Hull Stingrays 5-4 Fife Flyers
Latvian forward Janis Ozolins again put in a match winning performance, notching a goal and two assists, as the Hull Stingrays beat Gardiner Conference rivals the Fife Flyers in their only fixture of the weekend.
The Stingrays saw captain Kurtis Dulle return to the ice having been hospitalised with an illness in the past week, however, Andy Ward sat out - still feeling the effects of the big hit from Sheffield Steelers forward Tom Sestito.
Fife - despite the long journey down from Kirkcaldy - got off to a flier, penning the Rays in their own end for a large portion of the opening minutes. That early pressure paid off after just two minutes, player-coach Todd Dutiaume slotting home his first of the season on a two-on-one that manifest itself after Martin Ondrej found himself caught high as the Rays lost the puck.
The Slovakian blueliner replaced Tomas Valecko just under two weeks ago and put in a very good performance over the 60 minutes but again found himself caught out as he did on occasion last season and as Valecko did during the early part of this season to the cost of the club.
The Stingrays then squandered their first powerplay opportunity, failing to test the Flyers before a quick counter attack saw Ben Bowns deny Zach Carriveau only for Dutiaume - who had come straight out of the penalty box - to fire the rebound home in a largely unguarded net.
Struggling to get to grips with the Flyers in the opening minutes, the Stingrays made Dutiaume look like a world beater in the opening period, however, they struck back against the run of play after 8.50.
Ozolins - who earlier crafted a beautiful move which very nearly created an opening chance for the Rays - inevitably netting the home sides first goal, utilising his pace alongside Jason Silverthorn on a two-on-one to slot home into a largely empty net with Bryan Pitton seemingly out of position at his front post.
The Scottish side again regained control of the game soon after the Rays opening goal though, as Jereme Tendler allowed a puck slide through to a non-existent defenceman on the blueline in the offensive zone. The puck continued on to a Derek Keller and, with the Stingrays defence out of position, the Flyers countered, eventually scoring through Steve Gunn for a deserved 3-1 lead.
Having dug themselves a hole at 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period, Sylvain Cloutier's side needed a big improvement in the second period to turn the game around and that's exactly what they got, peppering Pitton's net with 17 shots while restricting the Flyers to just three shots. In goalscoring terms that shot advantage allowed the Stingrays to level the scores.
Defenceman Shane Lovdahl had an early second period powerplay goal, which would have been his first for the club, chalked off because of a man in the crease, though this only served to spur his side on.
A great defensive shift from Ondrej then saw his Fife defensive counter-part Carriveau caught forward and Ozolins breaking forward on the ensuing two-on-one break with Tendler - who made up for his earlier error by pinpointing a shot past Pitton to narrow the lead to one goal.
Six minutes later, the Rays powerplay - which slowly but surely improved over the 60 minutes - came into effect albeit on a relatively weak shot from Stingrays captain Dulle that somehow found its way home and was bizarrely officially awarded to forward Dominic Osman.
Flyers netminder Pitton then produced a wonderful double save, stoning the Rays on the first shot before a miraculous sprawling save to again deny the home side the lead.
All was to play for in the third period at 3-3 and the Stingrays got the perfect start, Tendler intercepting a pass from the opening face and racing in to record his second of the game shorthanded and, more importantly, give the Rays their first lead of the game with just six seconds gone.
Latvian Ozolins then had two great chances to seal the game in favour of the home side only to be denied by the pipework and Pitton on two separate occasions.
Stingrays netminder Bowns came up huge with several big scrambling saves from close in with five minutes to go, however, the Rays D failed to retain and clear the puck time and time again and the Flyers eventually scrambled the puck home through Caisey Haines to equalise and, seemingly, send the game towards overtime.
With the game quickly heading towards overtime, Ozolins was again involved, feeding the puck to Jason Silverthorn before a cross ice pass and low one-timer from Cloutier somehow found its way home at the near post for the game winning goal.
There was still time for Tendler to be denied the hat-trick, hitting the ironwork from way out on the empty net but Cloutier's rare goal sealed a big win for the Stingrays in the Gardiner Conference. Their second home win in two games edges them into seventh in the league and second in the conference.
