ENL - Whitley Warriors v Blackburn Hawks 4-4 - Sunday, December 20, 2015

Dean Holland’s first goals of the season helped the Whitley Warriors to a draw against the Blackburn Hawks, as the league’s top two sides combined for another thrilling encounter.

Much of the talk leading up to the game had been centered around a fight between Andre Payette and Reece Cairney-Witter, but towards the end of the warm up an altercation broke out in the player’s entrance, between Whitley’s Alan Yarrow and Blackburn pair Richard Bentham and Tom King. It started when injured Hawks player Olli Lomax said something to Yarrow, to ignite the situation.

As if to build the tension between the sides, the opening face-off was delayed by 15 minutes to allow the queue of people waiting outside to get in and not miss any of the action. Whitley’s crowds have been high this season, and the Hawks always travel well these days, but there was plenty of old faces returning to watch the Warriors too, whilst Billingham [who don’t have a game until January now] put on a supporter’s bus to travel up to Tyneside and watch their two biggest rivals in action.

With the tension building the game finally got underway but four seconds in Payette and Cairney-Witter dropped the gloves as expected. The Latter stood still adopting a defensive stance while he waited for Payette to make his way to him. Many felt the fight was fairly even, with both landing good punches, but had this been a UFC fight Payette would probably have been called the winner, as he was the main aggressor. Cairney-Witter certainly felt like he had won, as he gestured wildly to his bench and supporters. It was to the South paw’s credit that he stood toe-to-toe with the big Canadian and gained a lot of respect from the home crowd for fighting him. After the scrap was over the former Bradford captain even said he wanted to just get on with playing hockey now. Giving an indication, perhaps he is more than just a goon.

With that side show now out of the way the game could begin properly. Once again both sides were giving everything in a fast-paced start, and for the third game in a row, it was Blackburn who struck first. A long range effort from RJ Berra, was pushed out by Richie Lawson, but Lee Pollitt was on hand to tap home the rebound.
Dean Holland has missed a large part of the season following the cowardly attack by Kirkcaldy Kestrels back in August, and the last few weeks have seen him battle to re-gain his fitness. Against the Hawks, he had his best game of the season, and very nearly tied things but for a good save by Danny Brittle, which caused tempers to flare up in the crease.

The game continued to be played at a frenetic pace as the action switched from one end of the ice to the other. Hawks import RJ Berra saw his shot just flash wide around the 12 minute mark, before David Longstaff’s well taken effort came off Brittle’s elbow. Whitley were able to tie the game at 13:58 though, when the Hawks defense lost the puck and were unable to move, as Holland had to time to first collect the puck and then take it around Brittle to open his account for the season.

In-between the great attacking play, there was still some comings together between the players. Finnish defenseman Kim Miettinen delivered a hard but has to be said clean hit on a Whitley player, which Josh Maddock took exception to. The pair both receiving penalties.

Before the first period was over there was still time for Joe Stamp to fire wide from the blue line, after receiving a nice lateral pass and also for David Longstaff who started a great move, that saw him play the puck to Jamie Tinsley who shot at goal but couldn’t beat Brittle. There was also time for another melee when Shaun Kippin and Danny Brittle exchanged words, with Jordan Bannon having to be pulled away by Tinsley.

The second period continued with more of the same exciting play. Jordan Barnes took on two Hawks defensemen but as he shaped to shoot was put off sufficiently and ended up colliding into the net. A few moments later some impressive build up play by DJ Good, saw him set up youngster Callum Queenan, who couldn’t find a way past Brittle. It was then Blackburn’s turn to attack, as they broke through but a direct shot was cleverly kicked clear by Lawson. Whitley then went back down the other end with Longstaff firing at Brittle, who once again managed to get his elbow to deflect the puck away.

Blackburn were able to get themselves back in front at 27:59 when Matt Viney won a face-off in the Whitley zone and found his line-mate Aaron Davies, who shot through Lawson’s legs. It was the latter’s third goal at Hillheads this season.

The officials made some strange calls at times, and a lot of them were against Blackburn, but that didn’t stop the Hawks progress. Bentham was unmarked in front of goal but fired over, while during a powerplay Davies tried to control the puck in mid-air to direct it goalwards. Blackburn were gifted a second powerplay, almost as soon as the first one had been killed off and needed only 9 seconds to increase their lead. Directly from a faceoff Chris Arnone shot wide but Pollitt was able to collect the rebound, and with Lawson trying to get back across, shot under the Whitley netminder’s out-stretched arm. It proved to be a costly penalty to give up, and was not made any easier by allowing the Hawks four minutes with the man-advantage. A side as good as Blackburn were always likely to punish opportunities like that.

Three minutes later, Whitley were back in the game. Dean Holland collected the puck and took it around Brittle with another good finish, for his second of the night.

As the period ticked down, the game was turning into a battle of the goaltenders as much as the goal scorers. First Harry Harley saw his shot from a face-off held by Danny Brittle. Then Brittle’s brother Adam, one of the best players in the league, was out-psyched by Lawson after he had collected a turn over and fired at him.

The third period took a while longer to get going with both sides seeing chances flash wide, but after Queenan had got over the disappointment of seeing his shot miss, helped set up his line-mate David Longstaff. Lobby tied the game at three with a great turn before shooting past Brittle. It was the Whitley Player-coach’s fifth goal in the series, having netted a hat trick at Hillheads a fortnight ago and also scoring in Blackburn just last week.

Still the chances kept coming as both sides pushed for a winner. Jamie Tinlsey had already fired over, before Dean Holland, who was now on a hat-trick, saw his chance go wide with 6:25 remaining. Less than a minute later Harley shot the puck into the crease towards goal, which caused another melee between the players.

