This weekend the Building Craftsmen (Dumfries) Ltd. Solway Sharks take a break from league action as they host the Whitley Warriors in the first leg of the St Andrews Cup on Saturday evening. On Sunday they travel across country looking to spring a surprise when they visit the Sheffield Steeldogs from the EPL in the English Challenge Cup. Face-off at Dumfries Ice Bowl is at the usual time of 7pm on Saturday evening.
Last Saturday the Solway Sharks, sponsored by Building Craftsmen (Dumfries) Ltd, opened their defence of their NIHL Moralee Conference league title with a difficult home fixture against the Blackburn Hawks. Despite taking a three goal advantage early on the Sharks were eventually to loose out by six goals to four in what was, at times, a bad tempered encounter.
The outcome looked favourable for the home side when they opened the scoring just after the two minute mark when Bob Chalmers collected an Alan Crane pass and shot home from the right-hand face-off circle. The visitors’ immediately tried to force their way back into the game and in Luke and Adam Brittle they had a very potent goal-scoring threat. However, the Solway defence looked sound and gradually the home side began assert their authority and the Sharks passing game, for once this season, looked to be back on form.
The home support were on their feet on the sixteen minute mark when Stevie Moore set up Craig Mitchell for a long range shot at goal from the Hawks blueline. While the shot might have beaten the Hawks keeper all on its own the visiting stopper had no chance when Ross Murray tipped the shot past his despairing grasp. Blackburn were desperate for a counter to revive their chances but with a minute to go in the period their attack floundered on the rock that is Craig Mitchell. Richard Bentham then collected possession and sped powerfully up the left wing before cutting the puck back to Iain Bowie in the slot and he joyously fired past the Hawks netminder to give the home side a three goal advantage.
Blackburn knew they had to turn things around quickly at the beginning of the second period and the Solway defence must have been expecting an onslaught but could never have envisaged the barrage that was to come. From the puck drop the visitors went straight onto the offensive and they got their reward on twenty-second minute mark when Daniel Mackriel converted at the back post after collecting a Jordan Bannon pass. Seventy seconds later the deficit was reduced to two when Luke Brittle calmly found the net after good work from Adam Brittle and Jared Owen. From the face-off Chris Arnone fed Jared Owen and he duly levelled the scores with powerful shot from left point and the Hawks had scored three goals in the space of just eighty-seven seconds.
Coach Grubb immediately called a time out to settle his troops and it seemed to do the trick. A hooking penalty on Jared Owen gave Solway a powerplay and Richard Bentham again became the provider. This time he found Iain Bowie centrally placed on the Hawks blueline and the Sharks sniper double-clutched a couple of time before deciding there was no better option and duly fired home the fourth goal through a crowded goalmouth.
Play continued from end to end for the remainder of the period with neither team able to dominate until the visitors were the beneficiaries of a very dubious penalty call. With less than a minute to go in the session Richard Bentham and Ollie Lomax were heading towards their respective benches when they bumped into each other and each tried to force their way past the other. However, the referee, Mr Wardell, decided to penalise the Sharks forward for holding and on the resultant powerplay Christopher Arnone pounced on a loose puck in a goalmouth scramble and forced the equaliser over the line.
With the game up for grabs neither team was able to dominate play in the opening minutes of the final period but gradually Blackburn began to show as the more dangerous team. With forty-eight minutes approaching on the clock the Hawks took the lead for the first time when Adam Brittle fired home from the left-hand face-off circle after Chris Arnone had sent Luke Brittle up centre-ice. The Sharks looked to respond but four minutes later a loose pass in their own “D” was pounced on and dispatched into the Solway net by the impressive Jordan Bannon. For the remainder of the game the home side looked to find a way through the Blackburn rearguard but the visitors played a perfect road game and restricted the Sharks scoring chances as they ran down the clock to claim victory by six goals to four.
