The Whitley Warriors secured their place at the top of the league standings, with a hard-earned victory over the Solihull Barons.
Fresh from their victory down in the West Midlands last weekend, Whitley followed up with another two points against Perry Doyle's men.
Unlike their last two road outings, Whitley were quick out of the blocks and were looking to get the early breakthrough.
Just 33 seconds were on the clock when a clever link up, between player-coach David Longstaff and team-captain Jamie Tinsley, almost saw the home side take the lead.
A bumper-crowd, didn't have to wait long for the opening goal though. DJ Good playing on a re-vamped forward line, passed to Defenseman Josh Maddock, who in turn unleashed a long range effort that beat visiting goalie, Sam Hewitt.
Whitley kept up the pressure, and could have doubled their lead twice in the space of 15 seconds. First Hewitt flapped at a shot which dropped behind him and stopped on the goal line and then the Warriors hit the post.
As the game wore on, Solihull began to come back into the contest, and their dangerous second line always looked like causing problems for the Warriors. Swedish import Niklas Ottosson fired over the goal on the 11 minute mark before combining cleverly with Tom Soar two minutes later for another strong effort that was only just fired over.
Last week saw a series of hard hits, before the eventual fights, and Sunday's game looked to be heading in the same direction when Solihull's Robert Eley elbowed Josh Maddock into the boards. The resulting power play saw no further goals, but no sooner were the Barons back to full strength then they were pressurising their hosts again. Richie Lawson has been in great form this season and once again he made a great save from Josh Bruce, to keep his side ahead.
Last week in Solihull, I happened to be standing next to Tom Soar's dad, who warned me just what a threat his son can be to opposing teams. Soar was at it again at Hillheads, and after springing the Whitley defensive trap, rifled home an unstoppable shot to level the game.
That meant Whitley had it all to do again, and Shaun Kippin was at the fore-front in trying to get the go-ahead goal. He looked to have a breakaway whilst on the Penalty Kill, but the puck just wouldn't fall for him. That allowed the Baron's defense to recover, but the Whitley Left Wing didn't give up and re-gathered the puck before shooting at goal. A couple of minutes later, Skippy linked well with line-mate Callum Watson, for an intelligent piece of skill, but the officials called a dubious offside, stopping them in their tracks.
Jamie Tinsley was also working hard to find a goal, and at one stage made a great move across the ice, but his shot just looped over the goalie.
Having started to ask serious questions of the Barons, Whitley finally had their answer at 30:19 when Jordan Barnes received the puck from Joe Stamp and then threaded a pass which split Solihull's defense. Callum Watson applied the after-burners, charging towards goal and slotted home a well-worked Whitley move.
That might have completed the scoring for this game, but the action still continued. In fact as the middle period drew to a close it become end-to-end with each team taking turns to pepper their opponent's goal with shots. Soar continued to look lively and was at the heart of all Solihull's best attacks. He had a double effort at goal but Lawson saved well again.
The third period became a much more cagey affair, with too much on the line for both teams. The game wasn't flowing like before but that didn't mean it wasn't just as absorbing. Solihull probably should have scored with three minutes remaining. There was a real sense of drama in the Whitley zone, but Lawson saved yet again and the Baron's follow up shot flashed wide of the gaping net.
With the previous night's game still very much on the Warrior's minds, the final minute seemed to take an eternity to complete. Both sides took a time out, either side of Doyle punching Andre Payette in the hope of provoking round 2 of their heavy-weight bout. Payette sensibly declined the kind offer and stuck to the task at hand, preserving the lead.
There were twelve seconds left on the clock when the second time out was called. As the game resumed, a face-off was in the Solihull defensive end. Payette was unable to get a clean win from the face-off, and as quick as a flash the Barons moved the puck around before finding Soar, who unleashed a rocket-like shot inches wide of the net.
With that the game was over, but for a few seconds, time seemed to stand still with a real 'hearts in mouths' moment. For those who travelled to the game in Telford the night before, it would have been too much to take to let another lead slip away. Thankfully Whitley held on for the win this time and the much needed points that come with it.
Team Line UpWhitley rang the changes with Jordan Barnes lining up as second line center and DJ Good moving to a line with Martin Crammond and Ben Richards. Kyle Ross was used more sparingly during the game but did get some shifts in place of Crammond. The top two defensive pairings remained unchanged but Andre Payette, Scott Cooper and Stu Tomlinson all shared time on the third pairing. U18 player, Liam Smedley also saw some action with some shifts in the final thirty minutes of the game.
25 Longstaff - 27 Tinsley - 15 Queenan
11 Kippin - 17 Barnes - 6 Watson
18 Crammond - 9 DJ Good - 64 Richards
13 Ross
19 Maddock - 38 Pye
24 Harley - 3 Stamp
7 Payette - 21 Cooper/71 Tomlinson
8 Smedley
35 Lawson - 84 Turnbull
Did Not Play - 14 Holland (Groin), 12 A. Lawson (Knee), 4 Johnson (Scratch), 29 Boyle (Scratch).
Opposition Line Up
The Barons arrived on Tyneside without top line Center, Joe Henry who is still recovering from a huge (but clean) hit by Dan Pye. His spot was taken by usual third line Center, Andrew Whitehouse. The Second line remained unchanged with Tom Soar and Niklas Ottosson, Solihull's most dangerous players. Dave Rogers lined up on the blue-line last week but was on the third line, centering Rob Eley and Jake Larkin at Hillheads. George Crawshaw also saw time on that line too.
Perry Doyle resumed defensive duties with Ryan Selwood, as did Phil Knight with Richard Crowe, but with both Conor Gordon and Kieran Papps missing, the third pairing saw Thomas Jackson and Kieran Strangeman together. Sam Hewitt returned in goal for the visitors.
Quotes
David Longstaff: 'I thought this weekend's games were pretty good. 3 points out of 4 is really good, but we're still miles away from where we need to be.'Shaun Kippin: 'The crowd were great tonight. It really makes a huge difference to the team having that kind of support. I am looking forward to more of the same next week against Telford.'
Richie Lawson: 'It was a very scrappy affair, which I felt we dominated even though the score line didn't reflect it. They really could not contain our top units and constant pressure.'
Notes
* Whitley may have dropped their first point at Telford the night before, but having taken three points from a possible four over the weekend, it sees the team top of the standings, with Four games played.* Richie Lawson has been in great form this season and stopped 33 shots against the Barons giving him a 96.97 Save Percentage. He has a 2.50 GAA for the season.
* Brother, Alex, suffered an unfortunate knee injury early on in the Telford game and it appears quite serious. Although there has been no official statement regarding his injury, it is believed to be season-ending.
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