Fife Flyers: positives from hard-working show in 3-2 loss to Glasgow Clan
The records will show this as a 3-2 loss, but Fife Flyers will surely take many positives from a game against Glasgow Clan which came on the back of an overnight return from Belfast.
They started minus three import forwards, and saw influential skater Johan Porsberger taken out with a cynical hit, depleting numbers even further. That Flyers continued to dig sums up the team spirit. There is much more still to come.
Justin Ducharme, Vladimir Dostilk and Didrik Svendsen were all non starters, forcing another reshuffle of the lines, and more ice time handed to the roster’s new Brit pack.
In an often ragged match, Flyers found themselves under a lot of pressures, but started to click in the second, creating some excellent chances - more would have come had pucks snapped to sticks. Had they taken a point from this Challenge Cup tie, Clan coach Corey Neilson could not have complained too much. For all his side looked sharper, it didn’t deliver a knockout blow.
The visitors open the scoring at 6:34 when a puck fired off netminder Christian Purboo, and spun high into the air. Several players tracked it, but Tristin Langan got to it first, and made a good move across the net to convert. Flyers got off the back foot late in the period, and, after several decent strikes, they drew level through Mason Alderson who moved quickly across the goal to bag his first senior goal with a deft backhand flick at 18:28.
Period two was less than two minutes old when Flyers delivered a superb short handed goal as Porsberger carried the puck down the ice, and waited until Josh Winquist arrived to nail a one-time shot. They needed to golf that for a few minutes but Hugo Roy equalised inside 20 seconds. Clan’s third came on the half hour as Alex Forbes pulled the trigger from the blue line.
Defenceman Chris McKay then took a roughing minor for objecting to a check into the plexi from Jonas Emmerdahl, and four minutes later he was gone for a cynical open ice cross-check which ended Porsberger’s game; tossed on a five plus game penalty.
Flyers couldn’t convert on the five minute penalty going into the third period, but they had their chances; Ethan Somoza coming close, before Garet Hunt was ejected on a 2+5+game roughing call after piling in following another bad hit, this time from Richard Jarusek who was ejected on five plus game for a check to the head which should be on DOPS radar on Monday morning.
At 57:49 Alderson was hauled down going for goal, and was awarded a penalty shot, but netminder Lucas Brine made a big save.
Flyers called a time out but a late cross checking call against Ian Scheid impeded their hopes of pulling their netminder.