Ice hockey: Flintshire Freeze suffer double defeat but remain confident ahead of table-topping clash

Nov 11 2010 by Alec Doyle, Flintshire Chronicle

TWO games, two defeats but the Flintshire Freeze took a lot of benefit from their double-header in the Northern League.

The defeats did not affect their standing in the EIHL North Two as neither Fife Flyers nor Solway Sharks compete in that division.

In the first game north of the border the Freeze emerged on the wrong end of a 9-2 defeat to Fife.

But it was not the walkover the Flyers enjoyed when they visited Deeside earlier this season.

The Freeze were very strong from the face-off.

Within 10 minutes they opened the scoring and secured a 2-0 lead.

Four minutes later, the Flyers had halved their lead during a five-on-three powerplay as two Freeze players were sin-binned and with a minute left until the break they equalised during a second five-on-three.

Both powerplays were harsh on the Freeze however, as they were penalised for delay of the game after the puck went out of play repeatedly owing to the fact there were lower than usual boards and no side nets to catch the puck.

In the second period the Flyers showed their strength and scored six as the Freeze lost their way.

However, there were plenty of positives for the Freeze.

They regained their composure in the third period and held the Flyers to one more goal. Most Valuable Player for the Freeze was Chris Jones although both Peter Gazda and Phil Crosby were strong contenders.

On Sunday the team travelled south to Dumfries to take on Solway Sharks.

It finished 10-2 to the hosts but again the result didn’t reflect the Freeze’s efforts.

On Sunday Solihull Barons come to Deeside (6.30pm) with a still buoyant Freeze looking to overhaul them at the top of the division once more.