WEEKEND
PREVIEW
NIHL
NORTH DIVISION 1 (MORALEE)
Saturday 10th November 2018
Billingham Stars vs. Hull Pirates
Solway Sharks vs. Blackburn Hawks
Sunday 11th November 2018
Whitley Warriors vs. Nottingham Lions
Telford
Tigers vs. Billingham
Stars
Fixture:
Billingham
Stars vs. Hull Pirates
Date: 10th November 2018
Venue: The Forum
Faceoff: 6:00 pm
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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After last weekend’s 6-2
defeat to Sheffield Steeldogs, Billingham Stars will head into Saturday’s home
clash against Hull Pirates with the aim to challenge Jason Hewitt’s men,
having plummeted into ninth place in recent weeks. In their 2017-18 campaign,
the Stars suffered a heavy road defeat against the Pirates in October,
conceding eleven goals whilst managing to find the net just once. This was
followed by a close but fiery contest in November in which Billingham
matched the Pirates for most of the game before Hull eventually overwhelmed the
Stars to win by the narrow margin of 6-4. A third battle in December then saw
the Teessiders on the wrong end of an 8-3 score line but this game was once
again a spirited one with Hull’s youngster Aaron Lyon and Stars’ forward Jack Davies
both handed misconduct penalties in the final stages of the game. It was
therefore little surprise that the two sides clashed again when they faced each
other two weeks later at The Forum; Billingham’s defenceman Matthew Campbell
and Pirate Jordan Fisher were both punished for roughing whilst the Teessiders
recorded a fourth loss to the Pirates in a 7-2 defeat. As such, the Stars will
be hoping to take at least a point from this fixture to show that they can improve on these results.
Finding themselves
shortbenched recently, the Stars have now lost their last nine fixtures across
all competitions and desperately need to find a way out of their current slump if they are to move ahead of close competition Blackburn Hawks in the coming weeks. With Alternate Captain Chris Sykes snatching two
unassisted goals against Sheffield Steeldogs last Saturday and Billingham recording a respectable 5-3 cup defeat to Telford Tigers, the Stars have shown
that they can challenge the teams at the top of the table and will therefore be
looking for a repeat performance this weekend. Meanwhile, Hull will be as equally
eager to achieve both points following the departure of Czech netminder Tomas
Fucik from the club, not least because a win would potentially allow the
Pirates to close the gap between themselves and Solway Sharks. Having signed former
Warrior Harry Harley over the summer further to the recent addition of ex-EIHL
defenceman Kevin Phillips and returnee netminder Ashley Smith, the Pirates
appear to be a force to be reckoned with once again, meaning a victory for the Stars would be a great achievement
should they manage it in front of their home crowd.
Fixture:
Solway Sharks vs. Blackburn
Hawks
Date: 10th November 2018
Venue: Dumfries Ice Bowl
Faceoff: 7:00 pm
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Heading out onto the ice on Saturday evening, Solway Sharks will no
doubt expect a difficult encounter against Blackburn Hawks who made for
unpredictable competition during their 2017-18 campaign, the side finishing in
seventh place with 33 points from 36 league games. The fluctuation of the Hawks’
performances last season is clear over the course of their four-game series
against the Sharks. In their first league game against Solway mid-October,
Blackburn recorded a cruel 7-6 defeat in what was an incredibly tight clash
between the two outfits. This was then followed up with two games in January,
both of which Solway were able to win, the first by nine goals to two and the second by the slender margin of 6-3. Closer still was the final fixture played between these two contenders in February; the Sharks fell behind by
two goals through forwards Rick Bentham and Aaron Davies at Blackburn Ice Arena before making a fantastic
comeback against Steven Duncombe’s men, bagging themselves three goals in
the latter half of the third period to snatch the points from the Hawks. Whilst
these results show that the Sharks triumphed against Blackburn in every league
encounter last season, the Hawks clearly possessed a great deal of fortitude to
contend with Martin Grubb’s outfit and will therefore look to avenge these
defeats to Solway with a road victory on Saturday.
Hoping to shine for the Sharks again this weekend will be none other
than former Hawks’ forward Rick Bentham and defenceman Lewis Baldwin. So far,
Bentham is Solway’s top points scorer with 11 goals and 9 assists in 9 league
games whilst Baldwin has also been an important addition on Solway’s blue line,
chipping in with 6 points to contribute in offence where possible. Going into
this game on the back of a narrow 4-3 win over Solihull Barons, the Sharks will
look to avoid complacency though they currently find themselves in second
place, just two points behind league leaders Sheffield Steeldogs. Aiming to
give their all to maintain, if not better, their current league position, the Dumfries outfit will find themselves up against a challenging
Hawks’ line-up which includes strong on-ice leaders Steven Duncombe, James Neil
and Luke Boothroyd as well as two-way player Adam Barnes, who is so far the
side’s top points scorer with 9 goals and 3 assists in just 4 league games. With these players in mind, Solway will certainly
not be deceived by the current league position of the Lancashire outfit when
they take to the ice on Saturday, knowing that the Hawks have enough resilience and determination to progress from eighth place. The Sharks, by comparison, require
a win to ensure Hull Pirates and Telford Tigers do not overtake the
side following this weekend’s fixtures. Always a battle between these two contenders, this fixture should be no different with both teams eager to
compete to the highest possible standard this season.
