Ice hockey: Clean sweep for Blaze, record goal for Dowd

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The 2019-20 Elite League is shaping up to be the most open yet.

Coventry Blaze took the honours with a clean sweep of four points from this weekend - the only club to achieve that.

They came up big on their scottish double header, winning 2-1 at Dundee Stars thank to a short-handed winner from Alex Forbes, and then ended Glasgow Clan’s eight-game winning streak with a free-scoring 8-6 victory.

Those results gave Danny Stewart’s side a berth on the top five, one point below Fife Flyers who enjoyed a three-point weekend.

They logged the miles in a  double header with Guildford Flames, losing 3-2 in overtime on home ice - after trailing 2-0 - but reversing the scoreline with an excellent 2-1 road win on Sunday.

Todd Dutiaume’s side now face three tough games on the spin,  travelling to Nottingham on Saturday, before entertaining league leaders Sheffield Steelers on Saturday and then Belfast Giants on a televised game on Wednesday.

Interestingly all tof the chasing pack have games in hand over Steelers who kept up their good form with a 4-2 defeat of Dundee Stars. The bulk of the damage came in the first period as Aaron Fox’s side skated to a solid 3-0 lead.

The night also saw Robert Dowd overtakes legendary forward, Ken Priestley, as the fourth top points scorer in Steelers history as he put his side 2-0 up.

That defeat helped pin Stars to the foot of the table, one point behind a Manchester Storm side which grabbed a share of the spoils from a double header weekend in Belfast.

They went to a penalty shoot-out on Saturday with Tyson Fawcett’s strike sealing 4-3 win for Ryan Finnerty’s team, but Giants responded with a 3-1 result the following night.

Nottingham Panthers have struggled to make much impact this season and find themselves  down in eighth spot.


Back to back games with Cardiff Devils saw them triumph 2-1 on the road - a first win in six games for Panthers -  and lose 5-3 at home.

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