TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 10 FIFE FLYERS 1
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars made it three wins in a row and completed a four-point sweep of their biggest rivals, Fife Flyers with a 10-1 thrashing on home ice.
By Kris Smith
The Stars had four players sitting out of their line-up as new signing, Elijah Vilio missed his last game before being due to arrive into Dundee this week and also not icing was Kris Inglis (injury), Jake Elmer (illness) and Sean Allen (Suspension).
Meanwhile, the Flyers kept Andrew Little in goal as Shane Owen was still unavailable through injury and as were Colin Shirley and Stephen Desrocher.
After losing the first period 1-0 in Fife last night, the Stars were determined to avoid a similar start and they went straight on the attack, searching for an early opener.
After hounding the Fife goal with shots, one eventually snuck through as Brendan Harms redirected Drydn Dow’s rising shot from just inside the blueline and Harms got a big enough touch to send it past Little, inside three minutes.
The home side did not let off after that though and less than two minutes later, they doubled their lead through defenseman, Chris McKay carried the puck down the ice before firing a low wrist shot at Little from the right side and it squeaked through the keeper’s five-hole.
Tom Coolen’s men were then offered a route back into the game on 10 minutes as Dundee’s James Phelan was punished for a slashing foul but whilst trying to find a breakthrough, the Flyers lost a man of their own for two minutes, as Sean Giles was charged with the same offence.
The Stars outshot their bitter rivals 21-11 in the opening period and carried their two-goal lead into the second but they would then explode for six goals in eight minutes to put the game out of sight.
Carter Johnson struck first to make it 3-0 as he used his size to hold off the Fife defenders and skilfully skated the puck around Little on 27 minutes and then bang on the halfway mark, Brent Beaudoin fired home the fourth from close range, netting a loose rebound behind the keeper.
Spencer Naas and Anthony Rinaldi would then both net their first goals of the night two-minutes apart with both applying easy finishes to lose pucks around the Flyers goal.
The same duo then bagged their braces, with Naas lighting the lamp 30 seconds after Rinaldi’s first goal to make it 7-0 inside 34 minutes, with a tipped shot out of mid-air and Rinaldi then followed up in the 36th minute to put himself on a hat-trick, with a swift deke around Little.
During the Stars onslaught, the visitors also had three powerplays, two overlapping to give them a short five-on-three advantage but they failed to breakdown the Dundee defence or find a way past Kevin Carr, who was still producing some key saves to keep the Kirkcaldy club off the scoreboard.
In the third period, Rinaldi wasted no time in completing his hat-trick as he pulled off the same move as his second goal to make it 9-0, just 94 seconds into the period.
Four-minutes later, Dundee’s top scorer, Ryan Valentini then got in on the scoring to make it 10-0 with a fast strike into the top corner of Little’s net from out on the left wing.
The Flyers finally got off the mark in the 52nd minute as Lucas Chiodo snuck one past Carr, who had been deserving off a clean sheet but the game would end at 10-1.
Marc LeFebvre’s men take a massive confidence boost from their sweep of their rivals and will aim to extend their winning streak into the final games of 2023, as they face the resurging Belfast Giants, who are charging up the table to defend their title.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #17 Anthony Rinaldi
Fife: #86 Lucas Chiodo
Goals
1st:
1-0 Brendan Harms (Drydn Dow, Ryan Valentini) 02:50
2-0 Chris McKay (Craig Moore, Tommy Parrottino) 04:31
2nd:
3-0 Carter Johnson (Drydn Dow) 27:20
4-0 Brent Beaudoin (Anthony Rinaldi, Carter Johnson) 30:00
5-0 Spencer Naas (Brendan Harms, Chris McKay) 31:27
6-0 Anthony Rinaldi (Carter Johnson, Brent Beaudoin) 33:20
7-0 Spencer Naas (Ryan Valentini, Kyle Pouncy) 33:50
8-0 Anthony Rinaldi (Carter Johnson, Craig Moore) 35:27
3rd:
9-0 Anthony Rinaldi (Carter Johnson, Chris McKay) 41:34
10-0 Ryan Valentini (Spencer Naas) 45:41
10-1 Lucas Chiodo (Kyle Osterberg) 51:45
All images: Derek Black.
