The Whitley Warrior's 100% home record remains intact after player-coach, David Longstaff's fierce shot found the back of the Sutton net with just two minutes remaining in the game.
It was one of those goals so typical of a big game player like Longstaff. With his team looking like they would be sharing the points with the Sting, and the clock ticking ever closer to the final buzzer, Lobby unleashed a trade-mark shot that had Sutton's goalie, Dmitri Zimozdra, grasping at thin air and the Warriors had rescued yet another victory on home ice.
That was only part of the story though, with Whitley taking the lead three times during the game, only for Sutton to come back on each occasion to level the scores, and Shaun Kippin putting in a man of the match display.
The game started at a frenetic pace with, several big hits being delivered in the opening five minutes. Just 50 seconds were on the clock when David Longstaff stole the puck at the blue line and headed towards goal, however he was upended in the crease but no penalty was awarded.
Sutton's side contained several notable players who were once part of the Sheffield Scimitars team from 2000-2005 and the Sheffield Spartans in more recent years. One of those players, Dean Smith, once of the Sheffield Steelers linked up well with former Sheffield Senators Latvian import, Sergevs Jegorovs with a slick pass which served as a reminder of just how dangerous the Sting were going to be.
At 5:29 Whitley were shorthanded with Jordan Barnes serving a hooking penalty, but Callum Watson gathered the puck in his own zone and proceeded to skate around three Sutton players before dumping the puck into the corner. Watson chased after the puck and managed to collect it again in the Sutton zone, before playing a pass across the ice to the unmarked Shaun Kippin to fire home his first goal of the season. Much to the delight of his team mates Skippy finally got a goal his overall play has deserved this season. Soon after he nearly bagged a second, showing a great piece of skill, when he slalomed past several Sutton players, before rifling a shot just over the crossbar, when attempting to go top-shelf.
Soon after, Sutton had a good opportunity of their own whilst on the penalty kill. Shaun Ashton is always a threat whenever he comes up against Whitley and he rifled his shot top-shelf which gave Warriors goalie Richie Lawson no chance and the score was tied. However 37 seconds later, and with Whitley still on the power play, they restored their goal advantage and kept the momentum well and truly with them.
It was the top power-play unit that ultimately ruined Sutton's hard work. David Longstaff found himself tight against the boards on the Right Wing, he played a great pass across to Shaun Kippin who was waiting on the Left and he in-turn one-timed a pass back across the ice to Jamie Tinsley to fire home. It was one of the best worked plays I have seen at Hillheads in years!
About a minute later there was some concern when Ben Richards took the full force of a team mate's slapshot to his upper body. Thankfully he was okay and was soon back on the ice, but it did give his family, sitting a couple of rows in front of me, some anxious moments.
With just over two minutes remaining in the opening period, Whitley defenseman Harry Harley slipped, allowing Sutton in on goal but the ever-reliable Lawson was there to make the save.
As the teams skated out to begin the second period, there was a discussion between Jordan Barnes and Sutton defenseman Scott Glover. Just 35 seconds later and the gloves were off, with Jordan having an easy win.
Sutton tied the game once again at 23:32 when player-coach John Ross set up Vjaleslavs Movko to unleash a shot that was in the back of the Whitley net before you could see it. The Latvian's goal did seem to come against the run of play as Whitley outshot the Sting 28-6 in the middle period, but just 62 seconds later Whitley re-took the lead again, when Ben Richards tapped home at the back post. It seemed every time Sutton got back onto level terms Whitley would hit right back straight away.
At 29:11 Shaun Ashton clipped Dan Pye which was going to draw a penalty from the officials but Whitley captain Jamie Tinsley took exception to it and also received a penalty for roughing. Callum Watson was already in the box with a bizarre interference call at 27:39, but two seconds before that penalty had expired, Andre Payette joined him when he 'tangled' with Sutton's Ryan Johnson and went for slashing. That then in turn caused some confusion over the clock on the scoreboard to the point that the officials had to pause the game to clarify matters.
Shaun Ashton was still threatening and at 35:30 produced a huge slap shop, which Lawson did well to push onto the post and out. Before the session was over Callum Queenan did a nice wraparound pass to pick out Longstaff for a one-timer, but the score remained 3-2.
