David Longstaff’s hat trick proved to be the difference as the Whitley Warriors [12-2-2] ended the Blackburn Hawks [10-1-1] 18-month unbeaten streak, with the league’s top two sides meeting in the first of four straight games.
In what was another great advert for English Hockey, The Warriors took the game to their opponents in the opening exchanges, but Blackburn, took the lead at 2:20 with their first attack of the game. Whitley had much of the play in Blackburn’s zone, but such is the quality of the Hawks, they were able to soak up that pressure and break on the counter attack. Aaron Davies somehow squeezed the puck home between Richie Lawson’s pad and the post.
There was a worry that despite Whitley playing well, Blackburn would prove to be too strong, with some quality the Warriors couldn’t cope with. The Hawks had an early power play opportunity to double their lead, with them working the puck well, but a resolute penalty killing unit from the Warriors kept them at bay. The home-side had a power-play opportunity of their own soon after, Harry Harley delivering a huge slap-shot which Danny Brittle did well to save, before the first skirmish of the night occurred. Ollie Lomax hit Callum Queenan, when the Whitley youngster was attempting to collect a rebound close to the Blackburn goal, which his two line-mates [Longstaff and Kippin] took exception too. After the officials regained control, the on-ice action continued. Player coach David Longstaff, was at the heart of everything Whitley did well, on this occasion he set up the move of the game with some great one-time passing. His cross-ice pass from the left wing found Callum Watson on the opposing side who returned the pass into the center for DJ Good, whose shot was well saved.
With the powerplay ticking down Whitley very nearly gave up a shorthanded goal, when Josh Maddock got the puck caught under his skates and the Hawks, sensing blood, pounced on the puck quick as a flash with a fast breakaway. Richie Lawson was on hand to deny Blackburn the goal, and had to react fast moments later, with a scramble in the crease, when the Hawks had their own powerplay.
With less than five minutes remaining Whitley were level. Longstaff getting the first of his goals after a wraparound at the far post, saw him tap the puck home. His joy soon turned to pain however when he took a blow to the face, opening up a huge gash in his lip which caused him to bleed on the ice. With 2:44 remaining, the officials ordered the players off the ice and take an early first intermission.
Whitley came out fired up after the re-start and took the lead with less than a minute remaining in the first period. Callum Watson netting a great goal after being set up by Kyle Ross and Harry Harley.
The momentum was certainly with the Warriors now and they could have gone further ahead when Shaun Kippin’s fierce drive, after gliding in from the right wing, just flew wide of the net. Despite being the better side at that stage, Whitley were applying lots of pressure in the Blackburn zone but couldn’t find a way past Brittle in the goal.
As has been the case in a lot of games this season, for every great performance out on the ice, there has to be a pantomime villain. Blackburn had re-signed former Hawk, Reece Cairney-Witter from the Bradford Bulldogs in the week leading up to the four game series with Whitley as a way of trying to combat the Warrior’s physical players. The rotund defenseman spent the game trying to provoke a reaction, with a series of cheap shots, including at one point, sticking Andre Payette as he skated past. The Big Canadian had asked him to dance while the scoreline was at 2-1, but the Blackburn hard man declined his kind offer.
After another cheap shot, this time on Callum Watson, Shaun Kippin had seen enough and dropped the gloves but Reece-Witter just calmly stood there and forced the Whitley center into taking a 10 minute misconduct penalty. Was it that Cairney-Witter is all mouth and no action? Or did he lose his bottle when faced with Durham’s finest? In the end it proved to be a very clever move by Cairney-Witter who managed to get one of Whitley’s best players removed from the game for 10 minutes.
Whitley were still pushing for goals, and captain Jamie Tinsley came closest when his fierce shot clanked the pipes after he had Brittle well-beat. Soon after that, DJ Good pounced on a loose puck after Blackburn’s goalie had pushed out Callum Watson’s initial shot, but the Whitley center couldn’t find a way past Brittle. Whitley were really starting to turn up the pressure as Shaun Kippin fired another fierce drive from the right wing inches wide of the net, but a series of dubious penalty calls saw the Warriors momentum slow down.
Blackburn started the third period with 1:37 left on their latest powerplay, and had one shot just fly wide of the net before Richard Bentham found himself alone in front of goal, but Richie Lawson once again pulled off a great save to deny the Hawks forward.
At 45:18, and with Whitley finally back to full strength, they grabbed their long-awaited third goal. Longstaff collected the puck, gathered it under control, then fired past Brittle in the Blackburn goal. Once again the Warriors coach had come up with a big goal, when his team needed it the most.
Cairney-Witter was still aggravating, with his hits looking like a combination of a body slam and the truffle shuffle. However he did finally find the nerve to ask Andre Payette to fight him. By this stage Payette didn’t want to know, as his side held a 3-1 lead, and wasn’t about to oblige a foolish kid, stupid enough to challenge a hockey fighting expert. Payette has taken on NHL tough guys such as Georges Laraque in the past, so Cairney-Witter wouldn’t pose a serious threat to him. Later on in the game Cairney-Witter lost his balance and slid into the net, wedging himself in there momentarily but decided to take a little cheap slash at Lawson on his way past, before Dan Pye deliver a great mid-ice hit putting him in his place.
