Aberdeen Lynx will end 2022 at the top of the SNL standings after another big road win, but their weekend was trumped by the fortunes of North Ayrshire Wild.
If there’s a team who felt the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, it was the team based at Auchenharvie who saw the joy of their first win in three months tempered by their heaviest loss of the season 24 hours later.
To start with the positive, what a victory it was too, stunning title challengers Dundee Tigers on Saturday at home in a 6-5 win as they finally ended a 10-game losing run stretching back to September.
It was a game that went backwards and forwards and went the distance as Tigers couldn’t find a way to see off a team they had beaten comfortably twice before.
Tigers went ahead in the first through Jack Henderson and Ross McIntosh, but Wild turned it around to lead through goals from Dylan Murray, Jordan McGonigle and Luca De Simone.
John Gordon’s marker late in the first saw the game tied at three by the first break with more drama set to come.
De Simone’s second edged the home side in front, but the visitors scored twice in the space of the 50th minute to swing the pendulum their way thanks to McIntosh and Callum Hill.
But the twist came soon after as De Simone completed a hat-trick then Murray scored a massive winner on the powerplay in the final couple of minutes to seal Domenico De Simone’s first win as North Ayrshire’s coach.
The joy of that success was short lived when a heavily depleted Wild made the journey to Kirkcaldy to take on the Kestrels and with only 12 skaters, were on the wrong end of a 15-2 drubbing.
Kestrels were four ahead by the end of the first, which set the tone for what was to come as Conor Duncan (4), Richard Krogh (3) and Scott Jamieson (3) were among the goals in the end.
Dylan Murray, with his third goal of the weekend and Kyle Forsyth were Wild’s only scorers as they ended the year in disappointment.
One team who did keep celebrating into Sunday and at least into the New Year was Aberdeen Lynx, who ended the year at the top after a 7-3 road win over Kilmarnock Thunder.
Thunder came into the game with renewed confidence after two straight wins but were always going to find it tough against Aberdeen, who are unbeaten since mid-October.
Innes Gallacher opened the scoring in the opening minute for the home team, but markers from Gary Kelly and Jack Flynn put Lynx in front.
Struan Forbes restored parity, but two more from the visitors, courtesy of Kelly and Owen Michie kept them in front, despite Martin McPhail getting another for Kilmarnock.
Two more from Kelly made it four on the night to confirm the points for Jordan Leyden’s men, with Leyden himself added Lynx’s seventh for good measure on a night made batter by the news of Tigers’ loss at North Ayrshire.
For Kilmarnock, their weekend work wasn’t quite done as they made their way to Paisley Pirates on Sunday and battled hard, despite ending the game beaten 5-4.
Gary Parker and Kris Phillips put Pirates two up before Keegan Cairns and Andy Barr responded for Thunder, but Calum Blair edged Paisley in front by the end of the first.
Richard Thorp equalised in the second, but Pirates were back in front 31 seconds later through Garry Simpson to just keep them ahead.
Ewan Anderson once more pulled Kilmarnock level, but Thunder had no further response to Ryan Parkin’s shorthanded winner which proved to be enough as Pirates sit in third place.
The one other game from the weekend was at Murrayfield as Edinburgh Capitals and Dundee Comets, but it wasn’t a happy return to Scotland’s capital for Comets’ former Caps coach Richard Hartmann.
Chad Smith and Joel Gautschi saw their early markers cancelled out by Ian Bowie twice in the first period, with Sean Cochrane’s second period goal levelled by Sean Beattie, with Stephen Eccles giving Comets the lead after two.
The Capitals found an extra gear in the third as they turned a 4-3 deficit into a 6-4 win, thanks to two from Gautschi for his hat-trick and Smith’s second of the game.
WEEKEND RESULTS
Saturday
Kilmarnock Thunder 3 Aberdeen Lynx 7
Edinburgh Capitals 6 Dundee Comets 4
North Ayrshire Wild 6 Dundee Tigers 5
Sunday
Paisley Pirates 5 Kilmarnock Thunder 4
Kirkcaldy Kestrels 15 North Ayrshire Wild 2
