Hercules ice hockey apparel sponsored Solway Sharks made their return to the Shark Tank after 3 weeks away and recorded a 3 point weekend over the second placed MK Lightning.
Saturday night was a Valentines special with the Sharks wearing their limited edition jerseys, and it was the Sharks fans that would love the start their side made when Nolan Gardiner re directed a Liam Stenton shot to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period. Liam Stewart, son of legendary rock star Rod Stewart tied things up for the Lightning shorthanded to level things at 1-1 going into the third period. The home side retook the lead through Kieran Hair, but the leagues top scorer Robert Herrman managed to force the puck past Hepburn to take the game to overtime. It was Herrman again that was the man of the moment in overtime when he managed to send a bobbling shot into the net with only 20 seconds of the sudden death period remaining. And give MK the win by 3 goals to 2.
Sunday afternoon was a chance for revenge for the Sharks but the travelling 200 or so MK fans cheered their team into a 2 goal lead in the opening 4 minutes. The home side quickly answered back with goals from Mason Alderson and a Nolan Gardiner double to lead 3-2 at the first period break. MK tied things up early in the second period before Alderson added his 2nd and Sharks 4th of the game before MK added a double of their own to take a 4-3 lead at the end of an entertaining period. MK doubled their lead with a powerplay goal early in the third period through James Griffin Before a Craig Peacock laser beam brought the Sharks to within one again, Toms Rutkis restored MK’s two goal advantage. But the Sharks as they’ve done so often found a way to get back into the game firstly through a Nolan Gardiner goal to complete his Hat Trick before Olivier Arseneau tied things up less than a minute later to send the game to overtime for the 2nd night in a row, there was nothing between the teams in overtime and the match went to penalty shots, to decide the winner, Nolan Gardiner for the Sharks and Ross Venus for MK were the only scorers in the opening 4 shots a piece before Craig Peacock converted for the Sharks and Tim Wallace was denied by Hepburn to give the home side the win and round off a 3 point weekend for the Sharks.
Sharks Canadian forward, Nolan Gardiner had this to say about the double header weekend.
“It was a very good weekend for us. To take 3 points off of a top team in our league is huge with playoffs getting closer. Two overtime games made for some exciting hockey and the fans were electric.”
Sharks return to the Ice Bowl this Saturday, Feb. 24th where they take on the Raiders IHC in a very important match. Puck drop is at 7:00 pm. Get your tickets now either via the clubs website, https://sharksihc.com/tickets/, or in person at the Ice Bowl.