Weekend of woe for Fife Flyers

FIFE Flyers’ attempt at winning their first ice hockey play-off title fell at the first hurdle when they were beaten 4-0 by league champions Cardiff Devils, the eventual winners, in the first semi in Nottingham.

After a goalless first period, where both teams passed up powerplay chances, it took until the 36th minute for the deadlock to be broken — and it was the Welsh side who took the lead.

Layne Ulmer and Joey Haddad set up Tyson Strachan who netted for 1-0.

The final period belonged to the champions and they double their lead on 47 minutes when Matt Pope made it 2-0.

Less than one minute later, Ulmer scored a third goal for Cardiff and, with eight minutes remaining, former Stars’ favourite, Justin Faryna, completed the scoring to take Devils into the final.

The other semi-final was a closer affair when Sheffield Steelers came from 2-0 and 4-2 down to beat Nottingham Panthers 5-4 in overtime.

In the play-off for third and fourth place, Panthers beat Flyers 8-2.

In the final, after a goalless first period, Devils took the lead on the powerplay.

Sheffield’s Ben O’Connor took a two minute minor for hooking on 25 minutes and Matt Pope put Cardiff ahead just 40 seconds into the powerplay.

Then, with under two minutes left in the middle session, Cardiff doubled their lead when Adam Hotham scored high into the net.

On 47 minutes, Steelers got themselves back into the game when Eric Neily beat Ben Bowns in the Cardiff nets with a shot that flew in to bring the score back to 2-1.

Joey Haddad then made it 3-1.