Edinburgh Capitals v. Kirkcaldy Kestrels (27/09/2025)
This weekend saw the Caps face the Kestrels in a heated double header. On Saturday, Edinburgh snuck past the Kestrel’s 6-5 in an electrifying shootout. Ben Keddie, who came up huge, stopping 5 of 5 penalty attempts, made a miraculous paddle save to keep the Caps in it until Sean Cochrane buried the winner past the Kestrels’ keeper. The true star of the night, however, was Joe Lynch, who carried the offence on his back, scoring an unbelievable 5 goals. Other points scorers of the night included an impressive four assists from Chad Smith, with Joel Gautschi, Ben Coughtrie, Sean Stewart, and Rihards Grigors all tallying one helper each.
In the first, Lynch opened the scoring just over a few minutes into the game off an assist from Smith, with the Kestrels returning the favor seven minutes later, shorthanded off a poor turnover out of the corner. The remainder of the first period was all Caps, with the home team dominating much of the zone time and possession.
The second period saw the temperature in the rink begin to rise as Lynch continued to heat up, potting two more goals with assists coming from Smith and Gautschi. However, the pesky Kestrels refused to go away, scoring two of their own to keep the score even.
In the third, the Caps came out hot, scoring another two, one of which came within the first minutes–both off the stick of Lynch–with assists coming from Stewart and Smith, respectively. Yet again, the Kestrels pushed back, scoring two of their own at the end of the period to force overtime. To make matters worse, an untimely penalty from Aiden Paterson with just 43 seconds left in regulation put Edinburgh a man down going into the five minute golden goal period.
Fortunately for the Capitals, their penalty kill–which had been strong all night–managed to survive the man advantage, with Keddie making several huge saves to keep the game alive. With the game back to 3v3, both teams had their chances but couldn’t seem to find the back of the net.
With overtime ending in a stalemate, the two teams selected their shooters for a 1v1 showdown for the extra point. Both goaltenders, Keddie and Holland, stood tall for the first five shooters, with Keddie making several outstanding saves–one of which will surely be nominated for save of the year. But it was Sean Cochrane who was the hero of the shootout, flying down on Holland before firing the puck straight past his glove hand into the top corner to steal the extra point. This Saturday’s game will be a night to remember for the Edinburgh Capitals fans and players alike.
Edinburgh Capitals v. Kirkcaldy Kestrels (28/09/2025)
In the second match up of the weekend between the Edinburgh Capitals and the Fife Kirkcaldy Kestrels, tensions ran high as the final points of the weekend went up for grabs. However, unlike the tight fought battle on Saturday, the Capitals maintained a commanding presence throughout the majority of the game on Sunday. While the first period ended 1-0 to the Kestrels, the Caps charged back in the second, scoring all five of their goals within the first ten minutes. Rihards Grigors buried two, with supplementary scoring from Gautschi, Paterson, and McNulty. Robinson, Cochrane, Lynch, Geddes, Paterson, and Grigors all had one assist–a solid night on the back end for the two D-men, with 2 and 3 points respectively. In his second start of the weekend, young goaltender Ben Keddie had a solid performance, stopping 35/38 and coming up big to keep the game tight in the first and third.
The first period saw the Kestrels with their only momentum of the night, potting one late in the period after all Capitals chances were turned away by Holland between Fife’s pipes. Edinburgh was clearly slow to wake up in the first; however, they managed to keep the damage to a minimum and regroup for the second.
Whatever was said by Caps Head Coach, Steven Lynch, in the locker room between periods shook the lads wide awake. It took only 1:43 for Edinburgh to equalize and just 9:29 to be up 4, peppering Holland with a total of 18 shots on the period alone. Rihards Grigors scored the first, a shot that soared through a screen into the back of the net, followed by McNulty, Gautschi, Paterson, and then Grigors again to cap off his 3 point night.
The third and final period of the night saw a slight push from the Kestrels, which could be attributed to the Capitals letting their foot off the gas after a strong second. Fife scored early on in the period and again shortly after; however, the Caps managed to pull together in the end, holding off whatever offense the Kestrels had left. When the final horn sounded, the scoreboard read 5-3 in favor of Edinburgh–capping off a fantastic start to the 25-26 season.
Stay tuned for further match reporting this season, and make your way down to the Murrayfield Ice Arena this weekend for the Edinburgh Capitals faceoff against the Paisley Pirates on Saturday, 4th October!
