Storming Pirates silence Thunder Buddies dish out goals by the dozen
Craig Ritchie
Paisley Pirates finished their weekend on a high as they stormed to victory past the sorry Thunder.
The 12-1 scoreline was no less than the Pirates deserved as they completed the latest rung of fixtures undefeated.
Paisley were ahead in the second minute as Sami Harju was on hand to slip home a pass from Michael Dobson.
Further goals followed from Calum Blair and Martyn Guy to give the hosts a comfortable lead by the halfway point in the period.
However, Harju’s night was ended prematurely when he took a bad knock at 18 minutes. The Finnish forward had to be helped from the ice, taking no further part in proceedings.
But there was time left in the session, however, for Jardine Wallace to score his first goal for the club, with Pirates 4-0 up at the end of the period.
Play was stopped early in the second session as confetti was seen to be falling from the Arena ceiling on to the ice.
And with a stray bird having somehow got into the ice rink there were several moments of unscheduled entertainment before it could resume.
Pirates wasted no time in scoring a fifth through Tom Johnston, only for the visitors to go straight to the other end and deny Callum Donaghy his shut out, as he was defeated by Thunder’s Marcus Murdoch.
This appeared to spark the home side into retaliation, as in the remainder of the period they scored no fewer than four times through a Guy double, securing his hat-trick, Blair, and Ross Andreucci.
That took the score to 9-1 by the second break, but there were more delays as play halted again to allow the puck to be removed from a player’s shorts with an appropriate degree of decorum.
With the game well and truly over as a contest, the final session was notable only for a double strike by Johnston, to also secure his hat-trick, and Guy, taking his personal tally to four, to complete a comprehensive 12-1 win for fhe home side.
Pirates are next in action this coming Sunday, October 28, when they take on Solway Stingrays at Braehead Arena at 5pm in their final group match.