Fife Flyers: Zack Phillips nets four as Flyers grab first cup semi-final spot

Christian Hausinger’s three strikes underpinned a huge 4-4 tie with Dundee Stars on the road with the shortest of benches to set up last night’s winner takes all return in Kirkcaldy.

Once again the teams tied at 4-4 with Zack Phillips firing a superb hat-trick.

Overtime couldn’t separate them, and it came down to the second round of sudden death penalties when Phillips delivered the decisive goal to seal a 5-4 win that might - just might - be the spark to ignite the club’s entire season.

The performance was anything but pretty, but all that matters is Flyers are in the semi-finals for the first time in their EIHL era.A club that has struggled to find ways to win games suddenly did so, coming off the ropes after a tough night against a Stars side until Brayden Sherbinin’s thunderbolt of a shot tied this game with 68 seconds left on the clock.

By then they’d pulled netminder Shane Owen in a do or die gamble which ignited the rink, and the team, as the puck flew through a cluster of players and found the back of the net.

Stars coach Jeff Mason could only comment: “We deserved a better result than we got.”And he was probably right, but he also noted where Stars failed was not disposing of a short-benched Fife on home ice seven days ago.

Jeff Hutchins, associate coach, was the first to admit Flyers’ performance last night wasn’t up to scratch - “not our best game by a country mile, but we have been on the end of results like this so happy to get on the other side” was his assessment while also praising the players for finishing so strongly.

Flyers fell behind to Ben Sokay’s fourth minute opener and took until the 44th minute to draw level at 3-3 as Phillips completed his hat-trick.

That parity lasted just a few minutes as Johan Eriksson fired Stars ahead with a 47th minute powerplay, and they then saw a goal go to review before rightly being discounted - Shane Owen’s 360-degree spin to halt the puck was clearly successful as the ref stood right behind the net indicating no goal. A glance at the TV monitor confirmed he was right.

Flyers certainly dug deeper in the third period, but they left it late. Owen was pulled with 1:23 left on the clock and Flyers swarmed Stars in their own zone. When Phillips pass found found Sherbinin centre of the blue line, he let rip to finally tie the game.

In overtime, it was all Fife - pretty much constant puck control, and great chances for Johansson and Kivilahti which could have won it - before two rounds of penalties.

When Elijah Barriga failed to convert, the stage was left for Phillips to net, sparking an exodus from the Fife bench to begin the celebrations. The MoM award was a mere formality after his stats of 4+1 in a 5-4 tie.

Hutchins said: “Semi-finals are a great opportunity to take a step forward - but that isn't the only target. Next one is to make the final. Why not us? That's what we should be asking whoever we are playing.”