Dundee Tigers 4(11) - Aberdeen Lynx 4(9)
The Dundee Tigers booked their place into the Autumn Cup semi-final on Sunday night with an impressive 11-9 aggregate win against the Aberdeen Lynx. The Tigers went into the game with a 2 goal advantage from the previous leg and both teams hit the ice knowing that anything was possible. After a tentative opening ten minutes of the first period Steven Turnbull found the back of the net to put the Tigers in the lead. A brace of penalties to both teams saw a period of 3 on 4 hockey, which allowed penalty kill specialist Grant Reekie to slot home another short-handed breakaway goal after an audacious saucer feed from Scott Geddes. It wasn’t long until the Lynx reduced the deficit to 1 on the night as, with the Tigers under penalty, Ross McIntosh split the defence and launched home a wristshot. Tempers flared as the period came to a close as Kevin Turnbull and Grant Reekie clashed and both ended the period in the penalty box with the Tigers 2-1 ahead on the night.
The players had barely hit the ice for the 2nd period when the Tigers were assessed a penalty and on the resulting the power play Christian Johnson rifled the puck past the glove of Ciaran Hoggan to level things up in the game. A breakaway for Ross Bree chance was thwarted as Lynx forward Ross Goddard caught Bree’s face with his stick, drawing blood, and seeing the lynx player assessed a 2+2 penalty. Tigers couldn’t capitalise on the extended man advantage, but shortly after the Lynx returned to full strength Scott Marr regained the lead for the hosts as he fired the puck home on the rush. Yet another penalty saw the Tigers disadvantaged again, but not to be deterred Grant Reekie found a hole in the Lynx’s defence to slot home his 2nd short-handed goal of the game and increase the aggregate lead to 4 goals. Aberdeen closed the gap again as Mark Laing’s shot was deflected into the Tigers net to complete the period scoring.
The Lynx started the 3rd period strongly and applied increasing pressure on to the Tigers net, but the play soon settled into an end to end pattern as both teams gave their all to ensure progression to the semi-finals. Lynx’s Christian Johnson bagged his 2nd goal of the evening and tied the game 4 apiece and cut Tigers aggregate advantage to 2. Lynx pulled their netminder with a minute to go and as they pressed the advantage Tigers were assessed a penalty. Tigers successfully controlled the final seconds to ensure their unbeaten record for the season remains intact and secure their place in the next round of the Autumn Cup against city rivals the Dundee Comets.
Final Score: 4 (11) – 4(9)
Tigers MOM Grant Reekie.
