By Kris Smith
Dundee Stars lost in their first game of 2019 as Glasgow Clan took a 4-1 victory in Dundee last night.
Dundee’s Matt Bissonnette was not fit to return to action for the Gardiner Conference tie but Glasgow came to Tayside with a full squad.
The opening five minutes seen both sides exchange chances but they could not create anything to trouble their opponents. However, in the sixth minute, Dundee strung together a few opportunities that left the massive crowd in DIA gasping as they went wide of net.
A cutback pass from Tyson Wilson hit off the skate of Matt Haywood and that was enough to turn it past Pontus Sjögren in the eighth minute. Pacha requested a video review of the goal as Haywood may have kicked the puck in but the goal stood.
Clan drew their first penalty as Gerard Hanson was penalised for a late hit but there was some controversy as a Glasgow player touched the puck but did not control it before Jordan Cownie put the puck in the net but the referee’s quickly washed out Dundee’s goal and instead gave them a powerplay.
After killing off the penalty, the visitors doubled their lead in the 15th minute as Brendan Connolly managed to drag a shot around Sjögren and tuck it in the far side of the goal.
Inside the final 30 seconds of the first period, Craig peacock interfered with the skating paths of Cownie and Marquardt and that earned him two minutes in the sin bin.
Pete Russell’s side returned to full-strength after killing off the carried time on Peacock’s penalty but they were soon back shorthanded as Jack Musil caught Kris Inglis in the face with his stick in the 27th minute. Clan seen out their third penalty of the night.
Glasgow dominated the middle section of the second period and were then given their second powerplay as Connor Cox was called for tripping in the 32nd minute. The home team killed the penalty but were really struggling to grab control of the game and find a way back into it.
In the third period, the away team controlled the first few minutes before Dundee’s Lukas Lundvald brought a good glove save out of Rumpel. Brian Hart made a good block with his stick but Beca’s second effort deflected off his stick and into the Stars goal to make it 3-0 to Clan in the 44th minute.
Marquardt pulled the Glasgow keeper out of position before sending a pass to Lundvald but he was unable to finish from in front of goal and that summed up the frustrating game for Stars. Stars went back on the powerplay in the 49th minute as Hanson returned to the box on a kneeing call.
Just as Hanson returned to the ice, Beca was played in on a breakaway by Scott Pitt and he finished low past Sjögren in the 51st minute. Dundee were quickly given another man advantage as Brendan Connolly was penalised for unsportsmanlike embellishment in the 52nd minute.
Again, Clan killed the minor penalty but Stars managed to rob Rumpel of the clean sheet as Brian Hart went through the middle and fired a high shot past the Clan netminder on the 58-minute mark. The final buzzer sounded and it was not the start to 2019 Dundee wanted.
Dundee now turn their attention to tonight’s game as they host, bottom of the table, Milton Keynes Lightning at 7:30pm. The Lightning were defeated 4-3 last night in Kirkcaldy as they faced Fife Flyers. Ivan Sijan, Georgs Golovkovs and Radek Meidl provided the goals for Milton Keynes.
Also, on Wednesday MK announced the departure of defender, Clay Anderson and that they would be without their starting netminder, Patrick Killeen for the two mid-week games.
