English League Division 2 North
Fylde Flyers 3 - Solway Sharks 11
Period scores; 2-2, 0-4, 1-5
Flyers Scorers: Veldze 1+2, K Hall 1+0, Caunce 1+0
Shots On Goal: Flyers 57 / 3 Goals - Sharks 76/11 goals
Penalties In Minutes: Flyers 26 - Sharks 43
Flyers MVP: Tony Melbourne
Our Report:A game of two halves is normally used to describe a football match but it is also very apt for this fascinating end to end ED2n encounter played out at Cleveleys Sub Zero rink.
The Solway Sharks breezed into town (or should that be swam...?) as runaway league leaders with 18 wins from 18 matches and had anybody suggested before the game that an 11-3 win for the visitors was on the cards, they probably would't have got any argument from me. The Sharks have a far stronger team than anybody else in this division and should have been playing in Division One this season but, for the opening period, you really would have been hard pushed to tell which was the superior side!
After a nervy shart, the Sharks took the lead as early as the 3rd minute but the Flyers fans were brought to their feet by a splendid solo effort by Latvia Under 20 international Elvis Veldze for an equaliser mid way through the period. A further Sharks strike was equalised late on by Kurtis Hall and the 2-2 scoreline at the end of the first period really did reflect the superb effort that the Flyers had made - matching their visitors in every department on the ice.
Second periods ought to banned in Flyers games as, just like last weekend's home encounter against Hull ENL Stingrays, an unfortunate occurence helped turn the tide in favour of the opposition.
The Flyers really came out - well, flying... - for the second period and battered the Solway goal. It seemed only matter of time until they took the lead but, once again it was the Sharks who struck first - with goals on 23 and 27 minutes. At the mid point of the game 7th place Flyers were "holding" the runaway league leaders to a narrow 2-4 scoreline - a really superb performance by a side playing their first ever season in senior ice hockey.
Then, in the 36th minute, the improbable occured. Solway were a man down due to a roughing penalty and the Flyers were regrouping for another powerplay assault on the Sharks net. During a momentary lapse of concentration, the puck was passed from beind the goal, took an unfortunate deflection off a Fylde skate and ended up creeping over the goalline past the despairing dive of Steve Gilmartin who, incidentally, played heroically throughout. An own goal - except that you don't have "own goals" in ice hockey, they don't exist. The goal is awarded to the last attacking player to touch the puck and, in this case, it had been the Sharks netminder Gary Russel who had cleared the puck from his own goal line.
It is such an unusual occurence for a netminder to score a goal in open play with a guarded net (ie not an "empty net" goal), that when this happened to Peterborough Pirates netminder Tony Melia in 1996, his shirt was placed in the NHL's Hall Of Fame - so this was certainly an interesting piece of history for Flyers fans to witness, even if the goal was at the wrong end....A powerplay goal for the Sharks wrapped up the 2nd period scoring making for a 6-2 scoreline after 40 minutes.
Solway's strength in depth really began to show through in the last period and they managed 4 more goals (1 shorthanded) before Bobby Caunce's 57th minute strike gave the home fans the morale boost they had been hoping for. It was a niggly last 20 minutes with 55 minutes of penalties being dished out and, while the Sharks may have had the last word in the scoring stakes with their 11th goal on 58.20, Flyers Tom Murphy had the last laugh as he emerged victorious from a 59th minute roughing session with Sharks debutant - former Fife Flyers Elite League player Marc Fowley.
The Flyers have a quick chance of revenge as they face the Solway Sharks again at the Sub Zero rink in Cleveleys next Saturday 4th February in a 5pm face off. Don't miss it!
Photos:
Top: Flyers top points scorer for the season Bobby Caunce perpares for a face off.
Bottom: Sharks netminder Gary Russel faced 57 shots, letting in just 3 goals - and also scored one himself to be named Solway's Most Valued Player.
