Stars take important road win
Photo: Scott Wiggins
Dundee Stars picked up a 4-2 road win in Coventry over the Blaze, extending their cushion over Manchester Storm to nine points in the race for the playoffs.
"I take a lot of pride playing in this league. I love playing for my country and in the EIHL, and I don't have that many years left so to have my name down there passing someone like Jonathan Weaver, who I looked up to when I was coming through here in Coventry is very special." began Ben O'Connor, who became the league's all-time leading defenseman for assists at 400.
"To my team mates, and everyone who’s scored those goals to get me those assists, I can only say thank you.”
O'Connor set that new EIHL record with an assist on Alex Robert's opening goal at 12:32, firing home after O'Connor's shot was blocked in front. Michael Regush levelled for the Blaze with just under three minutes to go in a first period that struggled to get going.
"We knew that our game against Guildford wasn’t good enough, and we had to play our game tonight," continued O'Connor. "Looking at other results around the league, it’s two big points for us. This isn’t an easy place to play, Coventry are a very good team and they come very hard. But we had a plan, stuck to it, and got it done."
5:35 into period two, Grayson Constable was given a stand-alone boarding major for a poor hit on Philippe Sanche, leading to the Stars going back ahead - a neat wrist shot from Zach Tsekos in the circle beating Mat Robson. O'Connor then made it 3-1 with a one-timer from the point that sailed past Robson into the net. At 39:25, the Blaze thought they'd scored but the goal was waived off on the ice. After video review, that decision was upheld with the puck appearing to hit the crossbar rather than the back bar.
Tsekos added his second of the night on a breakaway, beating Robson at the second attempt to make it 4-1 7:17 into period three. Chase Gresock reacted quick to pull one back with just under eight minutes to go, but despite pulling Robson with three and a half minutes to go it was a frustrating night for the home side who couldn't get themselves any further back into the game.
