WEEKEND
PREVIEW
NIHL
NORTH DIVISION 1 MORALEE CONFERENCE
Saturday
21st January 2017
Solway Sharks vs. Whitley Warriors
Sunday
22nd January 2017
Billingham Stars vs. Sutton Sting
Following
a busy schedule of league and cup action in recent weeks,
this weekend sees the Northern Trio involved in just two fixtures as Whitley
Warriors travel to the Dumfries Ice Bowl for an NIHL North Cup encounter with
Solway Sharks before Billingham Stars resume their league campaign on Sunday
with a fixture against Sutton Sting at The Forum.
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Having
already played two combined cup and league fixtures both at home and on the
road against Whitley Warriors this season, not to mention a more recent league
game, Solway Sharks will prepare to host the Hillheads outfit for a third
time as David Longstaff’s men make the trip to the Dumfries Ice Bowl on
Saturday for their latest NIHL North Cup clash with the side. Triumphing over
the Warriors twice in the competition already this season, the Sharks recorded
a 9-2 road victory in Whitley’s first home game of their campaign before
claiming a 6-3 win against the team at the end of October. With these successes
in mind, Solway will aim to continue their winning streak on Saturday whilst
the Warriors will be seeking to avenge their losses, knowing that they were
able to contend with the Sharks earlier this month. The result of this
meeting a 5-3 score line in favour of Martin Grubb’s men, Solway’s alternate captain James Hutchinson was a key influence for his side when these two teams last met, picking up a goal and two
assists to earn himself the Man of the Match award. Also performing particularly well
were Hutchinson’s fellow defencemen and imports Juraj Senko and Kim Miettinen,
both of whom tallied a goal and an assist each to ensure their team’s comeback
against the resilient Warriors. Of note for the visitors, captain Dean Holland
and blue liner Harry Harley achieved a goal apiece against the Sharks to initially
present Whitley with a two-goal lead in this game and the duo, who continue to
impress on a weekly basis, will hope to do so again when they take to the ice
this weekend. With Solway leading the way at the top of the NIHL North Cup
standings at present, Whitley Warriors currently sit eight points behind the Dumfries outfit in second place
and will give their all in
search of a regulation win which could see Longstaff’s line-up reduce the gap
significantly ahead of next week’s cup fixture against the Hawks. Considering
this contest, Whitley Warriors’ player-coach David Longstaff shared: “The next
two games are cup games. In all honesty it would be a miracle if Solway don’t
win so it’s a chance for us to give ice time to the players who haven’t had as
much as they’d like and a chance for our fans to see some younger players.”
Meanwhile, Sharks’ Head Coach Martin Grubb also took the time to look ahead: “We
go into Saturday knowing we are in for another tough game against the Warriors.
They played well against us a few weeks ago and it will be even harder this
week as they are playing with confidence. We are fully aware of the threat they
pose and also what we need to do to execute our game plan and give ourselves a
chance to win. We have started 2017 pretty well. It is important
that we try and keep our momentum going into a difficult run of games and we
will take it one game at a time.”
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Meanwhile,
Billingham Stars will play host to Sutton Sting on Sunday as the sides face
each other for the third time this season, each having claimed a victory over the
other already this campaign. Presenting an edge over Billingham Stars at Ice
Sheffield in November to record a 4-3 win over the Teessiders, Simon
Butterworth’s Sting then lost out on the road as the Stars battled to triumph
by eight goals to six over their visitors. Hoping for a repeat performance
against Sutton on home ice this Sunday, having lost out in last weekend’s
double header to Solway Sharks and Solihull Barons, the Stars will be looking
to make amends for recent performances with a home win. This will, of course, be no easy task
as the side are set to take on the Sting’s steely defence which includes the
excellent leadership of alternate captains James Goodman and Ryan Johnson, experienced
‘D’ men Chris Wilcox, David Pyatt and Mark Turner, Czech import Martin Finkes
and youngsters Cameron Glasby and Jamie Scott. Looking to counter Sutton’s
difficult defence will be the Stars’ top points scorers; hardworking
forward Chris Sykes, Swedish import Dennis Boström, alternate captain Callum
Davies and the dexterous Michael Elder who have collectively accumulated one
hundred points to date. As a result, these forwards have picked up more points
than any other top points scoring quartet in the league this season, though Dragons’ Scott
McKenzie, Markus Kankaanranta, James Parsons and Filip Supa are not far off with a combined points production of ninety six. Setting their sights on
victory this weekend, the Stars will require their offensive players to be at
their very best but will equally hope that they have far more defencemen at
their disposal than that of last weekend, the side having travelled to Dumfries
with just two blue liners before adding two more to their line-up prior to
their trip to Hobs Moat Road last Sunday. Currently sitting behind Solway in
the Moralee Conference, the Stars must begin to chip away at the ten point
deficit separating the two sides or risk slipping from second place and away from the league title. Two
points for the Sting however, would be a fantastic boost for the outfit who require some momentum having lost their last three league games. Speaking to
NIHL Northern Trio ahead of this contest, Star Chris Sykes noted: “Sunday is a
big game for us to get back on track. We’ve had a terrible start to 2017 but it’s
not helped by the fact we’ve only had a handful, or less than a handful, of ‘D’ men to choose from
with commitments keeping them away from the games. Sunday is back on home ice
and a chance to get back to winning ways after a terrible weekend last week.
Last time we played Sutton it became a shootout and we beat them 8-6 in the
end. Hopefully, we can rectify that this time and make sure they don’t score
any, or as little as possible, and our forwards produce what we know they can.”
For
those fans hoping to attend either of these games at the weekend, Solway Sharks
host Whitley Warriors from 7:00pm at the Dumfries Ice Bowl on Saturday before
Billingham Stars faceoff against Sutton Sting at The Forum from 6:30pm on
Sunday. Can’t make it to a game? Fear not! Please find NIHL Radio’s listings below.
NIHL
Radio Listings
Sunday
22nd January
5:45
pm on NIHL Radio 1
Blackburn
Hawks vs. Telford Tigers
6:30pm
on NIHL Radio 2
Billingham
Stars vs. Sutton Sting
For more photos from IceHockeyMedia, please visit: http://www.icehockeymedia.co.uk/.
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