Cup woe as Stars lose both their ties

THE four Scottish ice hockey teams gathered at Murrayfield for the Elite League Scottish Cup.

It proved to be a poor time for Dundee Stars as they exited at the semi-final stage, losing 6-2 to Fife Flyers. They then lost the third-fourth play-off 3-0 against Edinburgh Capitals.

Against Flyers, Stars started with new signings Patrick Lee, MarcOliver Mimar and Chris Lawrence.

However, they were without the injured Kris Inglis and Emerson Hynryk. Flyers were without injured Shane Stockton and Sean Beattie.

Fife took the lead in five minutes when Danick Gauthier shot home.

Two minutes later it was 2-0 when a shot from Chase Schaber counted.

Dundee pulled a goal back when a shot from Gabriel Levesque was tipped in by Chris Lawrence.

Flyers’ response was immediate as Liam Heelis restored their twogoal advantage.

Fife then broke free through Carlo Finucci, who wrapped the puck around from behind the goal for a short-handed counter to make it 4-1.

Anthony Mastrodicasa was awarded a two-minute minor for delay of the game and, on the powerplay, Flyers took advantage when Gauthier grabbed his second to give his team a 5-1 lead.

Stars pulled it back to 5-2 through Johan Andersson but Flyers’ Russ Moyer added a sixth goal to give them a 6-2 win.

In the other semi, Braehead Clan defeated Edinburgh Capitals 4-2.

In the third-fourth place play-off, against Capitals, Stars started with Craig Holland in the nets.

Stars had two powerplay chances in the opening period but failed to cash in.

Dundee started t he middle session with a powerplay but again failed to take advantage and were made to pay when Cazzola netted.

Following a mistake i n t he Dundee defence, Serei Banashkov broke free to score.

Then Dundee’s Gabriel Levesque was penalised for hooking and, on the resultant powerplay, Cazzola made it 3-0. That’s how it finished.

Dundee’s woes continued when Malcolm Gould was given a match penalty for slew footing.

Clan won a bad tempered final against Flyers by 3-1.

Stars’ coach Omar Pacha said: “It wasn’t a good weekend but we had a plan to put the three new arrivals in the line-up to try things in different areas and it’s tough when you don’t have a typical pre-season.

“The game against Capitals was to try different combinations, different lines and that’s what pre-season is about. You can’t expect everything to be ready from the get go.

“It was another test for my players and I saw a lot of good things and some bad things. However, we got a good response.

“It’s a new team and to expect everything to go well at the click of a finger, it’s just not going to happen.

“I am more interested in the performances and set-ups. I would rather take losses in these games, learn, and be ready for the league.”