ENL - Warriors Game Preview v Solway Sharks

Whitley have faced the Solway Sharks more times than any other Scottish Team over the last 20 years.
When the Superleague came into existence in 1996, ruining British Hockey in the process, the Warriors were placed in the Northern Premier League, a competition predominantly involving Scottish sides. One of those teams were the then named Dumfries Vikings who enjoyed some feisty battles with Whitley. Sadly that competition was to only last for a single season.
Rather than have a 'Northern' and 'Southern' Premier League, it was thought it best to merge the two and create the British National League or BNL. Whitley and Dumfries were two of the victims who were left out when the Divisions were re-aligned.

By the time the 1998-99 season began Whitley were in the English National League (ENL) and the now re-named Solway Sharks in the Scottish National League (SNL). A competition was quickly created called the 'Border League' and involved the best teams from each of the divisions. Whitley were having a tough year back then and Solway managed to skate off with the bragging rights that season, with a certain pint-sized urchin called Robert Chalmers being the thorn in the Warriors side (We will have more on him later).
By the 2000-01 season the 'Border League' had been renamed the 'Anglo-Scottish' Cup, with 2 divisions serving as a qualifying round-robin style group to determine the teams making the Semi-finals. Whitley and Solway found themselves in the same group, but this time it was the Maroon and Golds who eased to victory. The game at Hillheads was another fiery encounter, which saw a line brawl develop after that man Chalmers got up to his old tricks again provoking a riot. Even the goalies went at it. Watching Anthony Markham skate the length of the rink with his equipment flying as he got ready to go into combat was one of the highlights, before he pummelled his opposite number and received a match penalty and game suspension for his troubles.
Whitley would go on to land the Trophy when the season ended that year, in June! The 2000-01 Whitley team proved to be one of my personal favourites but they never did get to defend their trophy after it was scrapped ahead of the 2001-02 season.

It wouldn't be until October 2004, that Whitley got to face off with the Sharks again in a home-and-home friendly series. I happened to make my first trip up to Dumfries that evening to witness a very hostile anti-English atmosphere, with one foul-mouthed young lady (and I use that word very loosely) getting ejected from the stands after her use of bad language.
Also of note that evening, a very young Shaun Kippin was in the Whitley team, but the game announcer read his name as Shaun Kipling (as in Mr Kipling the baker). It lead to some fans questioning whether Skippy could indeed make 'Exceedingly Good Cakes'. Just 18 months later Skippy would be icing for the Sharks, along with a few other former Whitley players (Ian Defty and Raymond Haslam). Hopefully they had learnt his name correctly by then.
In 2005 it was decided a new competition would be created once again pitting the best Scottish and English teams against each other. This time it would be called the 'Northern League' a revival of an old Division name from the early 1980s, before the introduction of the Heineken League. The reason for reviving this division was, mainly down to two huge Scottish teams, the Fife Flyers and Dundee Stars, finding themselves in the SNL after the BNL had folded. Both teams had tried to join the Elite league but were denied entry as there was 'no room at the inn'.
With regular 'Northern League' games each season from 2005-2010, it meant Whitley and Solway became familiar opponents once again. The biggest encounter perhaps happened in the Northern League Finals weekend in Dundee, 2007. The Warriors and Sharks had caused the biggest upset during the semi-finals eliminating the Stars (Hosts) and the Flyers (Favourites), to set up the final meeting. Whitley would go on to claim the Trophy for the only time in their history, but over the next few seasons it would be Solway who would become the stronger side, playing with a number of Czech imports and finding young goal-scoring sensation Bari McKenzie. Even Chalmers returned to Dumfries.

The pint-sized forward had spent some time away at the Birmingham Rockets, where on one occasion he tried to break Stephen Winn's jaw by having his hand in his mouth. But now he was back home causing more trouble for the Sharks.
At one stage Solway even threatened to steal away Fife's crown, before both the Flyers and Stars got the news they were hoping for, entry into the Elite League for 2010.
That signalled the end of the Northern League, and Solway with the prospect of being the stuck by themselves in the SNL, rather like a very large fish in a small pond (or should that be Scottish Loch?), decided on joining the more competitive ENL instead.
After starting off in the Second Division, the Sharks soon gained promotion, and landed back-to-back League titles in 2013 & 2014, also winning the Playoff Championships in 2014.
With Whitley back much stronger this season, it will be fascinating watching these two old rivals slugging it out once more, along with perennial challengers Billingham and reigning champions Blackburn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsgiiQe9Sx0 Action from Oct 08, 2012