Sharks demolish Senators in 14 goal
thriller
Solway Sharks 14
Sheffield Senators 0
With the return of
Slovakian goal scorer Martin Cingel and Stuart Andrews to their line-up, and
the signing of Elite League defenceman James Wallace, Solway Sharks went into
this game knowing that the two points were there for the taking against the
short benched Sheffield Senators who, failing to pick up a single point to date,
travelled with a little over two lines and started with junior netminder Angus
Laing in goal. Requiring two points to edge ever closer to the Stars, the
Sharks were most definitely out to put on a display for their first game of
2016 whilst the Senators were hoping to challenge the Dumfries outfit in a bid
to make life difficult for their opposition.
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Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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As a result, both teams
took to the ice with a will to win, the Senators giving their all to match
Solway’s pace and power in the opening stages of the game whilst Solway applied
early pressure to Andrew Chapman’s defence. It was therefore to Senators’
credit that the home side were only able to open the scoring in the tenth
minute, Juraj Senko the first to light the lamp on 9:14 on the power play. A little over four minutes later, the
Sharks found their lead doubled by one Ross Murray who achieved his sixth goal
of the season courtesy of some strong link up play which sent the forward through on Laing’s net. Unable to organise
an immediate response to this deficit, the Senators watched as Solway’s captain
Struan Tonnar then slotted the puck past their defence to make it 3-0.
Going in at the break
with a three goal cushion, Solway took to the second period with even more
fervour than the first, and it was not long before new signing Wallace got in
on the action, scoring on 24:12 to extend his team’s lead further. Less than
two minutes later, the Senators were stunned by a quick fire goal from youngster
Duncan Speirs who made it five to significantly reduce the visitors’ chances of
carving a way back into the game. Some excellent build up play from the home
side saw the Sharks find the back of the net again on 29:57, Andrews firing the
puck past Laing on this occasion. This was shortly followed by Aidan Fulton’s
first goal of his 2015-16 campaign, the versatile defenceman skimming the puck
over the red line to make it 7-0 three minutes after the half-way point of the
period.
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Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Trying their utmost
under pressure, the Senators managed to keep the Sharks at bay for over five
minutes but, with the clock counting down, there was still time for Murray to find
the net again to make it eight for Solway before the interval. With the despondent
Senators left with no choice but to defend their current deficit and search for
a consolation goal, the visitors took to the ice for the third period, but the
first face off had scarcely taken place before Laing was again picking the puck
from his net, Senko scoring with only fifty four seconds played.
More than six minutes
of the period had passed by before the Sharks again lit the lamp to take their
lead into double figures, this time Cingel making his return from injury in
style with a tenth goal for Solway. One minute and eight seconds later, Senko
secured his hat trick with a superb effort to earn himself Man of the Match at
the end of the fixture. The punishing Sharks were not about to show mercy
however, and Speirs soon grabbed his second, followed by a well-executed effort
from Michael Corbett on 57:01. In the midst of this fast paced final
instalment, Senator Paul Lofthouse took a swing at Corbett and both subsequently
dropped the gloves to incur 2+2 fighting penalties, with Lofthouse receiving an
additional two minutes for roughing. This merely made matters worse for the
Senators and, with just over a minute left of the game, Cingel had the last say
to hammer home Sheffield’s heaviest defeat this season.
Solway now remain in
seventh but the Sharks have increased their points tally to fourteen, meaning
they continue to pile the pressure onto Sheffield Spartans and Billingham Stars
who are just five points ahead having played considerably more games than the
Dumfries outfit. His team next in action against league leaders Blackburn Hawks,
Head Coach Martin Grubb shared his views with NIHL Northern Trio: “I was happy
with how we played after a slow first period but that’s understandable after
such a long break. It was good to get Martin Cingel and Stuart Andrews back
from injury as well. The Senators never stopped working but we moved the puck
well and were patient all night so, although we know next week is completely
different, we are happy with how we’ve started the second half of the season.”
Warrior woes as Whitley narrowly lose
out to Hawks
Blackburn Hawks 4
Whitley Warriors 3
It was a fixture that
Whitley Warriors really needed to win if they were to stand any chance of
competing with league leaders Blackburn for top spot, the Hawks having
reclaimed poll position over the Christmas period.