Dmitri Zimozdra is one of the best goalies in the league, the Russian had to stretch full length to stop a Whitley shot on the line and was alert to stop the puck from sneaking inside the post, following good build up play between Kippin and Barnes.
There has been a familiar pattern this season with teams calling a time out against Whitley and then scoring directly from the resulting face-off. Andre Payette had gone for a delaying the game penalty, giving the Sting a powerplay opportunity. The visitors called their time-out and with six seconds of the penalty gone tied things up for the third time in the game. Jamie Spurr and Simon Offord combined to set up Ryan Johnson to make the score 3-3.
The third period was a lot more scrappy and Lobby ran the changes mixing up the lines to try and get some chemistry working. When Sutton scored, the crowd seemed resigned to the fact that Whitley couldn't come back this time, and in fact if anyone was going to go on and win this game now, it would be The Sting. But when you require a big goal, David Longstaff is just that player to deliver it. It was a huge moment, when all looked lost.
It's amazing what a difference a goal can make, and with Whitley now defending a lead heading into the last 120 seconds of play the pressure seemed lifted. In fact they could have built on their lead when Shaun Kippin stole the puck and squared the pass to Martin Crammond, whose attempted return only just got intercepted.
With less than 40 seconds remaining Sutton pulled Zimozdra for the extra attacker. Whitley were able to gather the puck following the faceoff and played it back to defenseman Harry Harley, who composed himself and shot the puck beyond the retreating Sting players and into the empty net.
Once again Whitley had found a way to win when they were faced with a difficult opponent standing in their way. It's no exaggeration to say that the games played this season, could have all ended up going the other way and last season they probably would have. Such has been the impact on the team by Longstaff and Andre Payette that this team never know when they are beat and continue to push for the winning goal right until the end. Longstaff's goal was proof of just that philosophy.
Team Lineup
Whitley stuck with the usual lines to start with but did mix them up mid-way through the game. DJ Good centered a line with Martin Crammond and Callum Watson for a few shifts and Jamie Tinsley double-shifted with Kyle Ross and Callum Queenan forming a fourth line. Stu Tomlinson got some minutes alongside Harry Harley on Defense. The top power play line saw Shaun Kippin with Tinsley and Longstaff and the second line with DJ Good centering Callum Watson and Queenan.
25 Longstaff - 27 Tinsley - 15 Queenan
11 Kippin - 17 Barnes - 6 Watson
13 Ross/18 Crammond - 9 DJ Good - 64 Richards
38 Pye - 19 Maddock
24 Harley - 3 Stamp
21 Cooper - 7 Payette
71 Tomlinson
35 Lawson - 84 Turnbull
Opposition View
Sutton had several familiar names on their team sheet last night. Nine players were part of the old ENL side Sheffield Scimitars from as far back as 2001! There were also several Spartans players on the team too.
The top line saw Latvian import Vjaleslavs Movko alongside Jamie Spurr and player coach John Ross, who was always a good goalscorer in the ENL for the Scimitars and the Kingston Jets.
The second line included former Scimitars Jon Woolhouse and Shaun Ashton either side of center Matt Jeffcock. The third line had former Steeler's forward Dean Smith centering Latvian import Sergevs Jegorovs, who scored the goals that earned the Sheffield Senators promotion from NIHL-North 2. Scott Howells and Thomas Marshall shared duties on the Right Wing. Smith is also the team's assistant coach.
The Sting arrived with five D-men. Former Scimitars pair James Goodman and Stephen Bingham along with former Spartans player Simon Offord patrolled the blue line. Ryan Johnson saw time with both the Scimitars and the Spartans, as well as spending some time with the various Hull teams and the Kingston Jets. Scott Glover came through the Spartans system before spending four seasons with the Nottingham Lions, which included the team that pipped the Warriors to the 2009 title.
Russian born Dmitri Zimozdra was another to come through the Spartans system. The Omsk native has been with the Sting for the last four seasons and is one of the best goaltenders in the league.
Former Scimitars Carl Ashton and Richard Oliver did not travel to Tyneside, neither did experienced blue liner Mark Turner. Youngsters Jake Apsley and Cameron Glasby also did not appear. Jordan Brewster made the bench but didn't see any minutes.
