Aberdeen Lynx 5 - Dundee Tigers 7
Saturday night saw a short benched Tigers team take on a strong Lynx team at the Linx Ice Arena. After a delayed faceoff due to a large crowd the teams stepped out on the ice for the first game of the season – an Autumn Cup quarter-final matchup. Tonight marked the debuts for young forward Robbie Barnett and goalie Ciaran Hoggan with both looking to impress in Tigers colours.
The match got under way with both teams wanting to lay down a marker for the season ahead. The tempo of the game was high from the first drop of the puck, with the inevitable first game rustiness falling away within the first couple of shifts. Lynx Ross McIntosh caused an early scare when he rattled the post with a ferocious shot from the high slot after 2 minutes. It wasn’t long until the referee found his whistle and Tigers went short-handed, as Pavel Pliskov headed to the box. The Tigers survived the man disadvantage before Aberdeen started to pick up penalties. Tigers had no less than 5 powerplay opportunities but despite some well worked plays and a number of shots on the Lynx they Tigers failed to capitalise. A relatively quiet period, did see Aaron Thompson break through the Tigers defence on a breakaway, which saw Ciaran ‘Titch’ Hoggan come out on top. Both teams saw out the period with the score tied at 0-0.
The second period started as the first finished, with the Tigers going short-handed as Scott Marr was assessed a controversial penalty. A lack of concentration from the Lynx with the man advantage allowed Grant Reekie to break free and dangle Craig Chalmers to put the Tigers in the lead with a short-handed goal. Hoggan made some outstanding saves in the Tigers net to retain the lead before a physical exchange led to Tigers Stuart Barnett being ejected from the game. With the half way point of the match just past Tigers took advantage of a two on one breakaway on to the Lynx goal. A sublime pass from Scott Marr allowed Robbie Barnett to slide his first goal as a Tiger past a sprawling Craig Chalmers. Lynx pulled one back a few minutes later through assistant captain Christian Johnson just as a Tigers penalty was due to expire. Tigers quickly restored the 2 goal advantage though as Steven Turnbull sneaked the puck through Chalmers 5-hole. The Tigers made it 4-1 as Mark McLeod finished a beautifully worked, tic-tac-toe play with less than 3 minutes remaining in the period, which completed the period scoring.
The Tigers came out for the third period with no intention of letting off any pressure off the pedal. Just 2 minutes after the restart a hard working Robbie Barnett stuffed the puck home again to make it 5-1. With Scott Marr sitting a penalty Grant Reekie once again showing his speed and skill, leaving the Lynx defence in his wake as he scored his second short-handed goal of the game. With the Tigers looking like they were still celebrating their 6th goal, Jonathan Hogan netted a powerplay goal reducing the scoreline to 6-2 before Ross McIntosh cut the Lynx deficit to 3 just 30 seconds later. A tactical timeout by the Tigers stalled the Lynx momentum but they did continue to put pressure on Hoggan in the Tigers net though. The visitors would not lie down though and Mark McLeod found a hole in the Lynx defence to slam the puck home and make the score 7-3. With penalties proving to be a downfall of the Tigers they were once again punished by Ross McIntosh who brought the differential back to 3 goals. As the Tigers continued to all foul of the officials Aberdeen continued to apply pressure. Jonathan Hogan notched the Lynx fourth powerplay goal of the night with less than a minute left on the clock and conclude the night’s scoring.
Final Score: Aberdeen Lynx 5 – Dundee Tigers 7
Tigers MoM – Ciaran Hoggan