With Adam Reynolds
making his first appearance for Whitley following his return to the club last
week, David Longstaff’s men made a great start to the first period and, despite
some early efforts from the Hawks, it was the visitors who went in front,
taking the lead through captain Jamie Tinsley on 5:40. In the aftermath of this
goal, enforcer Andre Payette clashed with Reece Cairney-Witter who provoked the
Warrior to drop his gloves in a clever ploy to have Payette sin binned. Though Referee
Steve Brown was not fooled by this trickery, any reprieve the Warriors might
have enjoyed was short lived as Jordan Barnes was soon directed to the penalty
box to serve two minutes for hooking. Unsurprisingly, the Hawks took full
advantage, Richard Bentham working hard to find Matt Viney who pressured
netminder Richie Lawson and subsequently lit the lamp for his side.
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Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Just over a minute
later, the lead was again with Whitley as Longstaff set up youngster Callum
Queenan for his tenth goal of the season. Having had little joy from his
earlier deception, Cairney-Witter soon turned his attention to Barnes who was
also misled by the Hawk’s deception. However, the Warrior did not let this pass
without going toe to toe with Cairney-Witter first before heading to the sin
bin where both players were made to serve 2+2+10 for fighting.
If the Hawks felt that
their start to the game had been eventful, it was only about to get worse,
Warriors extending their lead further when Payette fed the puck through to
Martin Crammond who buried his effort in the back of Daniel Brittle’s net two
minutes before the break.
Returning for the
second period, the Warriors were aware that their lead was a fragile one, even
with a two goal cushion to their advantage, as the Hawks returned with a
renewed energy to take the points. A minor hooking penalty for Payette saw
Whitley reduced to four men and defending well on the penalty kill but, despite
Blackburn’s failure to capitalise, they soon pulled a goal back on 30:47
through Canadian import RJ Berra who hit home courtesy of hard work from Lee
Pollitt and Adam Brittle. Six minutes later, the Warriors were given the chance
to add to their lead when a slashing offence from Bentham placed the Hillheads
outfit on the power play but Blackburn saw off Whitley’s attack without
conceding and, with the home side putting on a better display than in the
first, Daniel MacKriel’s side went in at the break the happier of the two
teams.
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Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Taking to the ice for
the final period, the Hawks continued from where they left off in the middle
section, scoring with almost three minutes played, this time Tom King ensuring
his name was printed on the score sheet by making the most of support from
Aaron Davies and Bentham to equalise. The teams now level at 3-3, it was the
Hawks who had the upper hand and it showed as Callum Watson was sin binned for
a slashing offence on 46:43 to present the home side with yet another power
play. Creating several chances but failing to make a single one count, the
Hawks continued to search for a game winning goal and an opportunity arose on 54:54
when referee Brown sent Adam Reynolds to the sin bin for a trip. With just
thirty six seconds of the power play left to kill, the Warriors conceded, Chris
Arnone and Adam Brittle finding goal scoring threat Berra from the faceoff, the
import quickly accomplishing his forty eighth player point of the season. A holding
penalty on Bentham, called for pulling down Longstaff, made for a
nerve-wracking finish as the Warriors requesting a time out on 59:56. This effort was all in vain however, the two
points remaining firmly with the Hawks who are now nine points ahead of their
title rivals after a highly successful four point weekend.
When asked for his views by NIHL Northern Trio, Longstaff said:“We’ve had four really good games against them, all very even, which is a big boost for our team and it looks like we’re the only team that can get close to them. [Adam Reynolds] was ahead of where I thought he would be and I probably gave him a little bit too much ice time for his first game back bit it’ll help him to get to where he needs to be. He’s a natural centre man and that's probably where we’ll look to play him. We struggled last night on face-offs and that made us chase the game too much; that’s somewhere we need to improve on and hopefully he can do that.”
Whitley’s next fixture is against Telford Tigers in Sunday the 10th January at Hillheads where the side will hope to achieve their first victory of 2016 to bounce back from their defeat to Blackburn Hawks, the side having won one, drawn one and lost two against the league leaders who were previously eighteen months unbeaten before they encountered the Warriors.
Stars outshine Barons to claim victory
Solihull
Barons 4
Billingham
Stars 6
After last weekend’s
entertaining clash between Billingham Stars and Solihull Barons, this fixture
bore great expectation, with the Teesiders requiring a victory to move ahead of
Sheffield Spartans whilst the Barons also needed two points to reclaim third
place from Telford Tigers.
For those fans making
the trip, this game was not about to disappoint as the Stars got off to a
flying start, scoring on 4:40 when Swedish import Dennis Boström was set up
superbly by forward James Moss to allow the Teesiders to take the lead. Dominating
in offence, it was little surprise when the Stars doubled their lead almost
four minutes later, Chris Sykes and Callum Davies working in unison to set up
forward Michael Elder who waited for the perfect moment to fire his shot into
the back of Josh Nicholls’ net.
