The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Fife Flyers clinch conference title after double win over Stars
ICE HOCKEY: Sweet success for Kirkcaldy men at home of Dundee Stars
Fired-up Fife Flyers last night celebrated their first major silverware since joining Britain’s top ice hockey league, but arch rivals Dundee Stars took them to the wire.
The success was all the sweeter as the Kirkcaldy club claimed the big prize at the home of their arch rivals Dundee Stars.
The Gardiner Conference title eluded Fife last term when they were pipped by a narrow margin by Glasgow-based Braehead Clan.
The inconsistent holders can’t now catch Flyers who rounded off a gruelling three-game weekend with a third straight win.
A packed out Dundee Ice Arena witnessed a stunning third period comeback by Stars but despite taking the lead they could not postpone the title party,
Flyers made the best possible start, scoring on the powerplay through Peter LeBlanc in 91 seconds.
Dundee slowly turned the game around and levelled things through Gabriel Lévesque, who roofed the puck into the top of the net at 5:52.
Fife started strongly again in the second period when a bad giveaway by Omar Pacha to Shayne Stockton, allowed him to fire a shot at Travis Fullerton before poking home his own rebound on the 22nd minute mark.
Todd Dutiaume’s side extended their lead to 3-1 when Stockton scored his second of the evening as he picked up a rebound and skated around the net, wrapping his shot around the post and past two scrambling Dundee defencemen at 30:38.
Less than a minute later, Liam Heelis skated in close and slipped a pass to Danick Gauthier who was unmarked and able to shoot the puck into the wide open net at 31:22 for a 4-1 lead.
However, Dundee didn’t give up and continued to pound the Flyers goal, pulling one back through Marc-Olivier Mimar with half a second left in the middle period.
In the third period, Stars came roaring back and were only a goal behind when Pacha fired a quick shot that bounced off the plexi-glass and back off Iles and into the net at 43:41.
But Flyers quickly restored their twogoal lead through Gauthier at 46:26.
Dundee still did not lay down and Jimmy Jensen was in the right place to shoot home at 49:03 to make it 5-4.
Stars then levelled the score at 5-5 when a slapshot from Lukas Lundvald was saved but the rebound dropped in front of Chris Lawrence and he quickly shot the puck past Iles.
And remarkably they went 6-5 in front with just 46 seconds left through Lundvald who was lurking at the backdoor and smashed the puck into the net.
Andy Iles was swapped for an extra attacker as Flyers put it all on the line and it paid off for the Kirkcaldy side, as Charlie Mosey was alone in front of goal and put the puck past Fullerton with 16 seconds left to play.
In overtime, Cody Carlson saw a shot saved but the rebound was quickly cleared and that led to Ian Young crashing the net with the puck. Fullerton denied the defenceman but the rebound went straight to Dan Correale and Flyers’ latest signing fired it into the back of the net to secure the extra point and a 7-6 win on his debut weekend.
Flyers stunned Dundee Stars with a 7-0 victory at Fife Ice Arena on Saturday.
Three-goal hero Chase Schaber kickstarted the goal blitz with a strike after four minutes.
Carlo Finucci followed-up with a second under six minutes later.
Danick Gauthier collected a second period double, his goals coming after 23 and 27 minutes.
Schaber’s second arrived after 44 minutes and Heelis made it 6-0 with Schaber claiming his hat-trick with an unassisted goal.
Other results over the weekend were: Belfast Giants 4 Milton Keynes Lightning 5, Coventry Blaze 3 Sheffield Steelers 4 (OT), Edinburgh Capitals 2 Cardiff Devils 10, Guildford Flames 3 Manchester Storm 4 (SO), Nottingham Panthers 4 Braehead Clan 3 (OT), Belfast Giants 2 Edinburgh Capitals 4, Braehead Clan 1 Coventry Blaze 3, Milton Keynes Lightning 1 Manchester Storm 4, Nottingham Panthers 7 Cardiff Devils 2, Sheffield Steelers 3 Guildford Flames 2.