Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
ROUND-UP Play-off place still in reach for CCS Stars
DUNDEE CCS Stars suffered a 6-3 loss in Belfast on Friday in a game where they more than matched their opponents for the first two periods.
However three unanswered goals in the final session gave the home side victory and both points.
Stars recovered well last night and took full points from a 4-2 win against Manchester Storm in Dundee Ice Arena to keep them within touching distance of a play-off place.
It was a game that coach Marc LeFebvre had targetted as a “must win” and his charges fulfilled his wishes.
Against Storm, Stars got off to the best possible start when Brett Switzer opened the scoring after only 28 seconds.
They went on to dominate the opening period, outshooting Manchester 14-6 but were unable to add to their goal tally as the session ended with Stars leading 1-0.
That lead was doubled on 21 when Mikael Lidhammar made it 2-0 with assists from Matt White and Kevin Hart.
Storm’s player/coach Omar Pasha was then awarded two minutes for hooking on 24 minutes and, on the powerplay, Kevin Bruijsten netted to give the Taysiders a 3-0 lead.
Storm have proven resilient and, on 35 minutes, they pulled a goal back through Connor Varley.
That sparked life into the visitors and, with 13 seconds left in the middle session, Jack Prince grabbed his 14th goal of the season to bring the game back to 3-2.
The final period saw Stars defence under pressure from Storm’s forwards as the English side tried to grab the equaliser but Dundee held firm.
With one minute 16 seconds remaining, Manchester pulled goalie Mike Clemente in favour of the extra skater but Justin Faryna put the game beyond the visitors just 10 seconds later to score into the empty net and secure two huge points.
Stars coach LeFebvre said: “We got off to a great start tonight and that set us up for the win.
“Manchester are a good team, dangerous going forward and they put us under a bit of pressure. We showed great character and got the result we were looking for.
“In Belfast we more than matched them for two periods and I felt t he 6-3 score flattered them.
“We didn’t get any help from the referee with some interesting decisions against us.
“But it is what it is and, although we lost, I thought the performance was good.
“We are on course for what we set out to do but we can’t get too excited as we need to keep our focus.
“There is a lot of hockey to be played but it’s in our hands and we just need to keep up our intensity and fight for every point we need.”
In Belfast on Friday, Giants took the lead after 11 minutes through Derrick Walser but, just two minutes later, Justin Faryna replied for Stars.
With one minute remaining in the period, Mikael Lidhammar was awarded a two-minute penalty for two many men and, on the powerplay, Blair Riley put the home side 2-1 in front.
Dundee survived a one minute five on three with Craig Cescon and Matt White sitting out two-minute minors and then levelled when Cale Tanaka netted for 2-2.
Giants’ response was immediate when David Rutherford restored their advantage.
Faryna t hen added his second on 37 minutes to take both teams i nto the final session level at 3-3.
The final session belonged to the home side, though, with goals from Michael Quesnele, Jim Vandermeer and Alex Foster to seal a 6-3 victory and the two points.