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Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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Twenty six seconds
later, the home side were stunned further when Elder snatched a second with
assists from Sykes and Davies once again. This third goal prompted a change of
netminder for the Barons, Nicholls swiftly replaced by shot stopper Sam Hewitt,
and also a change in approach, the home side delivering their first goal of the
game less than half a minute later when creative two-way player Thomas Soar and
the sprightly Niklas Ottosson aided alternate captain Josh Bruce in his effort
to make it 3-1. In a rapid response from the home side, a second soon followed
courtesy of an unassisted effort from Soar and, less than two minutes later,
the Barons secured an equaliser, versatile Slovakian import Tomas Janak working
hard to set up left winger Joe Henry.
With the Stars’ three
goal cushion destroyed in a matter of minutes, the visitors found themselves
trying to get ahead in the game once again. However, on 14:48, both Henry and
Moss were called to the sin bin by referee David Nutt for cross checks, meaning
both sides were reduced to four men. Less than a minute after the teams were
restored to full strength, minor roughing penalties were dished out to Barons’
captain Rob Eley and Stars’ forward Moss, this further disruption preventing
either side from finding a goal before the break.
Back on the ice for the
second period, Billingham were in search of a goal to take the lead and it
arrived in the twenty fifth minute when a line change from the Barons meant
that netminder James Flavell could hit the puck down the left wing to Callum
Davies without interception from Solihull. In turn, Davies ensured the puck
found Boström who did not miss his mark.
A little over three
minutes later, the puck was in the back of the net again for the Stars, this
time Sykes setting up Callum Davies for a deserved goal subsequent to his three
consecutive assists. Though the score line was 5-3 in Stars’ favour, the Barons
were not about to give up on the points and, just over a minute later, Flavell
came under pressure when defenceman Ryan Selwood and forward Joe Henry advanced
on his net, a rebounded shot eventually finding its way to Bruce who hit home
to make it 5-4. Striking the post, Solihull looked set for a similar comeback
to that of the first period but a slashing penalty on Janak gave Billingham the
advantage of an additional man and the visitors made it count. Made captain in
the absence of Paul Windridge, Andy Munroe threaded the puck to Boström who
confirmed his hat trick with a quick-fire shot over Hewitt approximately four
minutes from the end of the second period.
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Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
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The final instalment of
the game saw the Barons return to the ice with the aim of snatching an
equaliser at the very least but, in the fourth minute of the period, Bruce was
directed to the sin bin for an interference penalty which saw the visitors on
the power play once again. Unable to extend their lead further, Billingham were
presented with a second opportunity, this time Richard Crowe serving a minor
roughing penalty. Again, the visitors could do little to add to their tally,
though they came close to scoring in the fifty fourth minute when a blue line
shot from Andy Finn was turned away by Hewitt following the sin binning of
Selwood for a cross check. The score line still 6-4 as the game drew to a
close, the Stars were more than happy to take two much needed points from the
game which sees the side move into fifth place ahead of Sheffield Spartans.
Speaking after the
game, Chris Sykes told NIHL Northern Trio: “The game was a battle and when we
went up by three goals early in the first, we couldn’t believe our luck that
we’d scored three goals in two shifts. It was a very fast pace for the first
period, and then Solihull woke up and realised what had happened and we decided
to nod off and they scored three; before anyone knew it, it was the end of the
first and 3-3. So we went back into the dressing room and said it was a new
game, 0-0 going into the second, and we knuckled down from then on, allowing
them minimal good scoring chances and shutting down their key players. We had
chances. I think we hit the post and the bar maybe three or four times in the
game. We ground out a result and two points in Solihull is massive. Not many
teams go in there and take a win so we were very happy to be taking the two
points back home to Billingham and putting us two points closer to those
all-important playoff spots. Me, Elder and Callum Davies are clicking so well.
Things are going our way at the minute and we are capitalising on that to make
sure we can push this until the end of the season. But, all in all, a four
point weekend is good for us. Yeah, two were in the cup against a good Widnes
team but two wins, four points, and we push on to next week away at Sutton,
back to my old club! Should be interesting…”
As Sykes mentioned,
Billingham now face Sutton Sting on Saturday 16th January before
travelling back to The Forum to take on the struggling Sheffield Senators as
they look to climb the NIHL league table in the coming months.
