PREVIEW
NIHL
NORTH DIVISION 1 MORALEE CONFERENCE
Saturday 17th September 2016
Blackburn Hawks vs. Whitley Warriors
Solway Sharks vs. Sutton Sting
Sunday
18th September 2016
Whitley Warriors vs. Solihull Barons
Billingham Stars vs. Blackburn Hawks
Now
that all teams have faced off at least once in the NIHL, the 2016-17 campaign
is well and truly underway; a fact which will be demonstrated in a challenging
weekend for our Northern Trio. Whilst Whitley Warriors are set to compete against
last season’s league champions on the road before facing Solihull Barons at Hillheads,
Solway Sharks and Billingham Stars will each host a single home fixture,
respectively taking on Simon Butterworth’s Sutton Sting and Matt Darlow’s new
look Blackburn Hawks.
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Competing
against the Hawks for the first time since their narrow 4-3 defeat to the side
at Blackburn Ice Arena in January, Whitley Warriors will again travel to
Lancashire in a bid to vie for victory. Last season, David Longstaff’s men
encountered Blackburn four times in the space of six weeks, starting with a
home fixture on the 6th December. This game proved to be one of
great significance however, as the Warriors brought Blackburn’s eighteen month
unbeaten run to an end with a hard-earned win at Hillheads. This result was
then followed by two narrow road losses to the league leaders and a 4-4 draw in
front of a home crowd which ultimately prevented the Warriors from claiming league
silverware at the end of the season. With clashes between the two outfits of
high intensity, these games have resulted in great rivalry, particularly
between enforcer Andre Payette and Hawk Reece Cairney-Witter. Whether or not
the duo will entertain the idea of going toe-to-toe this weekend remains to be
seen but the Warriors will certainly aim to rise to the contest presented by
Matt Darlow’s new look Hawks team. Last weekend, Blackburn won in the battle
against Terry Ward’s Stars with alternate captain Patrik Nyman making his mark
in the game with two goals and an assist. Also predominant in this game was
netminder Stuart Ashton who was sturdy between the pipes to successfully see
off several attempts on goal from the visitors.
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Whilst Blackburn’s skilled
forwards and strong defence are likely to cause a problem for the Warriors on
Saturday, Whitley have their fair share of goal scorers. Last season,
player-coach Longstaff scored five goals against the side, including a hat
trick, whilst both DJ Good and Dean Holland lit the lamp twice and remaining
forwards Callum Watson and Shaun Kippin also chipped in offensively. However, the
Warriors will travel without ‘D’ men Dan Pye, Joe Stamp, Josh Maddock and Harry
Harley this weekend, as well as forwards Alan Yarrow and Ben Richards, which is
likely to inhibit the team’s cohesion as Longstaff adjusts his lines. On Saturday,
each goal will mean so much more as the sides compete for four points instead
of two with this game being both a league and cup fixture. As a result, if the game
should finish as a draw after three periods of ice hockey, it will then head
into overtime to settle the distribution of points in the NIHL North Cup
competition. If last season is anything to go by, this fixture will certainly
not fail to entertain as the rivals meet for their first clash of their 2016-17
campaign.
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Meanwhile,
Solway Sharks will play Simon Butterworth’s Sutton Sting for the first time
since their 9-3 double points victory over the Yorkshire-based outfit in March.
Like Solway, Sutton were situated close to the foot of the table last season
and only just accumulated enough points to escape the league placement playoff
position. First claiming a 4-2 road victory against the side in November, the
Dumfries outfit were then unable to host the side due to adverse weather
conditions one month later. As a result, an away draw on the 13th
March was quickly followed up by a four-point game which gave Solway a great
boost towards the end of the season and allowed the side to finish in fourth spot
ahead of their opposition at the bottom of the table. This season, Solway will
be hoping to take as many points from the Sting team as possible but
this will be no easy task. Chasing a win from the first faceoff to the final
buzzer, Sutton possess one of the NIHL’s best netminders in Dmitri Zimozdra who
frequently accomplishes the spectacular to keep his side in the game.
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Losing to Solihull Barons on the opening
weekend of the season, and scraping a 4-4 draw against The Dragons last Sunday,
Sutton will aim to contend with the Sharks who already have four points to
their name having defeated Billingham Stars on Saturday, before achieving a
convincing 9-2 victory over Whitley Warriors. Two points for Grubb’s men would
be a great achievement and one which would allow for the Dumfries outfit to
keep in line with their opposition rather than fall behind as they did at the
start of last season. By comparison, the Sting require a win to climb into the
higher positions of the league table and, whilst it is still very much all to
play for at this early stage of the campaign, the side will be hoping to build
up some good form away from home to make amends for the three points they have
dropped on the road so far. Looking ahead
to the fixture, Solway’s Head Coach Martin Grubb told NIHL Northern Trio: “We come into this weekend’s
game against Sutton on the back of a good four point weekend and we will go in
search of another two points on Saturday. I know that Sutton have made a few
changes and have added a good mix of youth and experience, and they always come
to play, so we know it will be a tough game and we will need to be ready to
compete for sixty minutes. I am happy with how we are progressing as a
team but I have told the boys that consistency will be key this year so we will
come out hard, stick to our game plan and look to win the game and play well.”
