10th place Capitals take the win over 9th place Flyers in the final EIHL match of 2013
With both teams at the foot of the EIHL league table, it was predicted to be a fairly even matchup between Edinburgh’s Capitals and Fife’s Flyers. And so it turned out, with the Capitals winning a closely fought match at Murrayfield Ice Rink.
The opening period started well for the Capitals, but four early chances went begging. They did, however, come close enough with one to start celebrating the ‘goal’ but the puck had just sneaked past on the outside of the post. But, it was to be the Flyers who opened the scoring in the eighth minute from 21, Bobby Chaumont (assists – 26, 64), who scored during a Powerplay as Edinburgh had two men serving penalties. The remainder of the half was scoreless – although play was suspended for a few minutes to clear up some blood from an injury to one of the Fife defenders – but the Capitals had most of the chances with the Fife ‘keeper being called on to make several excellent saves.
And it was the Flyers were also first on the scoreboard in the second period as 39, Danny Stewart (assists – 5, 64) forced the puck home at close range from a scrum of defenders to put the visitors 2-0 ahead in the third minute. Within five minutes of the goal, however, Edinburgh struck back twice through 88, Tomas Horna. The first coming during an Edinburgh Powerplay (assists 17, 36) in the sixth minute with a powerful strike from the left which left the Fife ‘keeper sprawling on the ice, and the second, to bring the teams level, a couple of minutes later with another shot on goal from the right (assists – 17, 11). The Flyer’s then turned up the pressure and took themselves back into the lead with a second goal from Chaumont (assist – 22) during yet another Powerplay.
Another Powerplay period for the home side, three-quarters of the way through, gave Marcis Zembergs the chance to draw the Capitals level once more. The rest of the period was fairly evenly matched with both sides having shots on goal, one of which, fired in by Fife’s Matt Reber, seemed to be deflected by Jade Portwood’s face!
The third period was a torrid and tense affair with the chances spread fairly evenly, neither side really gaining the upper hand, and both ‘keepers working hard to keep the puck out of the net. But, it was the home side who finally broke the deadlock in the 17thminute with the umpty-eth Powerplay of the match giving Horna the chance to score his hat-trick (assists – 36, 19) to take the Capitals into a 4-3 lead. For the last few minutes, Fife pulled their ‘keeper off and put another ‘outfield’ player on, but all to no avail as Edinburgh held onto their lead until the final hooter.
After a run of heavy defeats, this win was what the Capitals needed to take them into the New Year on a high and, hopefully, with a lift in confidence for the rest of the season. If they can keep winning, and Fife lose the odd match, or two, then the 2014 part of the season may see the Capitals off the bottom of the table for the first time in this campaign.
Images from the match will be available here over the next few days
