Edinburgh Capitals 4 Paisley Pirates 3
20/4/2003 at Murrayfield Ice Rink
Spring Cup Final
Pirates robbed in capital thriller.

Pirates left Edinburgh with a bad taste in their mouths, with their, literally, last second equaliser being ruled out as referee Neil Wilson judged the final buzzer had gone before Colin McMillan’s desperate effort had crossed the line. Much to Pirates frustration he seemed to be very much in the minority as even several of the Capitals camp thought the match was headed for overtime.

To be fair to Capitals, they were the innocent parties as they, over the whole night had largely outplayed their West Coast opponents and therefore were worthy winners.Perhaps the writing was on the wall for Pirates as their nightmare began before they even arrived in the capital, a normally short trip turned into a drama as the bus broke down, meaning a late start to the final.

Onto the game itself and Pirates couldn’t have got off to a worse start, Sean Lamb unmarked in front to fire the Capitals in front in the 3rd minute. A mere eleven seconds later and Alan Ward carved straight through Pirates defence from the face off to double the score. To rub salt into the wound, James Clark was adjudged to have committed a cross check in the aftermath, he protested his innocence too much and added a 10 minute personal misconduct to the 2 minute minor that sent Capitals onto the powerplay.

Pirates survived whilst a man short and set about dragging themselves back into the game and for a moment they thought they’d pulled a goal back in the 7th minute but Gordon Nelson’s effort was ruled out for offside. Play continued to rage end to end but with Edinburgh always looking the more likely to score. Their goal, however, had a lucky escape in the 16th minute, Gary Morris drilling a shot through netminder Ali Flockhart but agonisingly for Pirates it ran along the goal line and past the post. In the scrum that followed, Flockhart brought down Morris to send Pirates onto the powerplay but disaster again befell them with Stevie Francey breaking out to net a shorthanded goal in the 17th minute. Pirates tried to respond with Flockhart producing point blank saves to keep out Clark and John Churchill. Pirated finished the period shorthanded with Colin Nelson and Neil Hay clashing behind play followed by a high sticks call against Gordon Nelson.Again he further fell foul of Wilson with a 10 minute personal misconduct added on.

Pirates survived into the second period but penalties were still to the fore with both sides trading further powerplay opportunities in the early minutes, with Pirates second of the period finally bearing fruit, Clark netting on the rebound in the 29th minute. The second session continued to be punctuated with penalties but with neither side able to capitalise, although Pirates looked for more than just a powerplay when Ian McFarlane hauled down McMillan in the clear in the 36th minute.

Capitals looked to have finally killed the game off after only 24 seconds of the final session when Daniel McIntyre fired home off Pirates netminder John Russell’s glove. Suddenly Pirates woke up again but it took until the 52nd minute and yet another powerplay before they pulled another goal back, Churchill forcing home from close range. That looked to be only a consolation goal until deep inside the final minute when Churchill wrested home his second of the night and with 24 seconds left on the clock; suddenly the impossible looked on again. That brought us to the final drama of the evening. Inside the last 10 seconds of the match and Pirates sent everything on one last desperate effort towards the Capitals net, initially they looked to have got in each others way but with 2 seconds left, McMillan launched himself at the puck, sending it goalwards. Amazingly it evaded Flockhart and it’s in the net. For one split second it was like a scene from a clichéd Hollywood movie with the heroic last second goal to save the day. Unfortunately this was to be no happy ending and it was Capitals who lifted their second, adding to the league title, piece of silverware of the season and avenged Pirates Autumn Cup triumph on the same ice earlier in the season.

Pirates at least have a quick chance to bounce back when they face Camperdown Stars at the Linx Arena in Aberdeen next Saturday in the Scottish Cup Final, but if they want to avoid back to back cup final defeats, the lesson they have to learn is games last 60 minutes. Alas, they only turned up for 20 against the Capitals.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Paisley: John Russell Edinburgh: Sean Lamb
SCORING:
Paisley: Churchill 2+1, Clark 1+1, C. Nelson 0+1
Edinburgh: McIntyre 1+1, Francey, Lamb, Ward 1+0, N. Hay, R. Hay, Lonsdale, McRae 0+1
NETMINDING:
Paisley: Russell 33 shots/4 goals Edinburgh: Flockhart 33 shots/3 goals
PENALTIES:
Paisley: G. Nelson 14 minutes, Clark 12, Miller, Monson, C. Nelson 2
Edinburgh: N. Hay 4, Flockhart, Hughes, McFarlane, McIntyre 2