This weekend the Building Craftsmen (Dumfries) Ltd. Solway Sharks will once more try to close the gap on the NIHL Moralee Conference league leaders when they welcome Sutton Sting to the Shark Tank for the first time this season on Saturday evening. On Sunday they will make the long journey down to Peterborough to play the EPL Phantoms in their penultimate fixture in the English Challenge Cup. Face-off at Dumfries Ice Bowl will be at the usual time of 7pm on Saturday while the bus on Sunday will leave at the earlier than advertised time of 9:30am.
Last Saturday the Solway Sharks, sponsored by Building Craftsmen (Dumfries) Ltd, welcomed the Billingham Stars as “First foots” to the Ice Bowl and the short-benched Sharks and under the weather Stars provided a feast of attacking hockey to bring in the New Year before the home team eventually ran out winners by five goals to four.
Solway were first to show their attacking intentions when a move up the right with barely a minute gone saw Bentham send his shot goalwards only to be denied by a tremendous flying save from James Flavell in the Billingham goal. The visitors nearly broke the deadlock after ten minutes when a bad Sharks line change created an opportunity for Stuart-Dant to shoot but Jordan Boyle was quickly down to smother the shot close to his right-hand post.
Play continued to flow from end to end and both goals had their fair share of narrow escapes before the Sharks finally broke the deadlock in the eleventh minute. Struan Tonnar collected possession behind his own goal and weaved his way between Billingham players as he progressed up centre ice and crossed the visitors’ blueline. Looking up he saw a gap top shelf, left, and powered home a shot that left netminder Flavell grasping at fresh air.
James Moss almost set up Michael Elder to equalise soon after but was denied by a good Boyle save while at the other end Flavell made equally fine saves from both Stevie Moore and Michael Brunton. With a little more than five minutes remaining in the period the Stars deservedly levelled the scores when Bowman and Stuart-Dant combined to allow Chris Sykes to stroke a low shot past Boyle from close range and that was the way the score was to stay until the first interval.
The second period began where the first had ended with both teams attacking when they had the puck and the only surprise was that it took until the twenty-seventh minute for the deadlock to be broken when Struan Tonnar sent a rising slapshot into the roof of the Billingham net from right point. This seemed to fire up the Sharks and three minutes later Richard Bentham fired home the rebound from close range after a Duncan Speirs shot had been blocked. Four minutes later Bentham was on the score sheet once more when he bundled the puck over the line with the Stars defence complaining of foul play but the officials weren’t interested in their appeal and the goal stood.
Down four-one and with half their team suffering from flu it would have been understandable if some of the visitors had let their heads drop but that’s not Billingham’s way and within ninety seconds they were back on the scoresheet. James Moss robbed a Sharks defenseman on his own blue line and took the puck up the left wing before firing home a shot that appeared to find the net via a deflection from the netminder. A minute later Paul Windridge sent Ben Davison free on the left. His shot was wide of the target but the puck took a hard deflection off the back boards and came back into the danger zone on the other side of the goal where Michael Bowman was waiting to convert leaving the game evenly balanced at four-three Sharks going into the second intermission.
The final period again opened brightly and Solway increased their advantage in the forty-third minute when determined scrimmaging from Ross Murray allowed Stevie Moore the opportunity to send an accurate wrist shot into the roof of the Stars goal. The visitors were determined to fight their way back into the game and six minutes later they got their reward when Michael Elder scored from close range after a Thomas Keeley pass had sent James Moss around behind the Sharks goal. For the remainder of the game Billingham had the bulk of play but rarely looked like breaking down the hard-working Solway defence even when they pulled their netminder late in the game and the Sharks duly ran out five-four winners.
Scoring statistics for the Sharks were as follows: Struan Tonnar and Richard Bentham both two goals and no assists, Stevie Moore 1+0, Stuart Andrews, Michael Brunton, Ross Murray and Aidan Fulton all 0+1. Jordan Boyle in the Sharks goal saved thirty-five of the thirty-nine shots that he faced (save percentage 89.74%). The Holywood Trust Man of the Match Awards were presented to Struan Tonnar for the Sharks and to Andy Munroe for the Stars.
On Sunday the Solway Sharks, sponsored by Building Craftsmen (Dumfries) Ltd, travelled across country to Whitley Bay for what was always going to be a tricky league match against the Warriors. After falling five goals down the Sharks mounted a spirited comeback which came up just short as the home side held on to win by five goals to three.
The home side opened the match on the offensive and took the game to the Sharks as we have come to expect in “the Bay” and opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Robert Wilson was on hand to net the rebound after Jordan Boyle had blocked Dean Holland’s shot from right point. The Warriors continued to press and Solway were forced onto the back foot for long periods of time and the only real surprise was that they failed to increase their lead before the first interval.
The second period began much as the first had ended but as time progressed without further damage to the scoreline the Sharks began to become a more attacking force with Richard Bentham in particular looking dangerous. However, the score was to remain the same until the final five minutes of the period when the Warriors took a strangle hold on the game with three goals in two minutes.
Firstly Alex Lawson fired home from the left-hand face-off circle after the Sharks failed to clear the puck after period of Whitley pressure. Jamie Tinsley then sent Callum Watson across the face of the Solway goal to score from close range and before you could draw your breath Sharks “old boy” Adam Reynolds found himself unmarked in front of goal to make the score four-nil at the second break.
Solway started the final session with Andrew Little replacing Jordan Boyle between the pipes and on a five minute penalty kill (plus game) when Ross Murray was adjudged guilty of a check to the head as the buzzer sounded to end the second session. They had just successfully killed the penalty and were readjusting to playing with even numbers when Whitley took advantage and netted for a fifth time when Callum Watson pounced on the rebound after Andrew Little had saved Daniel Good’s initial shot.
The Sharks needed to respond quickly and they did three minutes later when Struan Tonnar converted on a five on three powerplay after patient interchange involving Jens Engelen and Stevie Moore. Solway looked to exert further pressure but a quick Whitley break saw Engelen penalised for holding an opponents stick and the resulting penalty kill forced Solway back onto the back foot.
On returning to full strength the Sharks began to build momentum and with eight minutes left Richard Bentham collected an Engelen pass just inside his own half on the right wing. Looking up he must have seen Lawson badly placed as he immediately unleashed a tremendous slapshot that flew past the Whitley keeper and into the roof of the net. Solway tried to capitalise but some desperate Warriors defending saw them hold their three goal advantage until the final minute when a combination of a Sharks powerplay combined with them pulling their netminder gave Stevie Moore the space required to convert an Engelen pass.
Little remained on the bench as Solway restarted with six skaters but Whitley were able to hold on and their only heart-stopping moment was when Struan Tonnar tried to out-do Richard Bentham with a shot from within his own blueline as the clocked ticked down towards zero but this time Lawson was alert to the danger and the Warriors prevailed.
Scoring statistics for the Sharks were as follows: Stevie Moore one goal and one assist, Struan Tonnar and Richard Bentham both 1+0, Jens Engelen 0+3. Jordan Boyle in the Sharks goal saved twenty-two of the twenty-six shots that he faced (save percentage 84.62%) before being replaced at the second interval by Andrew Little who saved eighteen of the nineteen shots that he faced (save percentage 94.74%). The Man of the Match Award were presented to Richard Bentham for the Sharks and to Callum Watson for the Warriors.