The Building Craftsmen Dumfries Solway Sharks took to home ice against the Blackburn Hawks on Saturday night, hoping to stretch their recent run of unbeaten games. This was the first meeting in Dumfries between the teams this season, although the Sharks had emerged victors in the two games played in Blackburn to date.
Despite having most of the possession at the start of the game the Sharks took a while to break through the Hawks’ defence and find the net, Ewan Anderson opening the scoring just before the half-way point, passes from Peter Gapa and Scott Henderson sending him netward to beat the netminder at 9:35. Iain Bowie followed up at 10:22, scoring from a Jaakko Heiskanen pass to double the lead. The scoring continued as Sharks took control of the game, the Gapa – Anderson – Henderson line bearing fruit again at 11:36, Henderson with the final shot past the keeper to make the gap 3. With Sharks in the driving seat there were plenty of shots on Hawks’ net, and with the visitors looking dangerous on the break there was lots of entertainment for the Ice Bowl crowd for the rest of the period. When the buzzer sounded for the first break the score sat at Sharks 3 Hawks 0.
The entertainment continued into the second period, the Hawks opening their account through James Riddoch at 22:19. Despite this, Sharks were playing some lovely hockey, moving the puck well throughout the team and putting Hawks under constant pressure. Their efforts were rewarded and they went on a charge just past the halfway point of the game, Anderson supplying the puck to Gapa for the strike at 33:29. They were both back in action for the next goal seconds later, combining to send the puck to Henderson for his second of the night at 34:37. The Sharks’ scoring spree continued courtesy of Heiskanen at 35:21, the assist coming from Scott Crane. By now the Sharks were totally dominant, the hard-working Hawks’ unable to find any reply to the pace and intensity of the home side. Henderson nabbed his hat-trick goal as the clock ran down, Anderson and Gapa again assisting on his 38:39 strike. There was just time for another before the buzzer, Bowie weighing in with his second at 39:44 from Crane and Heiskanen. At the end of a gripping, whirlwind final 10 minutes of the second period the Sharks were firmly in control with an 8 goal to 1 lead, the crowd lapping up the display of free-flowing passing hockey.
The Sharks’ dominance continued into the third, the only penalty of the game giving them an early powerplay advantage – Heiskanen sending the puck home from Crane and Struan Tonnar at 41:46. Crane and Heiskanen were involved in the next goal, combining to feed Bowie who found the net at 45:49 for his hat-trick. After some hard work from the Hawks Sharks broke through at 54:00 for another, Marcus Murdoch feeding Tonnar whose shot was saved, allowing Kieran Hair to sweep the rebound over the sprawling Trapans in Hawks’ net. There was a consolation goal for Hawks’ Riddoch at 56:29, before Stevie Adams rounded off the Sharks’ scoring at 58:34, assisted by Gapa and Stuart Kerr. Man of the match for Sharks was Iain Bowie, and for Hawks was netminder Niks Trapans who faced 70 Sharks’ shots.
Afterwards coach Martin Grubb commented, “Games against Blackburn are normally close so we knew we would need to come out with intensity and dominate possession of the puck to allow us to create quality scoring chances. I felt we started a bit slow in the first 10 minutes but then we started to find our rhythm. We came out with more purpose in the second period and started to be more aggressive in our forecheck and we started getting our rewards with lots of chances and we continued that into the third period and although the Hawks kept working hard our quality showed and we were well worth our win. It was good to be able to use our whole bench and get everyone involved and going forward we need to keep the standards high and keep winning games.”
After the game there was a very well-attended “Skate with the Sharks” session, the players coming back onto the ice to meet and skate with their supporters, signing autographs and happily taking pictures.
A great time was had by all, and Sharks captain Struan Tonnar told us, “It was a real fun event, giving the guys a chance to meet and skate with the fans who give us so much support from the sands every week. It is always nice to show our appreciation and give something back, and it was really lovely to get a chance to chat to everyone.”
The Sharks continue their quest for NIHL silverware this Saturday when Billingham Stars visit the shark tank, with the face off time earlier than usual at 5pm.
