WEEKEND
PREVIEW
NIHL
NORTH DIVISION 1 (MORALEE)
Saturday 16th December 2017
Billingham
Stars vs. Hull Pirates
Sunday
17th December 2017
Hull
Pirates vs.
Whitley Warriors
Solihull
Barons vs. Billingham Stars
Fixture:
Billingham Stars vs. Hull Pirates
Date: 16th December 2017
Venue: The Forum
Faceoff: 5:30pm
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Having already endured three difficult meetings with Hull Pirates this campaign,
Billingham Stars will prepare to play the side for one last time this season, aiming to secure their first win over the outfit.
Failing to pick up a single point against Jason Hewitt’s team so far, the Stars first suffered an 11-1 away defeat to the Pirates in early
October before losing out by the closer
margin of six goals to four at The Forum last month. This, combined with a recent 8-3 loss at Hull
Arena, suggests that Billingham will once again be confronted with a challenge
when the Pirates visit on Saturday evening, though the Teessiders will certainly put
up a fight as they aim to pick up points to improve on their present league position. Currently, Billingham sit in ninth place with five points from
fourteen games but with four fixtures in hand on Whitley Warriors, Nottingham
Lions and The Dragons. As
such, the Stars will continue to battle their way through these fixtures to
ensure they can make each game count as the team look to kick-start their
season. As with all games, this encounter will be no mean feat as Hull
sit in second place at present with twenty four points from fourteen games; just three points behind league leaders Sheffield Steeldogs. Heading out in
search of a win to contend for Division One’s top spot, Hewitt’s men will hope to achieve no less than a four-point weekend in order to keep up with
their title rivals, making the Pirates difficult opposition to say the least.
Fixture:
Hull Pirates vs. Whitley Warriors
Date: 17th December 2017
Venue: Hull Arena
Faceoff: 5:30pm
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
|
Following their trip to The Forum to face Billingham Stars on Saturday
evening, Hull Pirates will then return home to play host to David
Longstaff’s Whitley Warriors. Only losing out on penalty shots to the Pirates
last month, the Warriors know that they have what it takes to contend with Hull, having equalised twice against the outfit in their previous encounter, before taking the lead just over five minutes from the final buzzer. Feeling that they could take maximum points from this
clash as a result of this goal, the Warriors were then disappointed when the Pirates drew level in the final minute of regular time to take the game into overtime and, subsequently, penalty shots; the contest then settled by right winger Bobby Chamberlain and forward Matty Davies.
Whilst Davies remains top of NIHL North Division One’s points
production charts with fifty four points from ten league games and player-coach
Hewitt sits in third with fourteen goals and twenty one assists, also tallied
over the course of ten league fixtures, Whitley Warriors’ alternate captain
Shaun Kippin achieved two goals and two assists over his local rivals last Sunday to become
the fifth highest scorer in the league so far this campaign, the forward
averaging two points per game at present. Additionally, continuing to prove influential
for the Warriors is their player-coach, Longstaff having accumulated twenty
five assists besides four goals to fuel his team’s firepower. Also worthy of recognition are alternate captain Jordan Barnes who has eighteen points from seventeen games, Canadian import Philip Edgar who is currently the side’s top goal scorer and new signing Sam Zajac who bagged himself two assists last Sunday in his
first game since returning to Whitley’s line-up. In consequence, both teams
have the resources to make this game another nerve-wracking encounter but just
who will prevail in the end is difficult to determine with both just as
resolute as one another in their quest for success.
Considering this road trip, Whitley Warriors’ player-coach
David Longstaff reported:
“We’re missing Dan Pye, Harry Harley, Martin Crammond, Adam
Finlinson, Ben Richards, Ryan Sample, Philip Edgar and Niall Simpson so it is
going to be a very difficult game to get anything out of but we’ll hopefully put
in a good performance with the players that we have.”
Looking forward to Hull’s double header against the Stars and the Warriors, Pirates’
defenceman Chris Wilcox shared:
“This weekend we face a trip away to Billingham and
a home game against Whitley. Having had a weekend off last week, we head into
these games with excitement at hoping to continue our move closer to the top
spot. On Saturday against Billingham, we know we need to play well as they are
always a threat and are much better than their current league spot. On Sunday,
we welcome Whitley to our rink for the first time this year. Having played them
once before we know we will be in a tough game but if we play the way we have
been recently, particularly at home, we should provide a good game and
hopefully a good result for ourselves.”
Fixture:
Solihull Barons vs. Billingham Stars
Date: 17th December 2017
Venue: Hobs Moat Road
Faceoff: 6:00pm
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
|
Set to face Solihull Barons for the first time this season, Billingham
Stars will make the trip to Hobs Moat Road on Sunday with hopes to put the
home team to the test. When faced with the Barons last season, the Teessiders
first lost out by two goals on the road in January before missing
out by an even narrower margin in a 6-5 home loss just weeks later. Down but
not out, the Stars then bounced back to find themselves on the right end of the
same score line before recording a 4-2 victory away from home in
March. Whilst the league is much changed since these two outfits last played
each other, little has altered for the Barons as the side continue to contend
with the challenging opposition of Division One and as ever, have demonstrated
their determination, recovering from some mixed form at the start of the
season to now find themselves in fifth place with seven victories, two overtime wins, an overtime loss and seven defeats; six of the latter arising in their
first seven games. Managing to turn around their fortunes, a feat which Billingham have yet to achieve, Solihull no doubt head into this
fixture with a great deal of momentum whereas the Stars require a victory to boost their confidence and will certainly put up a fight for the points as they aim
to improve on their overall performance as well as their league position going into
the New Year. Yet to be pitted against each other this campaign, this is set to
be another difficult game for these sides but both will be raring to go in
search of a win which will mean a lot to both sides; two
points will allow the Barons to contend for a spot in Division One’s top four
whilst a win will facilitate the Stars’ escape from the league
placement playoff place this weekend.
For more photos from
IceHockeyMedia, please visit: http://www.icehockeymedia.co.uk/.
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