PIRATES STING RAYS

Paisley Pirates romped to their biggest win since they moved to the Braehead Arena in 2007 as they swept Solway Stingrays aside in a mammoth 18-1 victory.

The home side built on their great 5-2 away win at Edinburgh the week before in an amazing first period which saw them score no fewer than ELEVEN times, although it wasn’t until the seventh minute they actually took the lead through Michael Dobson, and doubled their lead in under a minute, while short handed, as Thorp found the net for the first time. A spirited Stingrays side responded immediately as they went straight up the ice and reduced the deficit to one through Adams, but it was the last crumb of comfort they were to get in a very long evening.

Sarginson, and then Thorp with his second of the night, took the score to 4-1 before the halfway point in the period, and a three goal burst in less than a minute through Bain, Crute and Johnston took the score to seven before the 14th minute, while a four goal burst in under four minutes before the first break through Thorp, completing his hat trick, Sarginson and Crute netting their second respectively took the score into double figures before the former completed his treble, taking the score to an astonishing score 11-1 at the first interval.

While there was perhaps an expectation that another barrage of goals would follow in the middle session after the carnage of the first twenty minutes, it never materialised as the visitors defended valiantly, with Dolan in particular in the away net performing heroics to keep the score down, and there was almost 35 minutes on the clock before Johnston put Blair in the clear to beat him for the only goal of the session.

With the final twenty minutes underway, it took Pirates only three of them to find their way to the goal, Hamilton getting on the scoresheet for unlucky thirteen, and a two goal burst in half a minute saw Dobson grab his second, and Thorp his fourth, while another two goals in 20 seconds before the halfway point in the period through Crute and Thorp again took the score to seventeen. A final counter from Guy with six minutes to go finished the scoring for the night, with the Stingrays happy to leave the ice after another heavy defeat.

A ruthless performance by the Pirates allowed then to complete their biggest win ever in Braehead Arena, and set them up nicely for a tough clash against Edinburgh Capitals this coming Sunday (face off 6.00pm) at the same venue.

Scorers: Thorp (5+3), Sarginson (4+1), Dobson (2+6), Crute (2+4), Hamilton (1+3), Bain, Johnston & Blair (all 1+2), Guy (1+1), Henderson (0+3), McLaughlin (0+2), Crawford (0+1)