Agony for Tigers in Playoff Quarterfinal

The Dundee Tigers crashed out of the SNL Playoff race in the cruellest of fashions on Sunday night after recovering from a 4 goal deficit in the first leg of the quarterfinal before being beaten on penalty shots.

With an extensive injury list the Tigers travelled to Aberdeen on Saturday night for the first leg with only 9 fit skaters and former goaltender John Robb dressing as a player to ensure the minimum requirements were met to allow the game to go ahead. The Tigers had no intention of sitting back though and were unfortunate to go behind in the first period through 2 powerplay goals from the Lynx. The second period saw the hosts extend their lead to 4 goals to 1, Andy Henderson with a fine solo effort to notch Tigers opener. In the final session of the first leg the fatiguing Tigers continued to push but the fresher legs of the home team were noticeable. Richie Fox reduced the deficit with and early goal but the Lynx responded with a quick goal of their own. Scott Marr brought the Tigers to within 2 goals of the Lynx but 2 unanswered goals in the final ten minutes gave the Lynx what appeared to be and unassailable lead going in to the second leg.

On Sunday night there was emotional start to the game where both teams and sets of fans honoured the memory of former Tigers coach and General Manager Joe Guilcher who passed away at the start of last week. It was particularly poignant when the first goal of the night came from Joe's son and club Captain, Paul Guilcher with a well-placed slapshot from the high slot. Tigers doubled their lead on the night through Scott Geddes whose long range shot took a deflection off an Aberdeen defender to wrong-foot Lynx goalie Craig Chalmers before the period closed. The Lynx pulled back a goal through Jordan Leyden who took advantage of a rare powerplay opportunity for the Lynx but Grant Reekie got the Tigers resurgence back on track just 40 seconds later. A neat redirect by Richy Fox brought Tigers to within one goal on aggregate before Andy Henderson completed the comeback before the end of the period. With 20 minutes to play it was clear that fatigue was setting in to the short-benched Tigers. There was no way the hosts would stop fighting and with some desperate defending at times there were opportunities for both teams to steal the tie in regulation time. It was not to be though and a goalless final period saw the teams tied at 8 goals apiece after 120 minutes of hockey played and penalty shots ensued.

In the penalty shootout Jordan Leyden missed Lynx first effort before Grant Reekie’s shot was saved for Tigers. Iain Malcom gave Lynx the advantage with their second effort and Andrew Henderson's attempt was saved. Christian Johnson made no mistake with Lynx 3rd penalty shot and his goal saw the Lynx progress to the SNL playoff finals weekend in dramatic fashion.

Tigers senior player Ian Carstairs said after the games – “We knew we’d be up against it this weekend. The Lynx finished second in the league this year and are defending Playoff Champions so were obviously the favourites in this tie by quite some margin. With the events at the start of the week though there was a bit of extra motivation for us in both games. The guys performed well on Saturday and despite the lack of fit bodies we were unlucky to be down by 4 goals after the first leg. There was a huge amount of belief in the room on Sunday night though and Paul Guilcher’s decision to play in the game inspired the boys. After we paid our respects to Joe before the game everyone was focused on chipping away at the Lynx lead. I couldn’t have been happier for Paul when he scored that first goal for us and after that it seemed that the bounces that had gone against us this season were falling for us for a change. Even when the Lynx pulled a goal back the response was immediate and at the end of the second period there had only been one team in the game. Our pace dropped a little in the middle of the last period but we rallied in the last 5 minutes and could have grabbed the goal to put us through.

Losing through penalty shots is sickening and especially after the performance we’d put in on the night. If we’d gone through I don’t think anyone could deny we deserved it but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. What the game showed though was the heart and fight that this team has. Our season is now over but we’re already looking to next year and hope to come back stronger and fitter for the 2017/18 campaign.”

Final Score on Aggregate Tigers 8 - Lynx 8

Lynx win on penalty shots.

MOM Saturday - Andy Henderson

MOM Sunday - Paul Guilcher