solway, and Garry Simpson thundered toward the Solway goal with Liam Stenton in hot pursuit, but unable to stop him scoring into the empty net. The score of 6 – 4 lasted the few seconds until the end of the game, when players from both teams happily acknowledged each other’s skill and effort in the handshake, with Rebekah Scott justly named player of the match for Solway.
After the game coach Jamie Kerr praised his exhausted team, saying, “We have built a strong young, hungry team this year, and have beaten every other team so far. However these are the games that push us to the next level, and to be honest the level of hockey today was just amazing for under 16s. The speed and skill was great to see and the boys and Bex could not have given any more. They have made me really proud.”
Attached picture shows Lewis Chalmers, who scored a hat-trick for U16s.