Earlier in the period, a sign was waved about by some fans that read ‘All I want for Christmas is a Goal Skippy’, after DJ Good had pointed it out to his friend the pair laughed it off and got on with the game, but somehow you just knew it would be Shaun Kippin that would grab the next goal and that proved to be the case. While Martin Crammond was battling away with a Blackburn player for the puck, 'Kippy' stole in and shot the puck straight away at 54:43. Wild celebrations greeted his return to the bench as this was a huge goal for Whitley, but served as a reminder to the Hawks they had to step it up a gear if they were to avoid only their second defeat in 18 months.
The Hawks were simply fantastic during the closing stages as they literally threw everything at the Warriors. Not many teams would be able to handle that kind of pressure but Whitley were proving to be more than a worthy match to their opponents. With 4:48 remaining the officials once again made another bizarre call, this time it was Whitley on the receiving end. With the Hawks on the powerplay, they laid siege to the Whitley goal, but they found in Richie Lawson, a goalie in inspired form.

Lawson did have some good help from his defensemen though, especially Dan Pye who delivered a big hit to stop one Blackburn chance, while a follow up shot saw Lawson kick the puck away. Within seconds Blackburn had their next opportunity to score, Miettinen shot from the point, but Lawson plucked the Finn’s hard shot out of mid-air with a spectacular glove save. Lawson then followed that up with a great double save, as the Hawks were queuing up to take shots at him, but the Whitley goalie blocked everything that came his way.

However the sustained pressure Blackburn were apply to Whitley finally paid off with 40.3 seconds remaining. Adam Brittle set up Richard Bentham to tie the game and send both the Hawks players and supporters who had made the trek across the Pennines into raptures. The Hawks continued their wild celebrations back in the dressing room as this result clearly meant a lot to a side who may just have some competition this season.

As a Whitley supporter, it was cruel to have the win snatched away at such a late point in the game, but it would also have been cruel on Blackburn had they left the Bay with nothing to show for their efforts. They were impressive throughout the game, and are undoubtedly a very good hockey team. The one thing I have enjoyed throughout the three games in the series so far, is the way both teams have pushed each other on to play even better hockey. It seems playing each other brings the best out of both the Warriors and the Hawks.

Team Line Up

Callum Watson was unavailable for this game, but that meant Dean Holland moved to his spot on the second line with DJ Good and Jamie Tinsley. The Trio combined to devastating effect as Holland netted Whitley's first two goals. Scott Cooper iced as a forward, splitting time with Kyle Ross on the third line with Martin Crammond and Jordan Barnes. The top two defensive pairings remained the same, but Andre Payette lined up alongside Liam Smedley, with his usual blue line partner playing on the Left Wing. Mark Turnbull backed up Richie Lawson. Whitley agitator Alan Yarrow was on the bench, as was defenseman Phil Pritchard.


25 Longstaff - 11 Kippin - 15 Queenan
27 Tinsley - 9 DJ Good - 14 Holland
21 Cooper/13 Ross - 18 Crammond - 17 Barnes
22 Yarrow


38 Pye - 19 Maddock
3 Stamp - 24 Harley
7 Payette - 8 Smedley


35 Lawson - 84 Turnbull

Opposition View

Blackburn kept basically the same forward lines as last week. The only change saw James Riddoch left out after sharing the Third Line Left Wing berth with Tom King during Game 2.

Max Drakeley was unavailable so the Hawks just went with five defensemen. Captain Chris Arnone seemed like he was never off the ice, with the amount of ice time he had. Arnone had shifts alongside Chris Butler, Kim Miettinen and Andy Dunn at various stages of the game. After missing last weeks game through injury, Finnish import Miettinen returned and played much of the game with Butler, when Arnone wasn't on the ice. Reece-Cairney Witter also got a fair amount of ice time.
Daniel Brittle got the start between the pipes, after Stuart Ashton played against Billingham the night before.

 

26 A. Brittle – 70 Pollitt – 93 Berra
11 Bannon – 91 Bentham – 67 Simister

23 King - 5 Viney - 8 Davies 

 

22 Arnone – 13 Dunn
3 Butler - 47 Miettinen

18 Cairney-Witter

 

25 D. Brittle – 31 Ashton

Quotes

Dean Holland: 'I was very pleased to score in the game. But I have the mentality where it doesn't matter who scores the goals as long as we get the win. I think Lobby [David Longstaff] is drilling that into everyone. Players might not like a role he is asking them to play but they have to play that way to win.'

'Obviously it's disappointing not to hold onto the win. But 4-4 against a very good hockey team is a great result.'

'The recovery [from serious injury] is going good. I felt Good out there Sunday. I'm not game fit yet, but hopefully with the Christmas break I will be ready to go again in the new year.'

News

* The point gained in Whitley keeps Blackburn top of the league by a single point following their win over Billingham the previous night. But with two games in hand, it seems a safe bet that the Hawks will increase that lead over the coming weeks. Winning the league might be just out of Whitley’s reach for this season but if the two sides were to meet in the playoffs we could have Game 5 to enjoy.
* Andre Payette was busy during the week giving an interview to the local Tyneside press [Evening Chronicle]. You can read the article in full here: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/other-sport/ice-hockey/andre-payette-warns-blackburn-hawks-10619952

Other Results

Saturday, December 19
Sheffield Senators v Sheffield Spartans 3-7
Blackburn Hawks v Billingham Stars 5-2


Sunday, December 20
Sheffield Spartans v Sheffield Senators 10-2
Solihull Barons v Sutton Sting 9-4