Nottingham Panthers 6-1 Excel Hull Stingrays
Excel Hull Stingrays 2-3 Braehead Clan
Neil Black two, Stingrays nil.
Another frustrating weekend for Sylvain Cloutier and his team. First they were outplayed and outclassed at the NIC against the Panthers on Saturday, in 6-1 game that outlined the difference between the haves and the have nots in the Elite League.
Then tonight they took 50 minutes to wake themselves from a deep sleep against the Braehead Clan, eventually falling by three goals to two. That despite having points within their grasp right up until the 59.50 mark - when former Stingray turned Clan player-coach Drew Bannister agonisingly cleared off the line.
The first 60 of the weekend was what I can, I think, call out of character for the club this season, in that it was a blow out loss of more than three. Only three times so far this season have they been roundly thrashed - unsurprisingly those scorelines coming in Nottingham (6-2 there last time out) and home and away to Sheffield (6-2 and 6-0 respectively).
15 of the Stingrays 20 losses this season have come by two or fewer goals, nine of those have been by one goal.
That in itself is an impressive, encouraging and demoralising hit all in one for the Stingrays. They're obviously getting something right, though clearly not quite right enough as they remain behind Braehead and Edinburgh in eighth place in the EIHL.
Anyway, unfortunately - particularly for the merry band of Stingrays fans that made the trip down dressed head to toe in blue and yellow lyrca - the Stingrays offered little in Nottingham aside from Kurtis Dulle's consolation powerplay goal and Andy McKinney's second fight of the year, this time against Brock Wilson. The latter by the way, according to sources, was another loss for McKinney, though it was a apparently much improved showing from his first top flight tilt against Bryan Jurynec - which I'm sure he'll admit, didn't go particularly well.
Onto tonight's home game against Braehead and well, the Stingrays offered very very little for two periods and a half. That could be partly down to the Clan sorting themselves out defensively after going down 9-4 in the Rays high point of the season so far, it could be down to a fairly noticeable change of tactic from both sides heading into the game or it could be down to some sloppy all around play from the Stingrays.
Personally I think it was a mix of all of the above.
Bannister had clearly sorted his side out and came to town with a defensive tactic and a view to counter attacking a Stingrays side that are particularly vulnerable at the back when they push up.
If that was indeed the tactic, it worked. At least one of their three goals came on the break, that coming after Derek Campbell - who had what I'd call a 'Marmite' game (love him one minute, hate him the next) - cheaply gave up the puck in the offensive zone for Mike Bayrack - who has proven to be a very valuable goalscoring asset to the Clan this season - to score on a two-on-one break. For me the Clan didn't offer a huge amount away from their break, no doubt this was because of the defensive tactic as I believe they do have more in the locker though.
A powerplay marker from Jade Galbraith and a buzzer beating goal from Brock McPherson in front after a truly brilliant pass from Galbraith behind the net were enough for the Clan to claim the win. They were good defensively but by no means unbeatable and if the Stingrays had played the full 60 as they did the last 10 then things probably would have been different.
Even then, the Rays had more than enough chances to at least tie the game and take it to the lottery of overtime. The turning point of their game being Dominic Osman - clear Stingrays man of the match - switching to play alongside Jason Silverthorn and Campbell.
For the large majority of the game the home side frustratingly insisted on dumping and chasing as well as cycling the puck down low at every opportunity. While there was no doubt a good reason for that (perhaps that is how the Rays got their 9-4 success over the Clan last time out?), it was no surprise that the two goals came as a result of players rushing the puck across the blueline and feeding it from there, rather than dumping it up and over the Clan before chasing it.
Their first saw Osman - newly paired with his new line mates - break across the blueline and feed Silverthorn - who continued his good season, which sees him in the top five pointscorers in the league, with another goal.
The second was both fortuitous and well worked as the puck found itself with Osman to score his tenth of the season, possibly via a deflection past Jaako Sumoulainen in the Braehead net. That goal gave some hope to the Stingrays who only moments earlier had suffered what looked to be a game killing goal which put the Clan 3-1 up.
The Rays continued to up the ante as time ticked down. However, it was all too little, too late, a Campbell penalty shot miss and Bannister clearance off the line later and the Stingrays were once again on the wrong end of a one goal loss.
Their everlasting search for consistency may have finally been solved. Unfortunately, that consistency has arrived in the form of tight losses against all - regardless of standing.
Osman (and the injured Dmitri Rodin) aside, it is clear the Rays top performers are the core of players re-signed from last season in Boucher, Dulle, Silverthorn and Tendler. Bring the remaining couple into check and the results and points may follow.
Excel Hull Stingrays 2-3 Braehead Clan
Neil Black two, Stingrays nil.
