Shields extends scoring streak

Nov 5 2007 The Journal

Edinburgh Capitals 0, Newcastle Vipers 4

THE Vipers went into this game needing to win in order to secure a Challenge Cup semi-final berth.

Victory means that the Vipers head Group B with six points from three games and their final match, away against the Sheffield Steelers next Sunday will decide the top two placings, and subsequently who will take on either the Nottingham Panthers or Cardiff Devils.

The Vipers’ impressive young netminder Ryan Macdonald saved 12 shots in each of the first two periods and a further eight in the final one for his third shutout of the season and his team’s man of the match award.

Macdonald obviously likes playing against the Capitals as they were the first team he blanked out earlier in the season. On September 15, the 22-year-old Canadian saved 24 shots in the 2-0 home win.

The Vipers welcomed back defence Pavel Gomenyuk into the line-up. The veteran Ukrainian had been rested for the midweek game against Hull Stingrays in a bid to help him recover from a groin injury and his first shift last night ended prematurely, as on 32 seconds he was penalised for hooking.

Before taking to the Murrayfield ice, the Vipers had scored two short-handed goals in their 17 league and cup games to date and by the time they left it, they had doubled their tally. The first short-handed goal came midway through the opening period. Top scorer Derek Campbell was settling down in the away penalty box after being penalised for slashing when the Vipers’ first penalty killing unit scored on 11 minutes.

Released by defenceman Ben Storey, fleet-footed winger Colin Shields became the first Viper to score 10 goals this season. His success was also his second short-handed marker and extended his hot-point scoring streak to eight games.

Twenty-seven seconds into the middle period, Storey and Campbell combined to set up Shields for his second of the night and make it six goals and ten assists since mid-October’s home victory against the Stingrays.

The assist on the goal also kept alive Campbell’s point-scoring sequence which like Shields is now eight games long. Coincidentally, both line mates had started the game with identical figures (4+10) for the previous seven games.

Two Caps players, Neil Hay and Dino Bauba, were sharing the home penalty box for tripping and cross-checking respectively, when the Vipers’ advantage increased further with an unassisted strike by their captain David Longstaff. Timed at 30 minutes, the powerplay effort was Longstaff’s sixth goal and 17th point this season. The Vipers continued to be outshot but Macdonald was in no mood to be beaten and nine minutes into the final period the scoreline became 4-0.

One statistic that will displease Vipers’ coach Rob Wilson is that his team only managed to hit six shots on target in the three periods.

TOP SCORERS

VIPERS: Shields 2+0, Gouett and Longstaff 1+0, Storey 0+2, D Campbell 0+1.