Sharks V Minotaurs:Match Report
Written by author on October 3, 2013
The Magnox Ltd. Solway Sharks returned to the ice last Saturday after a weekend off with a potentially tricky trip to Altrincham to play the Manchester Minotaurs. In the Sharks previous fixture the Minotaurs had raced to a two goal advantage in the Shark Tank before the Dumfries side recovered to win four-two. On this occasion there was to be less frayed nerves as the Sharks played a textbook road game to return with both points after a seven-three victory.
From the opening face-off a Solway surge almost saw them break through the centre of the Manchester defence but the home side regained possession and counter attacked at speed before Lukas Zemen fired just over the bar. Encouraged by this the Minotaurs flooded forward and a Worrall pass found Zemen in the slot but Kieran Hobbins, deputising in the Sharks goal for the indisposed Mark McGill, was quickly down to block with his pads. Gradually the Sharks started to gain control of the game and they duly got their break five and a half minutes into the match. A slick pass down the left-hand boards from Frazer Goldie found Struan Tonnar and he quickly whipped the puck into the danger area. In front of the Manchester goal there was a mass of players but it was Stevie Moore who spotted the loose puck and shot home the opener from the edge of the crease.
In the last meeting between the two clubs Manchester netminder Paul Maudsley was the star of the show with a mixture of excellent saves and a little luck at times, but a minute after Sharks scored their first goal he must have realised this was just not going to be his day. From just outside the home blueline the puck was lobbed towards the backboards where Stevie Adams charged the puck down and looked for support in the middle. As he fired the puck towards the slot fortune smiled on the Sharks forward as he watched it ricochet into the net from the back of the keepers’ pads. A minute later Manchester almost equalised when Zemen broke through the Solway defence and unselfishly passed square to Nurse in the slot but the home forwards shot was brilliantly blocked by the pads of Kieran Hobbins. For the remainder of the period play was fairly even with the visitors mainly in charge but Hobbins did make another good double pad save from Zemen and then Drakeley and in the closing seconds of the period Brian Worrall rattled the right-hand post with the keeper beaten.
The Sharks started the second session determined to drive home their advantage and within fifty seconds they extended their lead. Juraj Senko collected a Stevie Moore pass close to his own blueline and proceeded on a delightful mazy skate past three Minotaurs, through centre ice and into the Manchester “D”. As he entered the left-hand face-off circle he looked up, spotted a gap and fired into the bottom left corner of the goal. The home side may have lost a little heart at this setback but to their credit they rallied immediately and thirty seconds later they opened their own account. John Murray and Jake Nurse combined well on the left wing to send a low pass into the slot where it was met by a crisp first time shot from Geoff Higglesworth that gave Hobbins no chance. The Sharks pulled themselves together and almost extended their lead three minutes later but Maudsley made a fine double save to deny both Thurston and Moore from close range.
As the period progressed the Sharks looked comfortable with their lead and for the most part play was something of a stalemate although Hobbins did make a fine glove save from Zemen and Maudsley was equally effective to push a Calum Henderson shot onto the post. A scrappy piece of defensive play from Manchester was punished in the thirty-second minute when Ross Murray picked off an attempted clearance and advanced to the outside edge of the right circle before firing a shot into the roof of the home goal. However, once again, the Minotaurs refused to accept defeat and struck back almost immediately when Drakeley and Day combined on the left to send Zemen around the Sharks goal to complete a wrap-around and reduce the deficit to two. Four minutes from the break the deficit might have been reduced still further when Hutchinson Pollitt in the slot but Hobbins was down fast to smother his shot at the post. On the thirty-nine minute mark Struan Tonnar made sure that the Sharks supporters would rest easier during the interval when he collected a long pass from Senko at the Manchester blueline. As he forced his past the defender Tonnar shot low but Maudsley made a fine block only to see the puck rebound off a defenders skate towards goal and, in his efforts to save, the home keeper could only divert the puck into the net.
An early powerplay to the home side gave Manchester the opportunity to begin the final session on the attack and when Day and Worrall combined behind the Solway goal to find Zemen arriving at the back post the Minotaurs marksman duly fired home. The Sharks regrouped and went on the offensive themselves and forced two fine saves from Maudsley over the next few minutes when he blocked shots from both Murray and Tonnar from the slot. In the middle of the final period Manchester began to exert some extended pressure on the Solway defence and Hobbins again did well to block several goal-bound shots. To be truthful they were shots that you would expect the young keeper to make, but they came at and important time when another goal might have given the home side momentum and belief. With nine minutes remaining Struan Tonnar collected an Alan Crane pass close to the centre line on the right wing. Forcing his way around his marker Tonnar headed across the face-off circle before slotting his shot between the keeper and the near post. This in effect ended the game as a contest but the Sharks did score again – with one second left. An Adams pass seemed to have been controlled by a Manchester defender in the right circle but Iain Bowie had other ideas. Cheekily he robbed him of possession, cut sharply across the face of goal and pulled the puck around the keeper and into the net as all eyes darted towards the clock.
Overall this was a competent road victory by the Sharks who were generally in control of possession and territory for much of the game. This coming Sunday they head across country for a top of the table clash with the Billingham Stars. And supporters who would like to join the team on the bus can reserve their seat by contacting david@solwaysharks.co.uk – the cost of the bus is £10 and it will leave the Ice Bowl at 2pm sharp.
Scoring statistics for the Sharks were as follows: Struan Tonnar two goals and one assist, Stevie Adams, Juraj Senko and Stevie Moore all 1+1, Iain Bowie and Ross Murray both 1+0, Alan Crane and Frazer Goldie both 0+1. Kieran Hobbins in the Sharks goal saved forty-four of the forty-seven shots that he faced (save percentage 93.62%).
