The Whitley Warriors put in their best performance of the season, to destroy what was a strong Sheffield Spartans side last night.
Sheffield are a side in the mix for a play-off berth and were thought to provide a stern test for David Longstaff’s boys, but the team from the Steel City were simply blown away by Whitley’s high tempo from the very first puck drop. The Warriors played with the sort of intensity their supporters have been craving all season, and scored four times in the opening 6:25 of the game.
Last weekend’s encounter with the Senators, couldn’t have gone much worse, with several players leaving the game due to injury. That had a lot of people concerned going into the game with the Spartans, due to being short of numbers on defense. However player-coach Longstaff, addressed that with the signing of former Warriors and Billingham blue liner Phillip Pritchard, to bolster the ranks.
It was clear during the warm-up that Whitley meant business, with all three enforcers (Andre Payette, Jordan Barnes & Alan ‘Rocket’ Yarrow) circling the ice like Sharks waiting to pick out their prey. Barnes had already lined up his latest victim in Stephen Weeks, with the two all set to drop the gloves after the opening face-off. Weeks took one look at the Whitley forward and clearly didn’t fancy his chances, with a fast retreat back onto the bench. His excuse was that the Spartans only travelled with six D-men and didn’t want to leave his team short. It’s funny as every team in this league travels with six D-men, in fact Sutton arrived with five and that didn’t stop Scott Glover from lining his face up to Jordan’s fist. Obviously Barnes’ reputation proceeds him now and Weeks would much prefer to cheap shot his opponents than be floored after one punch. But more of that later.
There was just 1:20 on the clock when Whitley opened the scores, Shaun Kippin finishing off a fine pass from his long-time friend DJ Good. That had the crowd fired up as much as the players and it wouldn’t be long before the home side doubled their lead. They thought they had done just that at 4:52 when Jamie Tinsley pounced on a loose puck, before finding Longstaff to put in. There was some debate about whether the puck had crossed the line, and in the end the officials decided, Spartans goalie Brandon Stones had made the save. In the end it didn’t matter as three seconds later, and directly from the face-off, Tinsley again found Longstaff whose first shot was saved by Stones, but Lobby was on hand to put home the rebound.
Just seventeen seconds had elapsed when DJ Good increased the lead, going top shelf after being set up by his line mates, Callum Watson and Shaun Kippin.
The action continued at a fast pace with Jordan Barnes having to receive treatment after that man, Weeks accidentally shot the puck into his face. The Spartans defenseman was quick to go over and apologise, sensing he would be on the end of some form of retribution. As it turned out that was the end of the matter but that didn’t stop Andre Payette and Stuart Brittle exchanging words, with the big Canadian looking fired up but focused.
The fourth goal of the game was the best. It started with some great play by Longstaff, before he spotted Callum Queenan, delivered a perfect pass for the youngster, who in turn was able to unleash a well-taken shot into the back of the net.
The Warriors were like a dog with a bone and were not about to ease up on their opponents. Even during a penalty kill, DJ Good sent a great pass to Martin Crammond, to put him in 1-on-1 with Stones. However the Spartans goalie was able to stop the shot and denied Whitley from increasing their lead. Stones was having an eventful period and must have had a death wish when he thought it was a good idea to slash Alan Yarrow. The Rocket was making his first appearance in a Whitley shirt at Hillheads since early 2004. On that occasion he got into an altercation with their back-up goalie Danny Verstappen, after mistaking him for their starter who had been slashing him all game. There would be no repeat of that against Sheffield though, with the Spartans only travelling with Stones, and no back-up to call upon. Yarrow let Stones know he wasn’t happy before being led away by the referee Steve Wardell, who told him to calm it down.
The second period saw further action, with David Longstaff netting at 23:53. Stones faced a series of shots that he was able to beat away, but only as far as the next attacker, before eventually the puck fell to the Whitley player-coach who was able to put home the rebound.
Either side of that goal though saw some play acting from the Spartans. Olli Barron dived to try and get Andre Payette a penalty, but that didn’t work. However the officials did fall for Martin Finkes, throwing himself onto the ice and earning Shaun Kippin a soft penalty. Skippy was incensed as he skated off for two minutes while Finkes mocked the Hillheads crowd as he was booed back to the bench.
Finkes had decided to play the game wearing a red helmet, the only player to do so. That made him stand out like a sore thumb, so whenever he was on the ice, had the puck or skated by the home bench he was met with a chorus of ‘Helmet, Helmet’. (Just like the mocking chants of Patrick, Patrick for former NHLer Patrick Roy).
