The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars ended their 2023 with a bang as they battled back from 2-0 down to beat Belfast Giants on penalty shots and get back to winning ways.

By Kris Smith

The Stars made on change to their line-up following the defeat in Belfast with Jake Elmer coming back in and Tommy Parrottino sitting out along with injured defenseman, Kris Inglis.

The start of the match saw Dundee be the first to come close to opening the scoring as Ryan Valentini forced Jackson Whistle into a sprawling save inside two minutes but after that, goaltender, Kevin Carr and the Stars defence were kept busy by the Giants.

Belfast were unfortunate not to be in the lead as they twice had shots cleared away from an open goal by last ditch defending from the home side but they would eventually find a way through on 10 minutes, as Bobby MacIntrye tipped Cameron Pound’s shot down and past Carr.

The goal would be reviewed by referees for a possible high-stick on the tip from Nazarian but the goal would stand to put the visitors in the lead.

The Starswere pushing hard for a leveller and were only being denied by some great goaltending from Whistle as he snatched multiple efforts out of the air and even reached back behind himself to stop Chris McKay’s effort from trickling across the line.

Dundee went into the first break still 1-0 behind but were left aggrieved after some potential fouls by Belfast went unpunished from the referees, however in the second period the penalties soon began to pile up.

 

 

First to head to the sin bin was Dundee blueliner, McKay as he recieved a two-minute minor for roughing after a scuffle behind the play with Belfast’s Kohei Sato.

Read the full report below!

 

All images: Derek Black.

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Trade-Mart Dundee Stars Team
54 Games
22 Wins
25 Losses
7 OT Losses
51 Points