Fixture:
Whitley
Warriors vs. Nottingham Lions
Date: 11th November 2018
Venue: Whitley Bay Ice Rink
Faceoff: 5:00 pm
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
|
Following last weekend’s narrow 2-1 defeat to
league leaders Sheffield Steeldogs, Whitley Warriors will take to the ice on
Sunday against Nottingham Lions, having already confronted the side at the
National Ice Centre this season. Triumphing 9-1 in this road clash, the
Warriors opened the scoring with a goal from Latvian defenceman Rolands Gritāns
forty eight seconds into the contest but the Lions had the final say when
forward Ruskin Hughes printed his name onto the scoresheet in the final minute of the game. Despite Nottingham’s landslide defeat, the
outfit still showed a great deal of fight as defencemen Joseph Gretton and
Callum Medcalf respectively dropped the gloves with Warriors Jordan Barnes and
Callum Watson, suggesting this fixture could be another tempestuous one when
the Lions visit Hillheads to avenge their recent defeat to David Longstaff’s
side.
At present, Nottingham are NIHL North’s most
punished outfit with 307 PIMs from 12 league games, with Czech forward Jakub
Klima and blue liners Kieran Raynor and Gretton having racked up at least
40 PIMs each. As such, the Lions will be required to show more discipline if
they are to accomplish a victory at Hillheads but Matt Bradbury’s men will know
that this feat is not totally beyond their reach, having managed a 3-2 win over
the Warriors this time last year. Last weekend’s narrow 4-3 defeat to Blackburn
Hawks is also a far more positive result than the Lions have managed in recent
weeks and, with the goal scoring prowess of top points scorer Ruskin Hughes and
the skill of forward Callum Medcalf, the side will aim to be a threat once
again on Sunday. Whilst Nottingham have yet to pick up a point this campaign,
Whitley have made good progress in recent weeks to find themselves in sixth
place, just two points behind Solihull Barons who have a game in hand. In consequence, both teams will be eager to earn a victory on Sunday
evening, with the Hillheads outfit seeking two points to build on recent home performances whilst the Lions look to chase down their first win of the season.
Fixture:
Telford Tigers
vs. Billingham Stars
Date: 11th November 2018
Venue: Telford Ice Rink
Faceoff: 6:00pm
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
|
Making the trip to Telford Ice Rink
on Sunday evening, Billingham Stars will prepare to take on Tom Watkins’ Tigers
for a second consecutive weekend, having only lost 5-3 to the Shropshire outfit
in the NIHL North Cup seven days earlier. With their previous cup result against Telford
a narrow 4-2 defeat, the Stars put up a fight against the Tigers last Sunday to
find themselves in the lead by three goals to two at the end of the second
period. However, conceding two goals early in the third stanza before Watkins’
men ended the game with an empty net goal, the Stars were unable to pick up the points they desired from this clash. In consequence, Billingham
will be hoping for a similar performance on Sunday night with hopes of taking something from this game, whether that be points, momentum or both, ahead of next weekend’s
fixture against Nottingham Lions. Whilst Alternate Captain Chris Sykes continues
to be Billingham’s top points scorer with 6 goals and 9 assists in 9 league
games, Canadian Kevin Boyd, Captain Michael Elder and forward James Moss have
all notched 9 points so far in their efforts to aid their team’s
progression this season. By comparison, Telford’s Captain Jason Silverthorn has
once again proven to be incredibly influential, accumulating 23 points in 7 league
games whilst the impact of Canadian Doug Clarkson cannot be ignored, the left winger
having racked up 10 goals and 6 assists in just 3 league games so far this season.
Despite the seven-point gap between the two teams, the Stars have shown that
they have what it takes to challenge the Tigers and should therefore be unfazed by
Telford’s recent league performances which have seen the side lose just one
league game in overtime to Sheffield Steeldogs.
As previously mentioned, Billingham could move into
eighth place ahead of this fixture, depending on Saturday evening’s results for
both themselves and Blackburn Hawks.
If this should be the case, it is possible for the Teessiders to go ahead of seventh-placed
Sutton Sting should they win on Sunday but Simon Butterworth’s team also play twice which will make this feat an extremely difficult one for Billingham.
Meanwhile, Telford will not be prepared to miss out on both points, knowing
they have the potential to claim second place from Solway Sharks if they defeat
both Sutton Sting and Billingham Stars this weekend.
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