David Pyatt then fell in the corner and lost his helmet after tangling with Longstaff. As the Spartans defenseman skated off he got in the way of Andre Payette’s shoulder much to the amusement of the crowd. The Canadian enforcer was looking extra mean during the game, as he patrolled the ice. With the ‘Red Helmet‘ dallying on the puck, Andre tucked his head in, dropped the shoulders and like a predator lining up an attack to take out his prey, delivered a great clean hit. Finkes was getting more frustrated and at one stage threw his stick across the ice, although it was surprising he never received a penalty for it. Still the Spartans histrionics continued, Andrew Turner is built like the proverbial brick building yet after a good mid-ice hit was complaining to the officials.
Sheffield hadn’t really troubled Richie Lawson in the Whitley goal but he was always alert to any rare attacks they posed. With 2:20 left in the second, a Whitley turnover saw Nick Manning with the puck, but his shot was well saved by Lawson. At the other end of the ice, Spartans goalie Stones, despite the scoreline, was making a series of good saves himself, as he put in a man-of-the-match performance.
Once again Whitley started a period strongly. A huge slap shot from Payette was pushed out but Jamie Tinsley was on hand to fire home the rebound. It was a goal the Whitley captain deserved, from his all-around play during the game. The Warriors had the puck in the back of the net again before the end of the game, but it was disallowed due to a delayed penalty.
That just left one flash point to clear up. Weeks delivered a cheap shot on Whitley youngster Liam Smedley, for which both received roughing calls, then with Alan Yarrow questioning what Weeks had done, Weeks cross-checked him in the face before following up with some punches, while Rocket was laying prone on the ice. It was at this point that Rocket was getting fired up and ready for take-off. The veteran enforcer rolled back the years, with his gloves flying off, this was the moment the Hillheads crowd had been waiting over eleven years to see. Weeks had a distinct height advantage but as he swung a huge haymaker, Rocket expertly manoeuvred out the way then countered with four fast jabs to his face, the two then landed on the ice as the officials stepped in. Weeks was booed off the ice as he made his way to the box and an eventual 8 minute penalty, while Rocket received a heroes applause as he received 2+2 and a pat on the back from Andre Payette. The argument continued inside the penalty box, and with both sides set to face each other next weekend, Round two can hopefully take place. That is of course if Weeks decides to show up for the game.
This was a much better performance by the Warriors, with more shots on goal and with more of their chances taken. There was also a vast improvement on the physicality, with more players finishing their hits, something player-coach Longstaff has been working on with his players.
Last weekend the Warriors were like the walking wounded. Both Josh Maddock and Scott Cooper were still missing, along with Kyle Ross after he had to have emergency plastic surgery to his nose, following an accidental collision in training on Tuesday. Dan Pye and Dean Holland have both been in-and-out of the team lately as they recover from injury. Pye seemed to come through the 60 minutes unscathed but with the game wrapped up early on Holland's minutes were limited in the final period as a precautionary measure.
Alan Yarrow made his seasonal home debut and Phillip Pritchard signed ahead of the game to boost numbers on the blue line. Liam Smedley returned from Under-18 duty but iced as a forward. It is a position he is used to and only recently converted to defense. Stu Tomlinson and Craig Johnson also returned to the line-up, the latter having been out with a hand injury. Mark Turnbull returned as Richie Lawson's back-up.
25 Longstaff - 27 Tinsley - 15 Queenan
11 Kippin - 9 DJ Good - 6 Watson
17 Barnes - 18 Crammond - 14 Holland
8 Smedley - 9 DJ Good - 5 Yarrow
3 Stamp - 24 Harley
7 Payette - 4 Johnson
38 Pye - 71 Tomlinson
23 Pritchard
35 Lawson - 84 Turnbull
Opposition View
Sheffield arrived with a strong line-up. Seven fringe players were missing, one of which was Cole Shudra, the son of Rocket Ron Shudra. Although Whitley fans know there really is only one Rocket. The Spartans also arrived with only one goalie and no back up despite having three to call upon. The Barron brothers were the main threat along with Stuart Brittle who has several brother playing for the Blackburn Hawks.
7 O. Barron 24 Brittle 16 Knell
6 W. Barron 14 Morris 9 Manning
29 M. Mawer 14 Morris 3 Turner
15 Finkes 28 Wilcox
10 Weeks 5 Pyatt
22 Jordan 18 D. Mawer
20 Stones
Quotes
Alan 'Rocket' Yarrow: 'After the last couple of games we have sat back a little and made what should have been easy games much harder than they needed to be. Sheffield were meant to be this top team with tough guys and we went into the game believing it would be a battle. I think we played the best game of the season by far.'
'It felt great to be back in the Warriors jersey and ready to play. I was surprised that I got cross checked in the face as I thought that behaviour was all finished with!'
Goalie Stats
Lawson - SOG [2,13,8] Total Shots 23 Save Percentage 100.00%
Stones - SOG [18,22,11] Total Shots 51 Save Percentage 88.24%
Other Results
Saturday, November 7
Solway v Solihull 6-4
Sunday, November 8
Telford v Solihull 9-4
Billingham v Sutton 4-2
No comments:
Post a Comment