Celtic Cup
Hawks v Fife Flyers
On Saturday night the Fife Flyers rolled into Dundalk to take on the Latvian Hawks. The Last encouter between these two teams, it was Fife that came out on top in extra time, making the scoring 6-5 to the Scots. And the same happened this weekend, as they came away with a 5-2 victory over the Hawks. Aigers Brencis from the Hawks had a scoring opportunity early on in the 1st period, but unfortunately for him, there was a great save by the Flyers goaltender Blair Daly who stayed solid throughout the game. The tables turned (the other way for the Hawks, as Deniss Kurelass saved the shot, but it hit his glove and into the net by the cross bar, opening the Fife Flyers scoring account to 1-0 at 18:20. The first 10 minutes of play was being dominated by the Hawks, and the second by Fife.
The Flyers had a nice 1-0 lead going into the 2nd period, and the last minute goal from the Flyers could hurt the Hawks in the future as things start to hot up in the Celtic Cup. Score at the end of the 1st period 1-0 Flyers. Things just weren’t going the Hawks way, as the Flyers got off to a flying start to the 2nd period, with #12 Steven King netting the Flyers 2nd goal of the game at 21:19. There was some nice play from Hawks #44 Patrick Buda and Fife’s #11 Todd Dutiaume. The Hawks #8 Raimonds Karpinskis got a 2 minute penalty for slashing at 28:21, and the Flyers used every minute of it, scoring their power play goal at 29:37. Minutes later the Flyers attacked the Hawks with a 2 on 1, and Deniss Kurelass acted very well to prevent the Flyers from scoring, and he continued to do so as the Flyers were shooting the puck left, right and every were. The Hawks got a breakaway situation, with Aigars Brencis having a chance to score with 30 seconds remaining in the 2nd period, but failed to get pass the Flyers goaltender.
The Fife Flyers went into the 3rd period with a comfortable 3-0 lead. The Hawks really needed to set something up. The Hawks started the period fast, with one of their newest players, Steven Balmer, getting a lot of ice time, but he was unlucky not to score at the start of the period. Balmer is going to be one of the best players in Ireland in a few years if he keeps progressing. Fife opened the scoring of the 3rd period, as Flyers #12 Steven King wrapped rings around Kurelass and scored. The Hawks first goal of the game followed 3 minutes later, as Hawks #18 Rory Farell scored a superb goal into the top left hand corner assisted by Viktors Serdjukovs. The Flyers were not happy with the Hawks breaking their clean sheet, so #12 Steven King scored his hat trick of the game at 43:44. It was starting to get tense midway through the 3rd and final period. You could see the Hawks determination to gain control of the puck from their faces. Their work finally paid off , as they scored a power play goal. The Flyers goaltender had no chance of saving the goal, as the Hawks #19 Alex Fjodorovs put all his power and might into it. Later on in the period, there was some poor hockey from the Hawks, as they made no effort on their power play. The final score at the end of the 3rd and final period Latvian Hawks 2 Fife Flyers 5.
Final Score – Hawks 2 – 5 Fife Flyers
SOG – Hawks 32 – 31 Flyers