Latvian forward Janis Ozolins again put in a match winning performance, notching a goal and two assists, as the Hull Stingrays beat Gardiner Conference rivals the Fife Flyers in their only fixture of the weekend.
The Stingrays saw captain Kurtis Dulle return to the ice having been hospitalised with an illness in the past week, however, Andy Ward sat out - still feeling the effects of the big hit from Sheffield Steelers forward Tom Sestito.
Fife - despite the long journey down from Kirkcaldy - got off to a flier, penning the Rays in their own end for a large portion of the opening minutes. That early pressure paid off after just two minutes, player-coach Todd Dutiaume slotting home his first of the season on a two-on-one that manifest itself after Martin Ondrej found himself caught high as the Rays lost the puck.
The Slovakian blueliner replaced Tomas Valecko just under two weeks ago and put in a very good performance over the 60 minutes but again found himself caught out as he did on occasion last season and as Valecko did during the early part of this season to the cost of the club.
The Stingrays then squandered their first powerplay opportunity, failing to test the Flyers before a quick counter attack saw Ben Bowns deny Zach Carriveau only for Dutiaume - who had come straight out of the penalty box - to fire the rebound home in a largely unguarded net.
Struggling to get to grips with the Flyers in the opening minutes, the Stingrays made Dutiaume look like a world beater in the opening period, however, they struck back against the run of play after 8.50.
Ozolins - who earlier crafted a beautiful move which very nearly created an opening chance for the Rays - inevitably netting the home sides first goal, utilising his pace alongside Jason Silverthorn on a two-on-one to slot home into a largely empty net with Bryan Pitton seemingly out of position at his front post.
The Scottish side again regained control of the game soon after the Rays opening goal though, as Jereme Tendler allowed a puck slide through to a non-existent defenceman on the blueline in the offensive zone. The puck continued on to a Derek Keller and, with the Stingrays defence out of position, the Flyers countered, eventually scoring through Steve Gunn for a deserved 3-1 lead.
Having dug themselves a hole at 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period, Sylvain Cloutier's side needed a big improvement in the second period to turn the game around and that's exactly what they got, peppering Pitton's net with 17 shots while restricting the Flyers to just three shots. In goalscoring terms that shot advantage allowed the Stingrays to level the scores.
Defenceman Shane Lovdahl had an early second period powerplay goal, which would have been his first for the club, chalked off because of a man in the crease, though this only served to spur his side on.
A great defensive shift from Ondrej then saw his Fife defensive counter-part Carriveau caught forward and Ozolins breaking forward on the ensuing two-on-one break with Tendler - who made up for his earlier error by pinpointing a shot past Pitton to narrow the lead to one goal.
Six minutes later, the Rays powerplay - which slowly but surely improved over the 60 minutes - came into effect albeit on a relatively weak shot from Stingrays captain Dulle that somehow found its way home and was bizarrely officially awarded to forward Dominic Osman.
Flyers netminder Pitton then produced a wonderful double save, stoning the Rays on the first shot before a miraculous sprawling save to again deny the home side the lead.
All was to play for in the third period at 3-3 and the Stingrays got the perfect start, Tendler intercepting a pass from the opening face and racing in to record his second of the game shorthanded and, more importantly, give the Rays their first lead of the game with just six seconds gone.
Latvian Ozolins then had two great chances to seal the game in favour of the home side only to be denied by the pipework and Pitton on two separate occasions.
Stingrays netminder Bowns came up huge with several big scrambling saves from close in with five minutes to go, however, the Rays D failed to retain and clear the puck time and time again and the Flyers eventually scrambled the puck home through Caisey Haines to equalise and, seemingly, send the game towards overtime.
With the game quickly heading towards overtime, Ozolins was again involved, feeding the puck to Jason Silverthorn before a cross ice pass and low one-timer from Cloutier somehow found its way home at the near post for the game winning goal.
There was still time for Tendler to be denied the hat-trick, hitting the ironwork from way out on the empty net but Cloutier's rare goal sealed a big win for the Stingrays in the Gardiner Conference. Their second home win in two games edges them into seventh in the league and second in the conference.
FBB Three Stars
1. Janis Ozolins
2. Cale Tanaka
3. Martin Ondrej
