Tigers Calm Storm
The Dundee Tigers gained 2 valuable SNL points on Sunday night as they weathered the Kilmarnock Storm with an 8-1 victory at Dundee Ice Arena.
The hosts wasted no time in getting on the scoresheet as Kris Phillips and Scott Marr combined to find Ross Bree in open ice to tap in the simplest of goals with just 17 seconds of the game played. In the 4th minute the Tigers doubled their lead as a well drilled cycle allowed Grant Reekie to find Paul Guilcher with a precision pass that the Tigers Captain converted through the Storm keeper’s gaping 5-hole. The hosts continued to dominate possession through the opening period but it wasn’t until the 12th minute that the lamp was lit again. Paul Guilcher showed some deft skills to beat an opposing player to gain the zone, before making a sweet move to draw both the defender and keeper towards him. With the keeper stranded Guilcher then slotted a pass to his attack partner Grant Reekie who simply slotted the puck home for what was to be the final goal of the period. Controversially the Tigers had 2 goals disallowed in a single shift as a Scott Marr tip in appeared to go in and out of the goal un-noticed by the match officials before the puck found the net and was washed out for an alleged impingement on the goaltender.
The second period started in much the same way as the first with Tigers in the ascendency. With 3 minutes played Guilcher was involved in another marker as his vision and pin point pass found Robbie Barnett in enough space to knock the puck home for Tigers 4th. It appeared that the host engaged cruise control with the 4 goal gap and despite dominating possession chances were limited and there was to be no further scoring in the middle session.
The opening minute of the third period saw Paul Guilcher on the scoresheet again. Grant Reekie picked up on a pass from Stuart Barnett just inside the Tigers defensive zone and showed great strength to power past 2 Storm players with Guilcher following in his wake. An intelligent drop pass just inside the blue line served Guilcher with the ideal opportunity to fire a laser of a slapshot beyond the glove of the bewildered Storm keeper. 2 minutes later Mark McLeod latched on to a fortuitous bounce after Steven Turnbull threw the puck in to the corner only for it to jump in to the high slot for McLeod to wire home with pace. With the period past the midway point it was the turn of Kris Phillips to get his name in the goal column. As the storm tried to move the puck out of their zone Phillips made a hit and freed the puck to Robbie Barnett. Barnett then returned the puck to the streaking Phillips who released a thundering snapshot that beat the keeper over his right shoulder. With less than 5 minutes of the game remaining Phillips doubled his tally for the night with possibly the pick of the evening’s goals. After stealthily stripping a storm defender of the puck the rangy forward found himself one on one with the visiting goalie. Showing a calmness befitting a Buddhist Phillips channelled his inner Charlie Conway to go backhand-forehand-backhand before lifting the puck expertly in to the roof of the net. The Storm notched a late consolation goal through Alisdair Brown with just over 2 minute remaining but it was the Tigers who roared to victory in this gripping encounter.
Final Score : Tigers 8 – Storm 1
Tigers MOM: Grant Reekie