21 Movko - 14 Spurr - 16 Ross
8 Woolhouse - 19 Jeffcock - 7 S. Ashton
61 Jegorovs - 80 Smith - 73 Howells/70 Marshall
11 Goodman - 23 Offord
10 Johnson - 58 Bingham
20 Glover
34 Zimozdra - 41 Brown
Quotes
Shaun Kippin: 'I'm very happy with my performance I've been working hard and it was good to see it paying off. I was more happy with the team performance too, for the second week we didn't let our heads drop and kept going to the end.'Andre Payette: 'I am really pleased with the way the season is going so far. I am a little surprised just how quickly myself and Lobby have been able to make an impact on the players, I certainly thought it would take some time to turn things around. It's nice to be leading the table still unbeaten as we head into the two week break.'
'I havn't been brought onto the team to score goals, I'm here to WIN games! I feel more at home as a forward but Lobby believes I can help the team more right now by being on D. When Dean (Holland) returns from injury, there is nothing to say we won't reunite on that top line.'
'What is clear though, David Longstaff is a great coach and he is doing a good job so far.'
Sutton's Asst Coach Dean Smith:
'It was great to be back on the ice up their in Whitley Bay after 13 years out of the sport and good to ice against my old pal David Longstaff. Seems like he's doing a great job there.'
'It was a high tempo, physical kind of game but played in a pretty good spirit by both sides. Whitley play their rink well and will be tough to beat on their own patch, and playing a 2 man forecheck. Our lads gave a really good account of themselves. We knew we were in for a tough game, and knew we would have to limit their scoring chances, knowing with Dmitri in goal we could keep them out and hit them on the break. Which is exactly what we did.'
'I was really proud of the work rate of my boys and how they showed up to play in what is an intimidating place to go. We left very disappointed having fought our way back to tie the game late on. I would have settled for a point and felt we deserved that. All in all though, a great game and we can take plenty of positives from it, and I'm looking forward to the rematch at our place in a couple of weeks time.'
Sutton's Coach John Ross:
'The game went pretty much how we expected. Whitley came at us hard for two periods but we kept ourselves in it with some gritty defensive work and Dmitri being once again outstanding between the pipes.'
'Despite playing at 7:30pm the previous night we felt fresh going into the last period and I knew we would get a few chances. When Johno levelled it with 5 minutes to go I fancied us to get at least a point. However we came undone with under two minutes to play.'
'The appointment of lobby has rejuvenated Whitley. They played well in front of a large crowd. It was a great atmosphere and one that we enjoyed playing in. We are looking forward to returning in the new year.'
'My lads worked extremely hard as usual and came within two minutes of being the first team to take points away from Hillheads this season. A great game and a good advert for our league.'
News
* David Longstaff is good friends with his opposite number at Sutton, Dean Smith, stemming back from their Junior GB days. But that didn't stop the Whitley coach from delivering a huge hit on his pal. All was good though, as Lobby apologised to Dean afterwards. David hadn't realised who it was until he saw him down on the ice!
* Shaun Kippin got a well deserved Man of the Match award for his display against the Sting. It is just rewards for a player who has been putting in some solid performances this season but just hadn't had the goals to show for it. Skippy put that right last night with a 1+1 haul. It wasn't just the fact he got two points for the team last night, more the way he got them. First finishing off Callum Watson's clever pass with aplomb before playing his part in a great move for Jamie Tinsley's powerplay goal.
* With no game for Whitley next weekend, the Warriors can be happy to know that after playing Six games they top the table with 11 points and a 5-0-1 record. Only Blackburn (currently sitting second in the table) have scored more and conceded less goals than the Warriors. Spartans, Billingham and Blackburn all have more PIMs too in less games played.
Other Results
Saturday, October 03Sheffield Spartans v Billingham Stars 6-4
Sheffield Senators v Blackburn Hawks 2-8
Sutton Sting v Solihull Barons 4-2
Sunday, October 04
Blackburn Hawks v Sheffield Spartans 9-0
Billingham Stars v Telford Tigers 2-3
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