Guildford Flames completed a four-point weekend with.a 4-1 home win over Nottingham Panthers.

The hosts raced into a three-goal lead through the opening 20 minutes. Ryan Tait robbed Jake Ryczek of the puck on the Flames blue line and skated through to beat Rok Stojanovič with 7:08 played. Matt Alvaro made it 2-0 a little over three minutes later, while Lewis Hook shot home. rebound from a Peter Crinella shot with 21 seconds left in the opening frame to put the Flames in control.

Captain Brett Ferguson poked home a loose puck in the crease off a shot following Peter Crinella winning the puck for the Flames in the offensive zone to make it 4-0 with just under 25 minutes on the clock. Logan Neilson beat Taz Burman from below the goal line at 31:18 to get the Panthers on the board, but that was as good as it got for the visitors who couldn’t pull any more goals back and went down to a 4-1 defeat.

Photo: Olly Birth

Adam Long stopped all five penalty shots he faced to help Guildford Flames snap their losing streak with a 6-5 SO win over Cardiff Devils.

The Devils’ second powerplay of the game saw them take the lead through Ryan Barrow at 12:32, Ryan Barrow taking Marcus Crawford’s pass into the slot and beating Eamon McAdam with a nice deke. Matt Alvaro levelled under four minutes later after a trademark Ryan Tait break down the wing with Alvaro taking the pass and beating Ben Bowns at the second attempt.

After a tame two goals in the opening period, the second was a goal-fest for the sold-out Vindico Arena crowd. Barrow and Alvaro both scored powerplay goals just over 90 seconds apart early in to have the teams tied at two by 27:45. Jordan Klimek then put the Flames ahead for the first time in the game at 29:!7, only for Brandon Alderson to tie things up two minutes later. With three seconds left in the period, Joey Martin put the Devils back ahead, after which he and Alvaro were given fighting majors. Adam Long took over netminding duties for the Flames at 31:12 with McAdam injured.

Cardiff led 5-3 with 13:10 to go thanks to Jamie Arniel, but two goals in three and a half minutes changed all that. Sam Talbot pulled the Flames back to within one at 52:59, followed by captain Brett Ferguson levelling with 3:31 to play. Guildford spent the final 79 seconds of regulation on the powerplay following a late penalty of Evan Mosey, but the Devils held out to force overtime.

Alderson came close to winning it in overtime as he got a jump on a Flames defenseman but couldn’t beat Long in what was arguably the best chance of the bonus period.

OT couldn’t separate the teams, and the shootout ultimately had to. Steven McParland was the only scorer in the entire shootout, with Long stopping all five shots he faced.

Photo: James Assinder

Guildford Flames set up the first all-English Challenge Cup Final since 2012/13 with a 6-3 victory over Glasgow Clan on Wednesday night, sending the Surrey-based side into only their second cup final.

With the teams tied 0-0 from the first leg there was no aggregate scoring to worry about as the winners on the night would advance. Gary Haden could have put the Clan ahead inside the first 30 seconds after a Lewis Hook giveaway in the neutral zone, but couldn’t beat Eamon McAdam. Kevin Lindskoug, facing his former team for the first time since joining Clan earlier in the week, was beaten by a Ryan Tait shot at 3:32 that he should have got more than half a glove on as it deflected over the line. Almost exactly three minutes later, former Clan forward Steven McParland raced through to beat Lindskoug 1-on-0, capitalising on an Alex Forbes pass across the offensive blue line that didn’t meet its intended target.

Luke Lynch pulled a goal back in close for Clan at 15:34 but they ended down by one after 20 minutes despite being the better team for the opening five or so minutes of the game without converting.

Tait picked up the puck in the neutral zone and skated through the Clan defense before slotting past Lindskoug to make it 3-1 4:57 into period two. with Lynch in the box for Hooking at 28:03, Haden had another breakaway chance but was again thwarted by McAdam. That came back to haunt the visitors when Matt Tugnutt got on a loose puck at the top of the crease to score on the powerplay at 30:04.

Lynch again halved the arrears, this time scoring 1-on-0 at 37:05 on a play where he would have been awarded a penalty shot had he not found the back of McAdam’s net. Clan ended the period on a -5on-3 advantage, which saw Jason Morgan call his timeout to give his top unite a breather but to no avail – his team hit the frame of the goal and forced McAdam into a couple of decent stops before the second period buzzer sounded.

Guildford killed off the remainder of those penalties to start the third, but with 2:30 played came close to conceding off a Cody Sol deflection where McAdam momentarily lost the puck behind him. In ill-advised Bryce Reddick Boarding penalty taken at 46:49 put the Flames on a powerplay they only needed nine seconds to take advantage of thanks to Lewis Hook. A screened Alex Roach shot, however, got Clan back to within two with just over 12 minutes to play.

Lindskoug skated to the bench with 2:53 to give Clan the extra skater as they searched for two late goals, but the game was sealed when Peter Crinella found the empty net from his own zone with 1:47 left on the clock to send the Flames into the final.

Guildford will face Sheffield Steelers at the Utilita Arena on 13 March 2024.

Photo: John Uwins

Just under 1,900 fans packed into the Guildford Spectrum to see an excellent encounter between the Flames and Belfast Giants, with three goals inside the last 10 minutes giving the hosts a Pride Night win.

Brett Ferguson’s mass from behind Tyler Beskorowany to Lewis Hook in front saw the Flames forward score against his former side again and open the scoring with 6:53 gone. Former Flame Daniel Tedesco set up Ben Lake for the equaliser at 10:36, and the teams would stay level into the break.

Indeed, it took almost all of period two to separate the sides again. A quick passing play from the Flames saw them go through hall three zones before Ryan Hughes finished off from Ryan Tait’s pass to put the home side ahead with 45 seconds left in the second period.

Belfast fought back again and were level thanks to Jeff Baum, who was given too much time and space in the slot to pick his spot past Eamon McAdam.

The goal that turned out to be the game-winner was something special from Tait, who turned on the jets to skate from the neutral zone into the attacking before beating Beskorowany five-hole to put Guildford ahead with 8:29 remaining. Belfast pushed back and had McAdam sliding across the ice to stop them, but after Beskorowany was pulled and a spell of pressure in the Flames’ zone, Steven McParland scored the empty-net goal with 55 seconds remaining to give the home side some breathing space. Adam Keefe pulled his goalie again after a timeout, only for Ferguson to find the empty net with 10 seconds left in the game.

Photo: John Uwins