Frustratingly, the Excel Hull Stingrays tonight came out on the wrong side of a 2-1 scoreline against reigning Elite League champions the Coventry Blaze at the Hull Arena.
Buoyed by the return of brothers Lee and Craig Mitchell, the Stingrays iced a full compliment of players, while the Blaze also neared a full line up with the return defencemen of Jason Robinson and Brian Lee, although they were without import forwards Owen Fussey and Brad Cruickshank, who was suspended after sucker punching Stingrays' Andrew Coburn last weekend.
Thanks to a scrappy opening first few minutes neither side was able to settle down in the early stages, however, energised by a rotating third line consisting of Ryan Lake, Jozef Sladok, Lee Esders and Lee Mitchell, who made an encouraging return to action, the Blaze were put under the first real pressure of the game.
Hits flew in from the mainly British line but the closest they and the Stingrays would come to opening the scoring was from the stick of Lee Esders, who clipped the post with a wristshot that so nearly beat Brett Jaeger for the games opening goal.
In a penalty strewn game Paul Thompson's Blaze opened the scoring through Luke Fulghum on a 5-on-3 as the clinical Canadian easily slotted home a rebound to punish the indisciplined home team for a 1-0 lead.
The Stingrays though had powerplay chances themselves with Jereme Tendler's guilt edged miss nearing the end of the first one many would have expected the 40+ goal scorer to put away. Although they had opportunities the home side generally struggled on the man advantage all game, as they have done all year, failing to convert on nine attempts, and they ended a tight but scrappy first period one goal down.
The second period was much the same as powerplay's dominated much of the play thanks to an performance from referee Michael Hicks that was inconsistent at best.
Still, the Stingrays killed off a 5-on-3 early in the second before British forward Ryan Lake was presented with a great opportunity to get his side on the board, firing wide despite having handed time and space to pick a spot.
That chance was a rarity in a period controlled by the Blaze, and they were rewarded for their play 27 minutes in as Russ Cowley bagged one off the post with Rays defenceman unable to clear the puck off the line behind netminder Christian Boucher and Hicks on the spot to give the goal.
After failing to properly find their feet in the first two periods, having hung on to the Blaze in the second, the Stingrays finally broke out of their shackles in the third firing 19 shots on Jaeger while restricting the visitors to just six shots.
Importantly for their chances in the game, Kurtis Dulle broke Jaeger's shut out 1.40 into the third to give the Stingrays hope of a result, one timing the puck agonisingly past the outstretched Blaze keeper after Konstantin Kalmikov had picked out the Rays captain rushing from the blueline towards the back post.
That goal gave the Stingrays all the momentum for the remainder of the period and provider Kalmikov went on to ping the post three minutes later.
Unfortunately, that would be as close as Sylvain Cloutier's side would come as the Blaze shut down offensively and focused on defensive solidity in the remaining minutes.
There was, however, still time for perhaps the most controversial moment of the game as all-time Blaze top pointscorer Dan Carlson ran straight into Stingrays netminder Boucher, bringing the Canadian crashing down as he played the puck.
Naturally, Boucher's teammate Jason Silverthorn immediately skated in to seek retribution on Carlson, however, after a brief tussle, Carlson was handed just a two minute charging penalty for his actions, much to the dismay of most in attendance.
Combined with Silverthorn's coincidental roughing penalty the Blaze went largely unpenalised for the hit and the Coventry captain was able to return to the ice just two minutes later, just in time to help them complete a tight 2-1 win.
The frustrating and disappointing defeat looks to have cost the Stingrays the small chance of pushing for the fifth place currently occupied by the Blaze and sixth placed Braehead's 15 goal demolition of Edinburgh tonight puts the Stingrays further behind in their chase for sixth. Nevertheless, the Clan - who have beaten the Rays once in four meetings - visit Hull tomorrow night in an absolute must win game for the club if they are indeed to topple their Scottish rivals.
Rays Rating
6
FBB Three Stars
1- Drew Bannister (0+0)
2- Kurtis Dulle (1+0)
3- Lee Esders (0+0)
