Stars win Scottish derby against rivals

Photo: Derek Black

Dundee Stars maintained their league position over Scottish rivals Fife Flyers with a 5-2 home win on Sunday night.

“I was excited about this game,” said Stars forward Johnny Curran, who made his home debut. “This is a rink I’ve always enjoyed coming to. Obviously, I was thrilled to be on the home side of it, and you can’t beat a Scottish derby.”

Dundee made a strong start and opened the scoring at 13:36 when Curran fed a backhand pass to Kameron Kielly off the rush, with the forward firing past Shane Owen.

The Stars doubled their lead on the power play at 18:51. Spencer Naas collected a precise pass from Kielly and wristed the puck past Owen to make it 2-0.

“Naas and Kielly are great players so it’s pretty easy - I just need to skate and get them the puck,” added Curran. “They’re both good two-way players and Naas is lethal with the puck, so I just need to get some passes to him.”

Another power-play opportunity proved costly for the Flyers in the second period, with Bradley Schoonbaert feeding Naas in the high slot to beat Owen at 30:56. After Fife captain Garet Hunt received a game misconduct for a check to the head, Dundee capitalised again on the extended power play as Otto Nieminen poked home a loose puck at 38:09 to make it 4-0.

Andrew McLean got Fife on the board in the third period, finishing from Justin Ducharme’s pass at 47:27. Ben Almquist restored the Stars’ four-goal advantage at 51:23, redirecting Jackson DeSouza’s shot past Owen, before Ducharme added a late second for the Flyers to complete the scoring.