Excel Hull Stingrays 5-3 Newcastle Vipers
The Rays, missing Adam Knight due to a sick bug but plus youngster Ben Lowe, took the lead after just eight minutes as leading scorer Konstantin Kalmikov notched another goal to his tally after Curtis Huppe had worked hard to get to his own rebound. Assistant-player coach Huppe reacted fastest to his initial shot with the puck falling to Ukrainian Kalmikov who fired home from an acute angle.
At this early stage it was clear that the Vipers, with a short bench, had come to shut the Stingrays down while taking their chances at the other end and that is exactly what Vipers forward Nathan Salem did just five minutes after the opening goal with the Brit firing high over the shoulder of Latvian keep Martins Raitums to level the scores.
Jason Silverthorn, who would go on to record four points in this game, replied for the Stingrays two minutes later with a powerplay goal from a hard pass from Kalmikov to restore the lead, however, just two further minutes later a diving Brent Hughes levelled the scores on a delayed penalty to send the sides into the first intermission level.
A meagre second period, in which the sides traded goals from Jermaine Domish, on the powerplay, and Pavel Gomenyuk, who floated a wrist shot past the unsighted Michel Robinson in the Vipers net, ensued before the Rays, determined to get Sylvain Clotuier a win in his 1000th game, finally took a grip against an understrength Vipers side.
With just four defencemen, and with former Stingrays blueliner Ryan Jorde severely limping, the Rays peppered Robinson with 18 third period shots on Robinson while just two were fired the other way on the home goal.
Despite the shot total, the Rays left it late to beat Robinson, Silverthorn the eventual scorer just three minutes from time before Kalmikov added a second of his own with a second left to give Sylvain Cloutier a 5-3 victory on his 1000th professional appearance.
Stingrays Stats
Goalscorers: Silverthorn (2), Kalmikov (2),
Raitums: 18 shots, 3 goals against
SOG: 48-18
PIM: 2-8
Cloutier's Comments:
"Our big line of Silverthorn, Kalmikov and Curtis Huppe all played a great game, the Glowa line had lots of chances too and I thought Ben Lowe played well alongside Matty Davies and Lee Esders. It was a real team effort, you can't ask for any more, especially after Saturday night."
