Match Impressions - Edinburgh Capitals vs Dundee Stars

Caps' final league match of the season.  And, having been removed from any possibility of a Play Off place after defeat in Cardiff on Wednesday, probably the last time that this particular group of players will play together.

With both player/coach Richard Hartmann and top scorer Rene Jarolin unavailable to play it was clear that greater use would be made of our Scottish players in the match.  Whilst there was clearly a strong desire to get a final win, both for themselves and for the fans, Hartmann used this game (and the one on the previous day in Dundee) to experiment a bit and look to the future.  Thus two of the Scots defencemen, who had previously only had brief roles on the forward line, took up their preferred positions at the back.  If this led to a high number of defensive errors it was probably a price worth paying, with the league position no longer in question.  Good to see the youngsters getting the chance to show what they can do.

So although the match wasn't top quality, it turned out to have plenty excitement.  Caps took an early lead, but Dundee pulled it back and then took the lead with a couple of goals breaking quickly from defence.  In the second period Caps came back, scoring two goals to one to level the score, with Portwood's flick for the third of the night being a thing of beauty.  The third period was goalless, but Stars had the best of the play, and there was a worrying last couple of minutes when a penalty left Caps a man short with just over two minutes to play.

So we went to overtime and no further goals, but a bit of a fracas that had everyone on the ice involved, and resulted in Flemington being thrown out of the game.  A penalty shootout to decide the result and again it was good to see the coach letting the young Scots take the responsibility.  While Tomas Haidlovsky did a superb job of keping the puck out of his net, at the other end it was Jay King's effort that ended the night with a win for Caps.

We finished off with the usual man of the match awards, but also the Caps Supporters' Player of the Month, Dennis Rix and Daniel Naslund sharing the honour, and Player of the Year.  Skate forward the big man, Riley Emmerson, who has become a huge crowd pleaser at Murrayfield this season.

And that was that.  September seems a long time away.