Another frustrating weekend for Sylvain Cloutier and his team. First they were outplayed and outclassed at the NIC against the Panthers on Saturday, in 6-1 game that outlined the difference between the haves and the have nots in the Elite League.
Then tonight they took 50 minutes to wake themselves from a deep sleep against the Braehead Clan, eventually falling by three goals to two. That despite having points within their grasp right up until the 59.50 mark - when former Stingray turned Clan player-coach Drew Bannister agonisingly cleared off the line.
The first 60 of the weekend was what I can, I think, call out of character for the club this season, in that it was a blow out loss of more than three. Only three times so far this season have they been roundly thrashed - unsurprisingly those scorelines coming in Nottingham (6-2 there last time out) and home and away to Sheffield (6-2 and 6-0 respectively).
15 of the Stingrays 20 losses this season have come by two or fewer goals, nine of those have been by one goal.
That in itself is an impressive, encouraging and demoralising hit all in one for the Stingrays. They're obviously getting something right, though clearly not quite right enough as they remain behind Braehead and Edinburgh in eighth place in the EIHL.
Anyway, unfortunately - particularly for the merry band of Stingrays fans that made the trip down dressed head to toe in blue and yellow lyrca - the Stingrays offered little in Nottingham aside from Kurtis Dulle's consolation powerplay goal and Andy McKinney's second fight of the year, this time against Brock Wilson. The latter by the way, according to sources, was another loss for McKinney, though it was a apparently much improved showing from his first top flight tilt against Bryan Jurynec - which I'm sure he'll admit, didn't go particularly well.
Onto tonight's home game against Braehead and well, the Stingrays offered very very little for two periods and a half. That could be partly down to the Clan sorting themselves out defensively after going down 9-4 in the Rays high point of the season so far, it could be down to a fairly noticeable change of tactic from both sides heading into the game or it could be down to some sloppy all around play from the Stingrays.
Personally I think it was a mix of all of the above.
Bannister had clearly sorted his side out and came to town with a defensive tactic and a view to counter attacking a Stingrays side that are particularly vulnerable at the back when they push up.
If that was indeed the tactic, it worked. At least one of their three goals came on the break, that coming after Derek Campbell - who had what I'd call a 'Marmite' game (love him one minute, hate him the next) - cheaply gave up the puck in the offensive zone for Mike Bayrack - who has proven to be a very valuable goalscoring asset to the Clan this season - to score on a two-on-one break. For me the Clan didn't offer a huge amount away from their break, no doubt this was because of the defensive tactic as I believe they do have more in the locker though.
A powerplay marker from Jade Galbraith and a buzzer beating goal from Brock McPherson in front after a truly brilliant pass from Galbraith behind the net were enough for the Clan to claim the win. They were good defensively but by no means unbeatable and if the Stingrays had played the full 60 as they did the last 10 then things probably would have been different.
Even then, the Rays had more than enough chances to at least tie the game and take it to the lottery of overtime. The turning point of their game being Dominic Osman - clear Stingrays man of the match - switching to play alongside Jason Silverthorn and Campbell.
For the large majority of the game the home side frustratingly insisted on dumping and chasing as well as cycling the puck down low at every opportunity. While there was no doubt a good reason for that (perhaps that is how the Rays got their 9-4 success over the Clan last time out?), it was no surprise that the two goals came as a result of players rushing the puck across the blueline and feeding it from there, rather than dumping it up and over the Clan before chasing it.
Their first saw Osman - newly paired with his new line mates - break across the blueline and feed Silverthorn - who continued his good season, which sees him in the top five pointscorers in the league, with another goal.
The second was both fortuitous and well worked as the puck found itself with Osman to score his tenth of the season, possibly via a deflection past Jaako Sumoulainen in the Braehead net. That goal gave some hope to the Stingrays who only moments earlier had suffered what looked to be a game killing goal which put the Clan 3-1 up.
The Rays continued to up the ante as time ticked down. However, it was all too little, too late, a Campbell penalty shot miss and Bannister clearance off the line later and the Stingrays were once again on the wrong end of a one goal loss.
Their everlasting search for consistency may have finally been solved. Unfortunately, that consistency has arrived in the form of tight losses against all - regardless of standing.
Osman (and the injured Dmitri Rodin) aside, it is clear the Rays top performers are the core of players re-signed from last season in Boucher, Dulle, Silverthorn and Tendler. Bring the remaining couple into check and the results and points may follow.
Rays Rating
6
FBB Three Stars
1 - Domnic Osman (1+1)
2 - Kurtis Dulle (0+0)
3 - Jason Silverthorn (1+1)