As the game moved on, Whitley found themselves with a rare powerplay and came close to grabbing a fourth goal when Dean Holland and Callum Watson set up Jamie Tinsley, who fired at the now angry Danny Brittle.
At 53:20 a sustained amount of pressure form the Hawks paid off when Davies grabbed his second goal of the night, after some good work from Chris Arnone and Adam Brittle. The way the Blackburn players celebrated out on the ice, showed just how important the goal was to them, as they searched to get a foothold in a game they were about to lose for the first time in almost two seasons.
Whitley went looking for an instant response with Shaun Kippin creating a good chance but he shot at Brittle. Skippy [or should that now be Kippy?] was looking the danger man, as he had the freshest legs out on the ice following his mid game rest, and his cross-ice pass picked out his coach, David Longstaff, who shot just wide.
With 3:36 remaining, Blackburn created a great chance to tie the game. Bentham’s drive though was well saved by Richie Lawson, who plucked his shot out of mid-air for an impressive glove save.
With time ticking down, Blackburn eventually pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. The Warriors were desperately trying just to get hold of the puck and clear the zone, but then the quick-thinking ‘Kippy’ broke free past two Hawks players and with the chance to net a well-deserved goal himself, unselfishly centered a pass for David Longstaff to complete his hat-trick, right on the final buzzer.
The win for Whitley was down to the hard-work they put in for the full 60 minutes. Blackburn have been the best team in the league for the last 2-3 seasons for a reason, but the Warriors put in another mature defensive performance, following up what was a great win in Billingham last weekend.
Team Line-Up
Whitley kept the same top line that served them well last weekend with Shaun Kippin at Center. Both Jamie Tinsley and Dean Holland returned, and with them recovering from injury shared the Left Wing slot on the second line where ‘Kippy’ had been lining up for most of this season. The third line saw Kyle Ross and Liam Smedley sharing a spot on the Left Wing alongside Martin Crammond and Jordan Barnes. The same defensive pairings were kept with Dan Pye alongside Josh Maddock, the impressive Joe Stamp with Harry Harley and Andre Payette with Scott Cooper. Both Alan Yarrow and Phil Pritchard sat on the bench and didn’t get any ice time. Jordan Boyle was a healthy scratch with Mark Turnbull backing up Richie Lawson in goal.
25 Longstaff – 11 Kippin – 15 Queenan
27 Tinsley/14 Holland – 9 DJ Good – 6 Watson
13 Ross/8 Smedley – 18 Crammond – 17 Barnes
5 Yarrow
38 Pye – 19 Maddock
3 Stamp – 24 Harley
7 Payette – 21 Cooper
23 Pritchard
35 Lawson – 84 Turnbull
Opposition View
Blackburn started the game with Adam Brittle and RJ Berra on the top line with Richard Bentham, while Jordan Bannon, Matt Viney and Ben Simister formed the second line. The third line saw Bentham double-shifting, with Blackburn’s double goal-scorer Aaron Davies and Lee Pollitt. David Meikle, Tom King and James Riddoch were all missing, while coach Danny Mackriel also sat this game out.
Captain Chris Arnone partnered Andy Dunn on defense with former Billingham player Olli Lomax, who would leave the game with a broken wrist, alongside Finnish import Kim Miettinen. Reece Cairney-Witter came on for some shifts to provoke a reaction, while Max Drakeley also got on later in the game. Chris Butler was named but saw no ice time.
Daniel Brittle who has spent much of this season as Stuart Ashton’s back-up got the start in goal for this one.
26 A. Brittle – 91 Bentham – 93 Berra
11 Bannon – 5 Viney – 67 Simister
8 Davies – 91 Bentham – 70 Pollitt
22 Arnone – 13 Dunn
21 Lomax – 47 Miettinen
18 Cairney-Witter, 44 Drakeley
3 Butler
25 D. Brittle – 31 Ashton
Quotes
Joe Stamp: 'It felt really good to beat Blackburn, considering what a quality side they are. It was especially good to get another win with the results from the previous week [Wins at Telford and Billingham].'
'I thought Adam Brittle was always a danger when he was on the ice. But generally Blackburn fielded a strong team.'
'Next week will be tough, but fingers crossed we can get a result at their rink. If we do, it could really give us a shot at the league title, and that would be amazing.
But I believe they will be a lot stronger on home ice.
If we play the same way as we have done the last 3 games, I think we will be alright.'
David Longstaff: 'This was a good result. To be able to beat a team who have been on a good run like they have is great to take into the next game.'
Other Results
Saturday, December 05
Solway v Telford [Postponed due to adverse weather conditions].
Sunday, December 06
Solihull v Sutton 6-2
Billingham v Sheffield Senators 11-4
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