Flames into cup semis

Photo: John Uwins

Guildford Flames will contest the Semi-Finals of the Challenge Cup for the second straight seasonthanks to a 6-3 aggregate win over Fife Flyers.

Fife, who were down to just eight forwards after Anton Eriksson was scratched shortly before warm-up, were outshot 16-5 in the opening period but defended resiliently to keep themselves in the tie. That resistance was, however, broken with two goals inside the final five minutes of the period that put the Flames in total control of the aggregate score. Steven McParland snapped home from the point on the powerplay a t16:27, followed by Ryan Tait benefitting from McParland taking a hit to make the pass through which allowed him to double the lead just under two minutes later. The Flames headed into the intermission with a 5-1 aggregate lead.

The Flyers called Eamon McAdam into an excellent diving save off a deflected shot early in period two, while at the other end Lewis Hook almost scored the Flames' third through Owen's five-hole, but the puck was cleared off the line just in time. Guildford did go into a three-goal lead on the night through Austin Glover on 33 minutes after he gloved the puck down and batted it over the line past Owen. Fife struck straight back 75 seconds later with a nice individual goal from Kyle Osterberg, but found themselves 6-2 down on aggregate as the teams headed into the break.

The Flyers made things interesting when Vitalijs Pavlovs turned home a Troy Lajeunesse pass with just under 10 minutes to go, and could have scored again on the very next shift were it not for two quick saves from McAdam. Tom Coolen pulled Owen late to see if they could find another goal, but in the end the Flames took the 3-2 win on the night and booked their place in the Semi-Finals with a four-goal aggregate win.