Kingston Rec Tournament - June 29-30, 2019

Hillheads-based trio, Whitley Bay Islanders, Newcastle Predators and Durham Dragons were all in action at the Kingston Tournament last weekend with varying degrees of success.

The Predators and Islanders faced off against one-another in the second game of the day with the latter coming out 3-1 winners. The Islanders were able to score on an early power play and also bagged a short-handed goal too from Stephen Laidler. However, having built a three goal lead with Gav Wafer’s marker at 6:53, the Islanders began to tire and the Predators ended the game the stronger, bagging a goal through Lee Gill and going close a couple of times after but some good saves by Drew Forester in the Islanders net preserved their lead.

The Predators bounced back in their next game, beating Scottish team Dumfries Demons. However, they had to work hard for the win. It was the third line that found the breakthrough when Curtis Dean gave the Predators the lead after being set up by Ben McCallum and Andy Dytham. Adam Winter then doubled that advantage with less than two minutes left but Dumfries got a goal back moments later through Steven Renton. Setting up a nervy finish. However, the Predators would go on to win 2-1 and claim their first points of the weekend.

The Islanders had a second straight derby match to contend with when they played the Dragons in their second game. Contests between the two have been enthralling in recent years but perhaps nobody expected such a comfortable margin of victory for Whitley, especially considering the number of key players that were missing from their line up for the tournament. Ross Trail gave them an early lead they would hold for the next ten minutes. David Hirst got the Dragons back on level terms but that didn’t last for long. Liam Brown, Liam Telfer and a Gav Wafer double secured a 5-1 win. The best goal of the game came from Telfer who shot from the halfway line to beat Sam Elsom in the Dragons goal.

For Durham this represented the lowest point of the tournament for them, as they had already lost their opening game to Grimsby 3-2. They soon put that right though with a comfortable 4-1 win over Blackburn Falcons to end the day with their first points on the board.

Having beat Durham, it was a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show for the Islanders as they surprisingly found themselves down 2-0 to Dumfries. Former Solway Shark, John Ballentyne gave Dumfries the lead just 53 seconds in before Jamie Kerr made it two at the mid-point of the game. The Islanders would get a goal back through Steve Brown, but it wouldn’t be enough to prevent a first loss in the tournament.

The Predators then had two tough encounters to end the day with. Against the hosts Kingston Cobras, they went down 0-5 but did hang on until the ninth minute before conceding a powerplay goal to Chris Armitage. Then Kingston scored twice in fifteen seconds as Aaron Jordan and Mike Fletcher put the game out of the Predator’s reach. A brace from Lewis Fenwick, which included a shorthanded and a power play goal, in the final five minutes completed the scoring.

The Predators then had to face Grimsby Lightning in the final game of the day. The Lightning were the only team that were unbeaten from Day 1, when they inflicted a 1-4 defeat on the Preds. James Wardle was the main difference between the two sides as he netted a hat-trick scoring on a delayed penalty to get his sides’ opening strike. James Kelly scored on the powerplay to complete the scoring for Grimsby, while Jamie Penaluna’s shorthanded marker with five minutes to go briefly slashed the Lightning’s lead to two but Wardle’s hat-trick goal ended the game as a contest moments later.

Durham had the honour of getting Day 2 underway with a 2-1 win over Dumfries. The Scottish side left disappointed last year but were proving to be a much tougher team to beat 12 months later. In fact, five of their six games were settled by just a single goal which shows how difficult a side they were to break down.

The Predators were next up, and they had two games within an hour, drawing the first contest 1-1 with Blackburn Falcons, before taking on the Dragons. Conor Duthie has given the Falcons an early lead, but the Predators played well and found a way back into the game at the midpoint when Australian defenseman Dylan Stevens scored on the powerplay.

The game against Durham would prove to be the best performance of the weekend for the Predators as they competed well with their opponents and narrowly lost 0-2. Ian Spraggon and John Shreeve scored for the Dragons but the Predators had racked up 12 PIMs which probably didn’t help their cause. However, the level of commitment from every player on every shift meant they could head home with some positives to take into next weekend’s NRHC encounter against the same side.

That left the Predators on four points and mathematically they could no longer finish any higher then fifth place. It also as good as confirmed Whitley and Durham would be in the semi-finals along with Kingston and Grimsby.

