ALL good things must come to an end.
Following eight victories in a row, Deeside Dragons finally sampled defeat as they lost out 6-4 during their trip to Nottingham Lions.
There was an opportunity for the flying Dragons to extend their brilliant run even further, but the Lions struck three times without reply in the final period to confirm their success.
A tight first period concluded with Deeside 1-0 ahead.
Jared Dickinson grabbed that goal around the midway point of the period.
Ross Kennedy was on hand to double the visitors' advantage, before Nottingham opened their account for the evening courtesy of a power play strike with 11 minutes of the second period remaining.
A further power play goal levelled things up, before Garry Simpson struck to regain the lead for Deeside.
Lions tied things up at three-apiece in the final two minutes of the period, but there was still time for the Dragons to regain the lead through Kennedy with 37 seconds remaining before the final break.
It was Nottingham who would finish on top, though, making it 4-4 with some 13 minutes left to play.
The hosts would then go on to add two more to their tally in the final four minutes.
Reflecting on the eight-game winning run, Deeside assistant head coach Matt Compton said: "We knew we weren't going to go on forever."
Five of the six Nottingham goals on the night were powerplay efforts and Compton felt the visitors were on the wrong side of a few decisions.
"We just couldn't get momentum," he added.
Other results: Leeds 0 Whitley 2; Sheffield 2 Widnes 3 (overtime); Billingham 7 Widnes 0; Blackburn 6 Hull 0; Whitley 1 Solihull 3.
Deeside Ducks picked up their second Laidler Division win of the season with a 6-5 penalty shot victory away to Bradford Bulldogs.
Bradford opened the scoring just one minute into the game but goals from Stewart Cutting and Daniel Fadejevs saw Deeside leading 2-1 at the first break.
The Bulldogs tied things up once more early in the second period, but goals from Kieran Clarkson and Thomas Milnes helped the Ducks soar into a 4-2 advantage.
However, Bradford had the better of the chances after this and three unanswered goals gave them a 5-4 lead at the second interval.
The only goal in a closely fought third period fell to the Ducks’ Michael Speare, tying the scoreline at 5-5 and sending the match into an extra five-minute period of sudden death overtime.
With no deciding goal in the extra five minutes of play, the game had to be decided on a penalty shoot-out and strikes from Speare, Clarkson and Josh Jones sealed a first ever away win for the Ducks.
Under new regulations introduced for this season, Deeside receive two league points for the penalty shot win while Bradford get one point for drawing at the end of regulation time.
Deeside Ducks are without a game this weekend, but they are back in action on Sunday, November 17 when they face title favourites Telford Tigers at Deeside Leisure Centre (5pm face-off).
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