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Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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On
Sunday, Whitley Warriors return to Hillheads to face another challenging game
as Solihull Barons pay a visit to Whitley Bay Ice Rink. Triumphing over the side
on three occasions last season, including an 8-4 victory which saw enforcer Payette
battle with Barons’ player-coach Perry Doyle, the Warriors finally suffered a
6-4 defeat to the outfit in March. Taking on the solid unit that Doyle has assembled, the Warriors’ defence will
be put to the test for a second consecutive weekend as Solihull’s goal scoring
quintet aim to punish Whitley. Last season, forwards Thomas Soar, Josh Bruce,
Joe Henry, Niklas Ottosson and Ed Eaton all fired goals past netminder Richie
Lawson and will look to do so again as the key facilitators of Solihull’s
offence. Whilst the Barons sit in second place with three points after a
successful preseason, Whitley Warriors have yet to place a point on the board,
having only played their first game of their campaign last weekend. It is
perhaps due to this lack of a preseason schedule which caused Longstaff’s line
up to suffer at the hands of Solway Sharks last week. Also losing a great deal of
pace in offence following the departure of Jamie Tinsley, Callum Queenan and Kyle
Hindmarsh-Ross, the Warriors appear to be in for a tough time ahead if their
opening performance was anything to go by. The Barons possessing force and
flair in equal measure, this game is set to be an arduous one for the home side
who will also be missing defencemen Harry Harley, Josh Maddock, Joe Stamp, and
forwards Callum Watson and Alan Yarrow on Sunday but the Hillheads outfit have
endured their fair share of difficulties in the past and will hope to overcome the
challenges of this encounter in order to get their season back on track. Player-coach
David Longstaff had the following to say when looking ahead to Whitley’s double
header: “It’ll
be a very tough weekend for the Warriors. We’re missing a lot of players this
weekend and next, then hopefully we can get a settled line up in two or three weeks’
time.”
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| Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson |
Finally, Billingham Stars will be
last to face off this weekend as Blackburn Hawks travel to The Forum to take on
Ward’s side for a second consecutive weekend. Last Sunday, the Teessiders made
the trip down to Lancashire and, though losing 5-2 to Matt Darlow’s side, the Stars can
take many positives from the game having outshot the Hawks in the second and
third period. Whilst the influence of Blackburn’s imports was apparent on Sunday,
with Swedish alternate captain Patrik Nyman and Finnish forward Mikko Sierman
both finding the back of the net, it was Billingham’s home grown talent who
were able to contend with Darlow’s defence as Chris Sykes claimed two
goals on the night; the first helped into his path by line mate Michael Elder,
the second a superb, unassisted effort. Missing several defencemen last weekend, Billingham
will be hoping that the absentee list is not so long when they next take to the
ice as a strong roster will be key in piling the pressure onto the visitors.
Peppering sturdy netminder Stuart Ashton with shots on Sunday, the Stars
were unlucky not to reap the rewards of their strong offence but also recognise
that they must make their chances count if they are to compete to a high
standard this season. Currently on the same points as Blackburn, the Stars have
played two more games than the Hawks which means that the side need to gain
maximum points from this league fixture or risk falling into the lower positions
of the table this weekend. Boasting a great deal of quality, Ward’s men have
yet to reveal their full potential, a fact acknowledged by Star Chris Sykes: “Sunday is a big game and we need to make sure we
bounce back from a disappointing weekend. This is our first home game of the
season and we want to start as we mean to go on in our home opener. We know
what Blackburn have now and, if we finish our chances, we should make it count
and beat them to even up the season series.”
For
those fans hoping to attend a game, Whitley Warriors face off against Blackburn
Hawks at Blackburn Ice Arena from 5:45pm, before playing Solihull Barons on
home ice from 5:00pm. Meanwhile, at the Dumfries Ice Bowl on Saturday, Solway
Sharks encounter Sutton Sting from 7:00pm and, on Sunday, Billingham Stars host
Matt Darlow’s Hawks from 6:30pm. For those unable to attend, please find the listening
details for NIHL Radio below.
NIHL Radio Weekend Listings
Saturday 17th September
5:45pm
on NIHL Radio 1
Blackburn Hawks vs. Whitley
Warriors
Sunday 18th September
6:30pm
on NIHL Radio 1
Billingham Stars vs. Blackburn Hawks
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