WEEKEND
PREVIEW
NIHL
NORTH DIVISION 1 MORALEE CONFERENCE
Saturday
18th March 2017
Telford Tigers vs. Whitley Warriors
Solway Sharks vs. Solihull Barons
Sunday
19th March 2017
Sutton Sting vs. Billingham Stars
Whitley Warriors vs. Solway Sharks
With
this the penultimate weekend of their 2016-17 campaign, another busy schedule awaits for the Northern Trio. As Whitley Warriors continue to search for points
in their quest for a playoff place, the side are set to journey to
Shropshire on Saturday to face Daniel MacKriel’s Telford Tigers before returning to Hillheads for one final cup clash
against Solway Sharks on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Dumfries outfit will first take
on Solihull Barons in another important encounter as Perry Doyle’s men
look to cement their current league position whilst Billingham Stars make
their last road trip of the season as they head to Ice Sheffield to contend with Simon
Butterworth’s Sutton Sting.
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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First
to ice on Saturday, Whitley Warriors will head to Telford Ice Rink in the hope
that they can achieve a road victory over the side, having previously suffered
a controversial 5-0 defeat to the Tigers in December; a fixture which
resulted in suspensions for Whitley enforcer Andre Payette, player-coach
David Longstaff and bench coach Dave Holland. Picking up their first point of
the season against Telford Tigers in September, the Warriors recorded a 3-3
draw at Hillheads against MacKriel’s challenging team, making an inspired
comeback from 3-1 down to equalise in the last two minutes of the game. As
mentioned above, this was followed by a hugely disappointing road defeat which Whitley were able to avenge in a recent home victory;
three goals in the third period providing Longstaff’s line-up with
the edge over their visitors. Proving difficult to beat despite league
position, MacKriel’s men will certainly head out onto the ice in search of maximum
points this weekend with a win now crucial in their battle to survive
relegation. Whitley, on the other hand, will not give up the points easily in
spite of their short bench. So far, the side have lost six points on the road in recent weeks but continue to compete for a playoff place alongside close contenders Sutton Sting and Blackburn
Hawks. With two points of the greatest importance to both teams, this game will be an interesting contest, no matter the result. Speaking to NIHL
Northern Trio ahead of this fixture, player-coach David Longstaff informed that
his team would again be missing several familiar faces: “Saturday will be
another difficult game. We’re missing all the players that missed on Sunday
along with Ben Richards and all the players that play in the Under 20s team.”
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Also
set to ice on Saturday, Martin Grubb’s Solway Sharks will face Solihull Barons
at the Dumfries Ice Bowl, having already claimed three victories against Perry Doyle’s
team this season. A 3-1 win on home ice for the Sharks back in October and a
4-1 away victory mid-November were followed by Solway’s most recent triumph of
four goals to two, meaning the Barons will certainly be out to prove a point
against the league champions on Saturday, striving to claim at least one
point from the Dumfries outfit this campaign. With defencemen
Juraj Senko, Kim Miettinen and Stuart Andrews amongst those scoring against
Solihull this season, it is clear that the Sharks will prove a threat
to the Barons’ defence on Saturday with goals arriving from all areas of the
ice so far. Meanwhile, scoring one hundred and seven goals to date, Solihull
have also appeared dangerous in front of the net and will set out
to demonstrate their proficiency when they hit the ice this weekend as they aim to bounce back from last Sunday’s defeat to Billingham Stars. Whilst two
points would make very little difference to Solway besides building momentum
ahead of playoff weekend, the Barons require two points to ensure they remain
in third position and to take one step closer to securing their playoff place. Looking
ahead to this fixture, Sharks’ Head Coach Martin Grubb shared: “Every game with
Solihull is always a tough game as they have a good mix of youth and experience
and come to play. We want to get back to playing the way we have been for the
majority of the season and, after last Sunday, we want to get back to winning
so it should be a good game and both teams will want the points for different
reasons.”