Scoring statistics for the Sharks were as follows: Iain Bowie two goals and no assists, Robert Chalmers and Ross Murray both 1+0, Craig Mitchell and Richard Bentham 0+2, Alan Crane and Stevie Moore both 0+1. Gary Russell in the Solway goal saved thirty-six of the forty-two shots that he faced (save percentage 85.71%). The Building Craftsmen (Dumfries) Ltd. Man of the Match Awards were presented to Marc Fowley for the Sharks and to Stuart Lee Ashton for the visitors.
On Sunday the Building Craftsmen (Dumfries) Ltd. Solway Sharks travelled down the M6 to Altrincham to face bottom of the table Manchester Minotaurs and duly returned with their first league points of the season with an eleven-five victory but not before they received something of a scare.
While never totally dominant the Sharks had the better of the early chances in this fixture with Richard Bentham and Duncan Speirs both looking particularly dangerous while Joe Graves caught the eyes for the home side. Just before the ten minute mark Manchester opened the scoring when a Rhys Gillatt shot from the right-hand boards found its way through the goalmouth and eluded netminder Jordan Boyle’s grasp. Five minutes later Solway were back on level terms when Richard Bentham fired home from close range after good build-up work from Ross Murray and Struan Tonnar. Manchester felt much aggrieved as they felt their netminder had been impeded but Joe Greaves took his protest too far and sent him to the dressing room with two ten minute abuse penalties.
With thirty seconds left in the period the home side were on a powerplay when Craig Mitchell astutely found Ross Murray with a clever pass from defence and the Sharks forward calmly closed in unchallenged on the Minotaurs goal, sent the keeper the wrong way and slid the puck into the net.
For the second night in a row it seemed like Solway had remained in the dressing room at the beginning of the second period as Manchester seemed to carve their way through the Sharks defence almost at will. The previous night Blackburn opened the second session with three goals but on Sunday the Minotaurs went one better and scored four in six minutes through Oliver Bayne, Brian Worrall and two from the impressive Tomas Hnilica.
Coach Grubb didn’t call a time out on this occasion but perhaps his glare was enough to sting his charges into action. Struan Tonnar, forced into action as a defenceman, certainly responded to the call and a trade mark surge up the ice and powerful shot saw him awaken the Sharks before he netted a rebound from close range to back to within one goal by the midway point in the game. One of the positives that Solway supporters can take from the season so far has been the performance of the Under 20’s players who have been given grater ice time and responsibility than originally intended. On the thirty-three minute mark two of these players combined when Ross Connolly collected the rebound from a Richard Bentham shot and fed the puck across the crease for Duncan Speirs to slip a shot below the keeper’s body and level the scores.
The Sharks sprung into action at the beginning of the final period and finally dominated play as they were expected to do. Manchester netminder, Aran Fox, had already made a number of good saves but could do little to stop Richard Bentham from completing his hat-trick with strikes in the forty-sixth and forty-seventh minutes both goals coming from typically surging skates and powerful shots. A powerplay goal from the intriguingly named Kieren Death in the fiftieth minute momentarily halted Solway’s momentum but young Duncan Speirs soon had them rolling again with another deft shot from close range.
With six minutes remaining Solway were again on a penalty kill when Stevie Moore and Craig Mitchell combined to find Ross Murray. This time the desperate Manchester rearguard managed to force the Sharks forward wide into the left-hand face-off circle but Murray found an accurate shot to beat the keeper at his near post. With a little under five minutes left Struan Tonnar became the second Solway forward to claim a hat-trick after a slick move up the left wing involving Craig Mitchell and Duncan Speirs. With two and a half minutes remaining Richard Bentham capped his return to Manchester with a fourth goal when he pounced on a loose puck, cut in from the right-hand boards and placed a perfect shot, top shelf over the keeper’s glove.
Scoring statistics for the Sharks were as follows: Richard Bentham four goals and one assist, Struan Tonnar 3+1, Duncan Speirs 2+3, Ross Murray 2+2, Craig Mitchell 0+4, Callum Henderson and Stevie Moore both 0+2, Ross Connolly, Alan Crane, and Stuart Kerr all 0+1. Jordan Boyle in the Sharks goal saved nineteen of the twenty-five shots that he faced (save percentage 76.00%). The Man of the Match Award was presented to Duncan Speirs for the Sharks.
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