EIHL week 4 round-up

League and Challenge Cup action on the menu for this week in the Rapid Solicitors Elite Ice hockey League with Belfast leading the way in both the league and their Challenge Cup group A, while Nottingham and Cardiff have skated clear in Group B.

Good also to see all ten teams now in action with Braehead skating in their first action of the season and posting two wins to get off to a fine start in both league and Challenge Cup.

The week started last Wednesday when Nottingham took two Challenge Cup points from their home match with Hull. The scoring was spread around once again by Panthers with six different scorers but it was player/coach Corey Neilson who had the honour of scoring the GWG as early as the 29th minute as Panthers prevailed 6-2.

On to Friday and it was a league and cup match – up between Belfast and Fife. There was only going to be one winner here as Fife’s tough start to their first EIHL campaign continued and Giants came out on top very easily on a 9-1 scoreline. Doubles for no less than four players in this one with Brock McBride picking up a five-point night with 2+3.

A full programme on Saturday night with Braehead making their home season debut and what a great night for the Scots side as a superb crowd of nearly 2,600 saw them blank Dundee 6-0 in a league and cup clash. Jaakko Suomalainen posted a 33 shot shutout and new Clan skipper Jordan Krestanovich opened his account with two goals as Stars were soundly beaten.

A big league clash in Belfast saw the Giants take the points from Nottingham by the odd goal in three with Craig Peacock firing the winner in the 37th minute. Cardiff extended Hull’s miserable start to the season with a 4-2 Challenge Cup win in Wales with Scott Dobben scoring twice and Fife delighted their fans with their first win at Elite League level  – a sweet one it was too against rivals Edinburgh, Flyers coming from behind to win 3-2 with a couple of powerplay strikes inside the final seven minutes.

The final match of Saturday saw a high scoring encounter between Sheffield and Coventry with Steelers winning 6-4, helped by 2+3 for Neil Clark and 2+2 for Jeff Legue.

On to Sunday and it proved a winless weekend for Blaze as they went down 2-0 at home against Cardiff in the Challenge Cup. Stevie Lyle was again impressive and posted 25 saves for his second shutout of the season already. Dundee faced-off at home against Nottingham and continued their struggle to put the puck in the net.

Jarrett Konkle did score for Stars in the 51st minute but that was never going to be enough against a free scoring Panthers, who came out on top by 4-1. Braehead made it two wins from their opening two games as they took both Challenge Cup points from Edinburgh by virtue of a 4-2 result with a rare goal from Tim Wedderburn setting them on their way.

Finally for this week Fife played their third game in three nights but still had enough energy left to take Hull all the way to a shootout before losing 3-2. It is a sign that Flyers are slowly coming to grips with life as an Elite League outfit and the result was even more impressive considering their starting netminder Garrett Zemlak was ejected at the end of the second period on a match penalty for excessive roughness – the first match penalty called so far this season.

Great credit to back up Blair Daly who performed very well and helped earn his side a point in the end.