That being said the Islanders still had work to do and had to come from behind against Kingston to win 3-2. Steve Brown opened the scoring but two goals from William Smith, three minutes apart had given the Cobras the lead. However, a minute later the Islanders tied it up and 42 seconds after that had their lead back when Liam Telfer found the net. Perhaps more importantly though was the loss of Ross Trail to an upper body injury which required a visit to the local hospital. Sadly, it appears the former Whitley Renegade [Under 20s] will be out for some time.

Whitley faced Grimsby next and secured another win [2-1]. Liam Brown gave the Islanders the lead, but the unbeaten Lightning were not going to give up without a fight. James Kelly levelled the scores at 11:52 but Richie Crowe’s goal six minutes later secured the victory for the Islanders and inflicted a first defeat of the weekend on their opponents in the process. The Islanders were finding ways to win tight games but perhaps they were peaking too soon in the tournament?

Durham secured a 3-1 win over Kingston in their last game to finish fourth in the standings [Played 6, Won 4, Lost 2, Goals Scored 16, Goals Against 10, Points 12].

The final game of the group stage saw Whitley cruise to a 5-1 win over Blackburn Falcons, a result which confirmed they would win the group stage by finishing top of the standings with 15 points from a possible 18. Steve Brown opened the scoring before Adam Fleet briefly had Blackburn level before the Islanders re-took the lead at 10:11though Richie Crowe. Further strikes from Gav Wafer, Brown and Crowe, the latter two getting their second goals of the game, completed the scoring.

Despite ending the group stage on a high, it would count for nothing as the Islanders were not even afforded a rest period between the game with Blackburn and their semi-final. Of course, it was a mere quirk in the schedule but did lead many to question why bother with a group stage at all if there is no advantage to finishing first.

Following a short ice cut, the Islanders found themselves taking on a very well rested host team. That was evident after the Cobras had got two quick goals within the opening five minutes and would be increased to 3-0 before we had seven minutes on the clock. The Islanders were gassed and faced a very difficult final twenty minutes of their weekend. Right Wing Sniper Gav Wafer had a couple of fierce drives, but they were well stopped by Steve Hudson in the Kingston net, while Liam Brown had a breakaway, but he too found himself stonewalled by the impressive Hudson. Further goals from Kingston compounded the Islanders misery, and not even a consolation marker from Wafer to cut the score to 1-5 could raise spirits. Mike Forbes was certainly the star player for Kingston, as he netted four of his sides goals and bagged an assist in a five-point game. Nathan Otley and Lewis Fenwick also got on the scoresheet.

It was a tough way to exit a competition that the Islanders appeared to have within their grasp, but in the end the short bench and having to play four games in four hours finally took their toll. Might there have been a different story had the likes of Simon Leach, Bobby Bradley, Kevin Bucas and Paul Willis been playing?

A special mention should be made to Drew Forester in the Islanders net who has stepped up from the Tyneside Jesters this season to give Antony Markham some competition between the pipes. He made some smart saves at crucial times during the weekend to help the Islanders claim top spot in the standings.

With other results going their way the Newcastle Predators were confirmed as finishing fifth in the standings, one place from a Semi-Final spot. It was perhaps not as exciting as last year’s edition for the Preds when they claimed 3 wins and a draw from their five games but having faced some tough opposition it was certainly a good experience.

That left Durham, who were tied with Grimsby Lightning at 2-2 until they grabbed a late winner to book a place in the final.

With Kingston’s win over the Islanders in the other semi-final and also having the benefit of home ice advantage the Cobras entered the game with plenty of confidence. However, Durham who got off to a slow start in the competition were gradually improving with every game. Like any machine, I guess it just needs warming up before working to it’s true potential and by the final they were firing on all cylinders. A massive 6-0 victory was achieved to deservedly retain the trophy they won a year ago and our congratulations go to them.

All three sides will be back in action this coming weekend. Durham host Newcastle Predators on Saturday, July 6 at Hillheads [12 Noon Faceoff]. While the Whitley Bay Islanders will make the short journey down the A19 to take on the Cleveland Comets at the Billingham Forum later that same day [6pm Faceoff].