WEEKEND
PREVIEW
NIHL
NORTH DIVISION 1 MORALEE CONFERENCE
Saturday
14th January 2017
Solway Sharks vs. Billingham Stars
Sunday
15th January 2017
Whitley Warriors vs. The Dragons
Solihull Barons vs. Billingham Stars
Hitting
the ice this weekend, the Northern Trio will look to entertain once more as
Solway Sharks prepare to host Billingham Stars in the NIHL North Cup on Saturday. League action will then resume on Sunday when The Dragons pay a visit to Hillheads and Billingham Stars complete their double header with a trip to Hobs Moat Road for a clash with Perry Doyle’s
Solihull Barons.
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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First
to take to the ice this weekend, Solway Sharks will brace themselves for a
visit from close competition Billingham Stars who will be out to make amends
for last weekend’s derby defeat with a
victory when they make their first trip of their double header to the Dumfries
Ice Bowl on Saturday. So far this season, the Sharks’ form has been outstanding
with only two defeats across all competitions but significantly the side’s latest
setback was a 3-2 away league loss to Billingham Stars at the beginning of
December. Whilst this may be in the back of both teams’ minds as they head into
this contest, the Stars will be under no illusions as to the performance they
must pull off away from home if they are to repeat this feat. The Sharks have triumphed four times against the side in all competitions so far this season, three of which took
place in the NIHL North Cup. Besides an 8-2 victory over the Stars in October,
clashes between these two outfits have, on the whole, been incredibly close
this season with Solway making a comeback against the Teessiders in September
to record a 6-5 overtime win before edging a later clash by four goals to three
courtesy of young forward Duncan Speirs. Following last weekend’s defeat to
Whitley Warriors in their combined league and cup fixture, Billingham Stars
have slipped to third place with twelve points from ten games in the NIHL North
Cup. Leapfrogged by their local rivals in the cup competition, the Stars must now battle against Martin Grubb’s difficult
Dumfries outfit who are currently in pole position to claim the silverware and
are likely to make life tricky for their visitors as a result. Whatever the outcome, this
game has the potential to be won or lost by narrow margins and Solway will
certainly hope that they can pull off another excellent display against the
Stars to take the team one step closer to the NIHL North Cup title. Commenting
ahead of this clash, Head Coach Martin Grubb told NIHL Northern Trio: “We go
into Saturday after two good wins last weekend but we know we will need to be
much better this weekend to beat a very strong Billingham team. We played well
in spells last week and we need to be able to put that together for sixty
minutes and make sure we are responsible at both ends of the ice. The Stars
will be looking to respond after losing in Whitley so we will need to be ready
for another tight and exciting game.”
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Also
looking forward to this weekend’s action, Whitley Warriors are set to take on
Scott McKenzie’s Dragons whose recent visit to Hillheads resulted in a 4-2 loss
for the side, though they were able to take the lead in the clash with only
fifty five seconds played. Proving to be difficult opposition with the calibre
of former EPL forward McKenzie, long-serving captain James Parsons, experienced
forward Marc Lovell and imports Markus Kankaanranta and Filip Supa making up the
Welsh outfit, the Dragons will certainly combine skill with experience to put Whitley to the test on Sunday. With this result and an 11-4 away win for the
Warriors against the Dragons this season, McKenzie’s men will be hoping to turn
their fortunes around on Sunday, particularly as maximum points would see the
team climb into fifth place to sit just one point behind David Longstaff’s
line-up. Now that the competition from third to eighth place of the Moralee
Conference is so tight, there is little room for error and as such this is a
game which neither side can afford to lose. Performing particularly well
against his former club this season, Warrior Shaun Kippin will again be out to
make the Dragons suffer having already scored five goals against the
Deeside-based team, including a hat trick on the road in November. Hoping to
travel with more than the twelve skaters who were able to make the trip for the
pre-Christmas encounter at Hillheads, McKenzie will again look to contend
with Whitley who continue to prove tricky competitors, having shown their
fortitude on several occasions this season. Whilst two points would clearly
remove pressure from the Dragons who have battled to progress following
their promotion to Division One, the Warriors are also in need of a victory
which would see the side head into third place should Solihull Barons lose out
to Billingham Stars this weekend. As a result, both teams will surely give their all in
their efforts to make this game count with the competition in the league
tougher than ever before. Looking forward to this fixture, player-coach David
Longstaff stated: “This is a must win game for both teams. The Dragons have
been able to add players over the last couple of months which makes them a
stronger team but we’ll be confident after our game against Billingham last
weekend.”
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Last
to ice on Sunday, Billingham Stars prepare for the second journey of
their double header as they make the trip to Hobs Moat Road to face Solihull Barons for the first time this campaign. Last season saw the
Stars record two losses against Perry Doyle’s then newly promoted team before recovering to tally consecutive victories in
January. Currently placed second in the league standings ahead of the Barons,
Billingham are now a very different side to the one which Solihull faced in their previous campaign and will therefore be out to collect maximum points from this contest in
the hope that they can outdo the team who were able to surpass their efforts to claim a playoff spot in March. Losing three of their last five
league games, the Barons’ form has lacked consistency of late, with their
latest triumph a narrow 6-5 victory over Telford Tigers last weekend. Within
these last five games, Solihull have
certainly not been short of goal scorers but standing out from the crowd are forward Thomas Soar, who has come into better form of late, and Swedish import
Niklas Ottosson. Always appearing dangerous in front of goal, the duo will no doubt put the Stars to the test as the forwards look to add to their current points tallies which collectively consist of eighteen goals and fourteen assists at present. Equally hoping to prove a threat in front of goal, Billingham’s Chris
Sykes will look to continue his latest points streak, having managed to gain at
least one point per game in the last twenty three games he has played. Ever a
danger, Swedish import Dennis Boström will also bring a great deal of firepower
to this contest whilst fellow forwards James Moss, Michael Elder and Callum
Davies will also seek opportunities to contribute, though this will be no easy
task as the Stars contend with Doyle’s powerful Solihull outfit who will no
doubt utilise their usual mix of strength and skill to hinder their opposition.
Whilst a win for Solihull Barons will ensure the side stay ahead of fourth
placed Whitley Warriors on Sunday, triumph for the Stars would reduce the gap
between themselves and Solway Sharks to eight to provide Billingham with some
hope that the league title is still within their grasp. Speaking ahead of this
weekend’s action, Star Chris Sykes noted: “It’s the first double header of the
year this weekend for us. It was disappointing last weekend. We have a cup game
and also a league game this weekend so there’s lots of hockey to be played. We have two
away games and they are at opposite ends of the country so there’s lots of
travelling for us and bus legs. We know what we have to bring this weekend for
the points and we are prepared to do that. It’s a big weekend for the Stars.”
For
those fans hoping to attend any of the above fixtures, Solway Sharks host
Billingham Stars from 7:00pm at the Dumfries Ice Bowl on Saturday. Meanwhile, on
Sunday, Whitley Warriors take on The Dragons from 5:00pm at Whitley Bay Ice
Rink whilst the Teessiders head to Hobs Moat Road for a 6:00pm faceoff against
Solihull Barons.
NIHL
Radio Listings
Saturday
14th January
5:30pm
on NIHL Radio 1
Telford
Tigers vs. Blackburn Hawks
Sunday
15th January
4:15pm
on NIHL Radio 1
Sutton
Sting vs. Blackburn Hawks
5:00pm
on NIHL Radio 2
Whitley
Warriors vs. The Dragons
For more photos from
IceHockeyMedia, please visit: http://www.icehockeymedia.co.uk/.
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