Fife Flyers league defeat: ‘not acceptable, not good enough’ says Tom Coolen

It was a game which was far too loose and ragged at times, and both sides were culpable in their own zone as the middle period became a bit of a goal trading session.

Storm worked hard and deserved the win, with Loren Ulett fittingly firing home the winner with 17 seconds on the clock. It was his fourth of the night and it ended any hopes of this going into overtime.

Flyers can do better - indeed they must - particularly in these games which are key to their ambitions to be part of the chasing pack this season.

They held leads of 3-1, 4-2 and 5-3 but never did kill off a Storm side which had plenty of puck possession, and the mistakes which riddled their game put them under so much un-necessary pressure.

“I'm a little on the pee'd off side tonight,” said Coolen, “Look at the whole game - we had moments early and kept that lead, but we fell apart. I can't recall a game like that since I came here. These are the games you need to win and we didn't. We have to be better. Not acceptable, not good enough.” Few fans would disagree with him, despite the thrill of seeing some fine goals and some freewheeling forward play with Phelix Martineau, Lucas Chiodo and Johnny Curran all gaining pass marks for their performances.

Storm went ahead at 8:37 with Ulett firing home from a pass off the back boards from Jake Durflinger. It was all tied up after ten minutes thanks to a lightning quick finish from Maxim Musorov after Artur Gatiyatov had turned back Olivier LeBlanc's shot from the blue line into his path.

Curran then lit the lamp after Chiodo’s mazy move through the defence - it was worthy of a goal in its own right - and then almost made it 3-1 with a superb steal to stickhandle his way to the net. He couldn’t finish so he wheeled back for Nikolai Shulga who could.

That daylight should have given Fife the launch pad to take Storm out of this game, but they fell into a sloppy shoot out. Durlflinger netted for 3-2, Martuneaue made it 4-2, and Ulett cut that back to one.

Storm’s own defensive frailties were punished at the start of the third as a puck went straight to Chiodo who gratefully bundled it home for 5-3, but Fife were just as ropey as Ulett bagged his hat trick with a fine finish on the right at 43:53. At 54:46 Alexis D'Aoust beat netminder Shane Owen with a low shot which the keeper will want back, and just as everyone was braced for overtime, Ulett cashed in with his fourth in the final seconds as Storm piled on the pressure.

Spare a thought for the coach as he settled down to watch it all again ...