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Hitting the road this weekend, Billingham
Stars will travel to Ice Sheffield to take on Simon Butterworth’s Sutton Sting in
their penultimate game of the 2016-17 campaign. Set to clash with the Sting on
the larger ice pad which has already caused problems for Billingham this
season, the Stars will take to the ice with playoff weekend in mind as they trial
the playing surface they will be faced with in a few weeks’ time. Suffering a narrow
4-3 loss to Sutton Sting when on the road in November, the Stars have triumphed
over the Sheffield-based side since; first, in a pre-Christmas fixture at The Forum before claiming
maximum points against the Sting in front of a home crowd in January, winning by two
goals on both occasions. Whilst former EPL forward Lloyd Gibson achieved a hat
trick against the Stars in Sutton’s first game against the Teessiders this
season, Billingham’s player-coach Michael Bowman managed to go one better,
scoring four goals against the Sting in December and, more recently, Swedish
import Dennis Boström also claimed a hat trick against Butterworth’s men. Hoping
to carry their goal-scoring ability into this game besides building on last weekend’s win over Solihull Barons, the Stars will aim to pull off a convincing performance to
provide themselves with the confidence they require going into playoff weekend. The
Sting, by comparison, are now just one point behind both Blackburn Hawks and Whitley
Warriors and will therefore seek a victory to provide themselves with a chance
of making playoffs, with two places still up for grabs. Considering Billingham’s
upcoming clash against his former club, Star Chris Sykes revealed
the importance of playing at Ice Sheffield this weekend: “On Sunday, we play
Sutton away. We are using this game as a playoff practice game because
we struggle on the big ice at Sheffield and have lost to Sutton
there already this season. We are going for a win and we want to work on things
on the big ice. It should be a good game!”
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Last but not least, Whitley
Warriors will also be in action at Hillheads on Sunday as they encounter Solway
Sharks in their final NIHL North Cup clash of the season, playing on home ice
for the first time since taking on Telford Tigers exactly one month ago. Whilst
there is little left to play for in this competition besides points, with
Solway Sharks long since confirmed North Cup champions, the Warriors
need to put in a good performance in the hope that they can take some
confidence and momentum into their final league game against Billingham Stars
next weekend. With the chances of a playoff place slowly beginning to slip away,
the Warriors will hope that they go into Sunday’s cup game on the back of a league
win over Telford Tigers but this would be no mean feat and one which the side
would have to work incredibly hard for, especially with a short bench. As such,
Sunday’s game will also offer some reprieve from a busy league schedule in
which the Warriors can ice some of their younger players whilst trying out some
new systems without risk to their league position. Similarly, the
Sharks will head into this game with nothing to lose and will therefore look to
avenge last month’s 3-3 draw against the Warriors without the usual pressures
of performing to improve their league standing, a notion addressed by Grubb who added: “We go to Whitley for what is
really a nothing game but it’s their last home game and they will want to
finish at home with a win and gain confidence for the playoff push. We will go
and play our usual game with speed and skill, hoping to keep momentum going.”
Meanwhile, Longstaff noted: “Sunday is a home game so everyone will play but I’ll
be using it to play younger players and get them experience.”
For those fans hoping to attend one of these games over the weekend, Whitley
Warriors travel to Telford Ice Rink to take on the Tigers from 5:30pm on
Saturday evening whilst Solway Sharks host Solihull Barons at the Dumfries Ice
Bowl from 7:00pm. On Sunday, Billingham Stars make the trip to Ice Sheffield
for a 4:15pm faceoff against Sutton Sting whilst Whitley Warriors encounter
Solway Sharks at Hillheads from 5:00pm in their final cup clash of the season.
Can’t make it to a game? Fear not! Please see NIHL Radio’s listings below.
NIHL
Radio Listings
Sunday
19th March
5:45pm
on NIHL Radio 1
Blackburn
Hawks vs. Solihull Barons
For more photos from IceHockeyMedia, please visit: http://www.icehockeymedia.co.uk/.
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