NIHL Weekend Action

Warriors win in close contest with Spartans

Sheffield Spartans 1

Whitley Warriors    2

Making the trip to Ice Sheffield for their fourth and final game against Sheffield Spartans this campaign, David Longstaff’s Whitley Warriors were aware that this would not be an easy game on the larger ice surface, particularly as the side were without several key players including sturdy blue liners Joe Stamp, Scott Cooper, and Canadian import Andre Payette.

Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson

As the first period played out, referee Paul Staniforth was called into action in the opening minutes of the game as Longstaff took a two minute boarding penalty on 1:21 to place Sheffield on the power play. In spite of the Spartans’ efforts to capitalise, Whitley’s effective penalty kill paid off and the home side soon found themselves on the wrong end of a holding call as Stephen Weeks was ordered to the sin bin. Arguing his case, Weeks was given a ten minute misconduct penalty, incensed forward Elliot Knell incurring the same punishment in the aftermath. The Spartan punching the plexi glass in response, Staniforth saw fit to eject Knell from the game with just five and a half minutes played.

As Weeks served his penalty of 2+10, the Warriors then found themselves on the power play but the advantage was overshadowed when forward Shaun Kippin also sustained a ten minute misconduct penalty. Approximately at the mid-point of the period, defenceman Douglas Jordan was found guilty of interference to take the penalty minute count up to fifty six for the first period alone. This call further interrupting the flow of the game, the visitors attempted to find an avenue through the Spartans’ defence but to no avail, as netminder Andy Bagshaw saw off the side’s shots to prevent the Hillheads outfit from taking the lead before the break.

Returning for the middle section, offensive play from both sides was further hindered by penalties. Just fifty four seconds into the period, Warrior Martin Crammond served two minutes for roughing, the forward making his return to Whitley’s line up following an illness which kept him out of the squad last weekend. Though Sheffield failed to make the most of their advantage, Whitley returned to full strength only to find themselves on the penalty kill three seconds later when captain Jamie Tinsley made his way to the sin bin. Again working hard to run down the clock, Whitley were restored to five men with the 0-0 score line still intact.

Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson

A hooking penalty for Will Barron saw the power play shift once again but, this time, Whitley’s failure to make their chances count soon came back to haunt them. Five on five ice hockey resuming, the Spartans were able to find the back of the net less than a minute later, defenceman Chris Wilcox playing the puck to fellow blue liner David Pyatt who opened the scoring for the Spartans. Soon after, Barron was once again sinbinned, boarding his offence on this occasion. With play resuming in Whitley’s offensive zone, it took only three seconds for the visitors to find the back of the net as Kippin, winning the faceoff, slipped the puck to Dean Holland who lit the lamp to equalise on 34:07. As the interval loomed, there was just enough time left for Barron to earn himself his third consecutive penalty which ran into the final stanza by thirty six seconds.

Beginning on the power play, the Warriors took to the ice in their quest for a game-winning goal and the side started well, making several attempts go ahead in the game. Returning to five men, the home team battled to regain their lead but without success, as the visitors remained strong in defence to prevent efforts from forward Nicholas Manning and captain Ollie Barron making it over the red line. Counteracting the Spartans’ work with a few attempts of their own, it was to the Warriors’ delight that their perseverance was rewarded, Adam Reynolds setting up youngster Ben Richards who, in turn, lifted the puck into the roof of Bagshaw’s net.

Defending with fervour for the remainder of the period, the Warriors clung to their narrow lead but, as the Spartans struggled to get on level terms, experienced right winger Holland took a puck to the face, the impact unsurprisingly drawing blood. Approximately one minute later, a crosscheck from Douglas Jordan did not go unpunished for the Spartans and matters were made worse when the Sheffield outfit incurred a bench minor to reduce the side to three men. Leaping onto the ice in spite of this punishment, Weeks refused to return to the bench and he was soon ejected from the game with less than three minutes left.

Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Ian Hanlon

As part of Whitley’s power play line, Holland returned to the ice but, still bleeding as a result of his earlier blow, the officials stopped play to clean the ice. As it became apparent that the blood was spread over quite a large area, and there was so little time left in the game for Sheffield to equalise, especially with just three men on the ice, it was agreed that the final minutes of the game would not be played, awarding Whitley a 2-1 victory to confirm the team’s playoff qualification.

Speaking after the game, player-coach David Longstaff told NIHL Northern Trio: “We’re very pleased with the result considering we lost our last game to the Spartans at Ice Sheffield and we were missing seven players. The Spartans are a good team so to outshoot them by more than double is good but again we’re disappointed we didn’t capitalise on our chances. Martin Crammond looked composed in defence and made some great decisions on the puck in our zone. We would have liked to have capitalised on the five on three for the last two minutes but it wasn’t to be. As coaching staff we were very happy with the performance of every single player.” 

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