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Flyers flop as Stars surge
Photograph of Fife Flyers Denis Kadic in action against the Dundee Stars copyright of Derek Black. by Austin Young & Matt Elder of Slapshot Scotland: http://slapshotscotland.wordpress.com. Dundee Stars gained revenge for last week’s 4-1 defeat to playoff rivals Fife Flyers, by coming out on top in the second game in seven days between the two clubs. It was a game the Stars couldn’t afford to lose after last week’s defeat left them bottom of the Elite League standings and in danger of falling out of playoff contention altogether, and as such, the hosts were out of the box quickly. Indeed, it only took 18 seconds for the Stars to get their noses in front, with captain A.J. MacLean stunning the Flyers defence and catching star netminder Garrett Zemlak sleeping. The nightmare start for the Flyers continued just 38 seconds later, when Stars top scorer Jarrett Konkle made it two for the home side. In fairness to Fife, they seemed to settle after the early shocks, and pulled one back in six minutes on their first power play – former Dundee coach Dan Ceman coming back to haunt his old club when he deflected Danny Stewart’s slapshot effort past Chris Whitley and into the net. The puck was actually in the Dundee net again six minutes later, however Jamie Wilson’s effort from distance was adjudged to be offside. After the Flyers resurgence towards the end of the first period, The Stars came out with a more physical game-plan in the second. The change in tactics worked well, with Mark Kolanos and coach Brent Hughes managing to bag two goals in quick succession in 25 and 27 minutes respectively. However, the Flyers had to be kicking themselves after they blew a golden chance to level when Jeff Hutchins took a 2+2 penalty for crosschecking at the start of the second with the game still at 2-1. While last week Fife were able to punish Dundee by making the most of their chances even after Stars dominated for long periods, they seemed to lack a killer instinct in front of goal this time around. On the other hand, Stars coach Brent Hughes will surely be overjoyed with the way his team took full advantage of their chances. Ceman pulled another back for Fife on the power play after 30 minutes, however hopes of a Flyers comeback were all but quashed when Ross McIntosh held off pressure from Chris Wands to make it five for Dundee. The Kirkcaldy men again enjoyed plenty of possession in the third without being able to make it count, and they were punished for it a final time when Hughes rounded off the scoring with a fine piece of individual skill. While both of Fife’s goals came on the power play, had they taken full advantage of their numerous chances with an extra attacker when Dundee reverted to a more physical approach, there’s a good chance they’d have taken something from this. Hughes on the other hand, must be delighted with the increased accuracy of his attackers. If Dundee play at this level for the rest of the season, they’ll give themselves every chance of reaching the playoffs. Afterwards, the sweet sense of revenge has given the Dundee coach a taste for the play-offs and has targeted Hull Stingrays next week. He said: “We’ll be tied with Fife again and it gives us extra motivation for the massive games against Hull next week. “Eight place, or even seventh, is right there for the taking and it’s going to come down to who wants it more. “We said before the game that tonight was some payback for last week and I felt the guys came out hard, stuck to the game plan for 60 minutes, and when we do that, good things happen. “One of our key goals tonight was to keep it deep and wear out their defence and we did that for the majority of the game. That was one of the reasons why we won.”
Fife player-coach Todd Dutiaume said: “That was more than a lacklustre performance and we looked tired and disinterested, which is a bit frustrating because we’ve been playing so well recently. “What’s made this club successful is the hard work – and it was absent. It was as if our third period performance in Coventry transferred over to tonight. “It puts the pressure firmly on the shoulder of all of us players and proved to ourselves we can’t breeze through games and get points. “Our fans have been watching good hockey for last the six weeks, and they expect that. We just need a week of re-grouping and getting back to it.”
0-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
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5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Dundee move into playoff place
- Stars win to keep playoff hopes on track
- Stars move back above Fife
- Dundee leap frogged by Fife
- Brent Hughes adds Mark Kolanos to offence
