Blaze angry at ref justice

A HAT-TRICK and man-of-the-match performance from Fabrizio Ricci led the Dundee Stars to a crucial 4-3 victory over the Genting Casino Coventry Blaze at the Dundee Ice Arena.

Blaze travelled to Scotland with Alex Nikiforuk back in the line-up following a single game suspension. They were though without Justin Hache, Jake Hansen and Ross Venus through injury.

The opening period was a back-andforth affair with both play-off chasing teams creating chances.

The deadlock was broken at 10.55 when Ricci who hammered home his first of the night. Ricci was then involved in a fight with Blaze’s top scorer Ben Lake. The pair each receiving five-minute penalties for fighting. The second period belonged to Coventry who scored three times. Brit Alex Forbes was rewarded for his hard work to tie the game 1-1 at 24.52.

Then came a double for Blaze man-of-the-match Shawn Pauly timed at 32.23 and 39.01 respectively.

With their play-off hopes on the line, Dundee came out rejuvenated in the third and through Ricci they found a way back into the game on the powerplay (42.59).

Brian Hart next pounced on a rebound to tie the game 3-3 (47.21) before Ricci with his hat-trick scored the game winner at 49.06.

With the clock ticking down, any chance of a Blaze comeback was made all the more difficult as arguable penalty calls went against them leaving coach Danny Stewart and his players frustrated and angry as they left the Dundee ice with a 4-3 defeat.