NIHL Weekend Preview

WEEKEND

PREVIEW

NIHL NORTH DIVISION 1 MORALEE CONFERENCE

Saturday 15th October 2016

Blackburn Hawks vs. Billingham Stars

Sunday 16th October 2016

Blackburn Hawks vs. Whitley Warriors

Billingham Stars vs. Telford Tigers

With their NIHL North cup clash proving to be a great spectacle for ice hockey fans in the North East last Saturday, local rivals Billingham Stars and Whitley Warriors are set to be in action again this weekend. Whilst Terry Ward’s men prepare for a double header, consisting of a cup contest at Blackburn Ice Arena and a league fixture against Telford Tigers, David Longstaff’s line-up will make their second trip to Lancashire, hoping to claim their first league victory against Matt Darlow’s men.

Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson

As the only three fixtures to take place in the Moralee Conference this weekend will be played on Sunday, cup action between Billingham Stars and Blackburn Hawks is set to take centre stage on Saturday.  The Stars will make the trip to Blackburn, aiming to grab a regulation win to make amends for last Saturday’s performance in the competition which saw the side concede four goals in the space of nine minutes against Whitley Warriors. Currently sitting in third place with four points, Billingham could go ahead of the Hawks in the NIHL North Cup standings this weekend should they achieve maximum points but this game will not be without its challenges for the defending cup champions. Already, the Teessiders have played two league games against Darlow’s new look team this season, first suffering a 5-2 defeat on the road before accomplishing a narrow 3-2 victory on home ice against the side one week later. Whilst Chris Sykes was the only forward on the score sheet in the Stars’ first game against the Hawks, player-coach Michael Bowman, defenceman Ben Davison and forward Michael Elder were each able to find the back of the net to better showcase Billingham’s ability to contend with one of the toughest team’s in the NIHL. 

Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson

In their first game against the Hawks, Billingham conceded goals to imports Patrik Nyman and Mikko Sierman, not to mention captain Ollie Lomax and talented forward Philip Mulcahy. As a result, these players will be ones to watch out for, particularly Nyman who is set to make his last appearance for Blackburn on Saturday. Rather ironically, this loss follows the recent signing of forward Richard Bentham who has returned to the reigning league champions after a short spell with Solway Sharks. With so many talented goal scorers making up Blackburn’s roster, it is not surprising that the side are again competing with the top teams in the Moralee Conference, though it is apparent that the Hawks are a very different outfit to that of last season. This change was reflected in Blackburn’s road defeat to Billingham last month which occurred just seven days after the side had triumphed over the Stars on home ice. Whilst this game saw Ward’s men hit three past netminder Stuart Ashton to claim two league points, the Hawks recorded their first loss of the season; a great difference to previous performances in which they have appeared largely unassailable. With these sides yet to face each other in the cup competition this campaign, this encounter is likely to be an interesting one as the Hawks will be out to avenge their loss of cup silverware to Billingham in March whilst the Stars will require a win to enhance their chances of retaining the NIHL North Cup title. Considering this clash, Star Chris Sykes told NIHL Northern Trio: “Another cup game on Saturday away at Blackburn again where they’ve been chopping and changing their roster this week. Hopefully we can capitalise on that and take two points. They’re a good team and they play good hockey but I think we will be up for it and we will take the cup points back to The Forum for Sunday’s league match against the Tigers.”

Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson

Meanwhile, in the Moralee Conference, Whitley Warriors will be first to faceoff on Sunday against Blackburn Hawks as Darlow and his men play host for a second consecutive evening. Striving for their first league win of the season, the Warriors will carry the momentum of their 6-5 cup victory over derby rivals Billingham Stars into this clash with the hope that they can punish the Hawks who claimed maximum points from a combined league and NIHL North Cup fixture last month. Whilst Blackburn managed a narrow 2-1 win against the Warriors in this encounter, it was Whitley who were able to take the lead first. Whilst it did not prove costly for Blackburn on this occasion, the Warriors demonstrated just how important the initial action of the game is as they rampaged to victory over the Stars last weekend, having scored four goals in quick succession in the first period. So far, the Warriors’ most effective player has been captain Dean Holland who has scored three goals and four assists in four league games, besides three NIHL North Cup goals. As a result, Holland could pose a threat to Blackburn this weekend to continue his dominance in offence. In contrast, set to contend with the Hawks’ attacking play at the other end of the ice, Whitley’s defence will be slightly depleted this weekend, with blue liners Dan Pye and Rob Wilson set to make the absentee list again alongside forward Ben Richards. However, one positive for the Warriors is that they will not be without the effective play of versatile ‘D’ man Harry Harley who continues to exhibit his skill on Whitley’s blue line. This was evidenced by a slap shot against Telford Tigers three weeks ago which earned his side their first point of their NIHL North campaign. 

Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson

Should the short benched Warriors utilise their intensity in the same way that they did last weekend against their local rivals, this strategy could prove to be highly advantageous against a Blackburn side who will have already played for a minimum of sixty minutes in their cup fixture against the Stars on Saturday. Two points from this game would not only see the Warriors claim their first win of the season but the side would be able to gradually edge away from the foot of the table should Simon Butterworth’s team also lose out to The Dragons. On the other hand, victory for the Hawks would give Darlow’s men eight points, meaning the side could move into second place if results go their way. Ahead of this game, player-coach David Longstaff shared his views with NIHL Northern Trio: “This is another tough away game. We’re missing four players again but we’re getting used to it now and we’ll move forwards back to play in defence. Hopefully, we give a good account of ourselves but obviously we’re up against it. Blackburn have just signed the second top scorer from last season and we’re begging players to come out of retirement to play. It shows a difference in budget from the top to the bottom teams.” Additionally, alternate captain Shaun Kippin noted: “It’s a game we are looking forward to. We are a much improved team from the team that played Blackburn last month. We play them three times in a row now so it will be an interesting few weeks.”

Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson

Last, but not least, Billingham Stars will return to The Forum to take on Daniel MacKriel’s Telford Tigers as the Teessiders look to move even further ahead of the Shropshire outfit who are currently placed in sixth, just two points behind the Stars who also have a game in hand on their opposition. Last season saw Billingham take just three points from Telford as the Stars lost out twice to the Tigers in October before achieving a road win and a 4-4 draw on home ice against the side. Facing MacKriel’s men for the first time this campaign, the Teesside outfit will enter into an interesting encounter with the Tigers who have made several signings over the summer, including top points scorer Adam Brittle, netminder Daniel Brittle, forwards Ben Simister and Matt Viney and, of course, enforcer Owen Bennett. Also adding forward Luke Brittle to their roster this week, the Tigers are, on paper, a stronger team than that of their previous campaign, yet this fact is certainly not reflected by the club’s league position at present. So far, Billingham have won three games from five, scoring twenty two goals and conceding thirteen to claim six points in the Moralee Conference. By comparison, the Tigers have recorded only one win, which came against eighth placed Sutton Sting almost a month ago, besides two draws and three defeats. However, though possessing a goal difference of -5 at the moment, these statistics do not portray how close Telford have come to claiming so much more than the four points they currently possess. Losing leads to Solihull Barons and Whitley Warriors last month, the Tigers went on to take just one point from each of these fixtures and painfully lost out to the Dragons twice, first recording an 8-6 defeat before finding themselves on the wrong end of a far narrower result which saw the team leave Deeside empty-handed. If recent form is anything to go by, both the Stars and the Tigers will be eager to add to the scoreboard on Sunday. Interestingly, two points for Billingham could see the team edge ahead of Blackburn should the Hawks lose out to Whitley Warriors on home ice this weekend but triumph for the Tigers would see MacKriel’s men go level on points with Billingham, and possibly Blackburn should Darlow’s line up lose out on Sunday, which would make the competition a very intriguing one indeed. In preparation for this game, Sykes added: “We haven’t played them this year but they’ve been beaten by The Dragons and they’ve just signed Luke Brittle from their EPL team, a good player to pick up, so we won’t take them lightly and we want to get the crucial league points. We need to continue how we left off last Sunday.”

For those fans hoping to attend a game this weekend, Billingham Stars travel to Blackburn Ice Arena on Saturday for a 5:45pm cup clash with the Hawks and will then take to the ice once more as they play host to Telford Tigers at The Forum on Sunday from 6:30pm. Whitley Warriors, on the other hand, will face off at 5:45pm in Lancashire in a league encounter with defending champions Blackburn Hawks on Sunday in what is the side’s only game this weekend. Can’t make it to a game? Fear not! Below are the listening details for NIHL radio. 

NIHL Radio Weekend Listings

Saturday 15th October

5:45pm on NIHL Radio 1

Blackburn Hawks vs. Billingham Stars

Sunday 16th October

5:45pm on NIHL Radio 1

Blackburn Hawks vs Whitley Warriors

6:30pm on NIHL Radio 2

Billingham Stars vs. Telford Tigers

Click on the link to listen via: http://tunein.com/

For more photos from IceHockeyMedia, please visit: http://www.icehockeymedia.co.uk/.