Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
ROUND-UP Massive wins take Stars into play-off spots
DUNDEE CCS Stars pulled off two vital wins at the weekend that took them into the final play-off position in the league table.
They are only one point behind Coventry Blaze i n seventh but with two games in hand.
Stars beat Braehead Clan 4-1 in a feisty fixture on Saturday and followed that up with a 5-1 beating of Edinburgh Capitals in Murrayfield last night.
In Dundee, Stars took the lead on four minutes when Cale Tanaka found the net from assists by Joey Sides and Kevin Hart.
The second period became a penalty fest. It started when Dundee’s Mikael Lidhammar and Clan’s Corey Cowick were awarded two minutes each for roughing.
Then Stars were five-onthree with Jay Rosehill and Cowick both penalised. It was to cost the visitors when Vinny Scarsella opened up a twogoal lead just one minute later.
Carlson then brought Braehead back into the game on the 33-minute mark but again Clan’s indiscipline left them short for the remainder of the period with Alex Leavitt sitting our four minutes on minor penalties and Matt Beca ending the period on a two-minute roughing minor and Stars’ Justin Faryna on a two- minute tripping call.
Two minutes into the final period, Stefan Della Rovere was given two minutes for slashing and, on the powerplay, Scarsella added his second of the game to open up a 3-1 Stars lead.
Clan then completely lost their discipline when Rosehill was sent to the locker room on a game misconduct following a two-plus-two penalty for high sticks.
With eight minutes l eft, Faryna completed the scoring with a powerplay goal as Clan continued to concede penalties with Carlson and Scott Aarssen both sitting out minors.
Stars showed restraint as Braehead lost their cool and the two points collected by the Taysiders are vital to their serious push for the play-offs.
Clan ran up a total of 95 minutes in penalties, something that will surely be punished by the league.
In Murrayfield last night, the home side had an early powerplay chance when Matt White was given two minutes for holding stick but Stars’ special team did their job and killed the penalty.
In 10 minutes, Capitals’ Ian Schultz took two minutes for holding and, on the powerplay, Dundee opened the scoring with a goal Lidhammar.
The Taysiders doubled their advantage on 18 minutes when captain Joey Sides made it 2-0. Less than one minute later, Vinny Scarsella added a third to give the visitors a commanding lead at the break.
On 28 minutes, Edinburgh’s Michael D’Orazio was awarded two minutes for slashing and, on the resultant powerplay, Lidhammar netted his second of the night to give Stars a 4-0 advantage. Kevin Hart then made it 5-0.
Both teams had chances in the final session but it took until the 56th minute for a goal to come. Stars’ McGiffin was awarded two minutes f or hooking and, on the powerplay, Taylor MacDougall netted for Capitals.
The game ended with Stars recording their second win of the weekend and leapfrogging Manchester Storm into the final play-off position.
Stars coach Marc LeFebvre said: “The guys deserve it as we hadn’t been getting the breaks but now they are making things happen.
“We were eight points behind Manchester and have overtaken them. We have a massive game against them next weekend that we need to win. It’s back to practice now and to keeping momentum.” from Mikael