The Whitley Warriors got back to winning ways against a heavily-depleted Telford Tigers side who had Eight senior players missing, arriving with just Seven forwards, Five defensemen and no back-up goalie.
Whitley sensed blood right from the first puck drop and coach David Longstaff shuffled his lines accordingly, placing Andre Payette on the Fourth line at Center between Kyle Ross and the returning Ben Richards. It was Payette’s line that took the opening face-off with Whitley quickly taking control of the game.
At 4:38 of the opening period and with 5 seconds remaining on a powerplay Whitley got the breakthrough. David Longstaff worked hard behind the net, and was able to use one hand to control the puck with his stick whilst using the other to hold off a defenseman eager to stop his progress. Having got free, Lobby played the puck back to Dean Holland who in turn found Shaun Kippin waiting to tap the puck home.
Just 55 seconds later Andre Payette, doubled the Warriors lead. It was a rare outing at forward for the big Canadian, and he would switch back to the blue line in the second half of the game, but during the opening twenty minutes he was in determined mood, unleashing a huge shot after Ben Richards had set him up.
Telford had a couple of powerplay opportunities but wasted them after being caught offside four times during a single two minute spell. They also gave up a couple of penalties of their own, and with such a short bench, was making what was already a tough game that much harder for themselves.
They were unable to convert on any of their powerplays, but Whitley were able to increase their lead before the period ended, when Callum Watson picked out DJ Good with 1:25 remaining.
Whitley struggled to get going in the middle period, but a series of penalties called against them, placed them on the penalty kill which actually worked to their advantage. Harry Harley fired in a huge slap shot from the blue line after first DJ Good and then Andre Payette had worked the puck back around to him. Less than five minutes later and the home side repeated their trick, DJ Good sending a superb pass through to Martin Crammond to slot over the goalie for his fifth goal of the season.
With the game well and truly over as a contest, David Longstaff took the opportunity to mix his lines up. Andre Payette reverted back to playing on defense opening up a spot on the fourth line for Alan Yarrow to get some serious ice time for a while. The Rocket rolled back the years with an energetic display and some bursts of speed that almost saw him get on the end of a pass, that would have seen him score a great goal and then later in the third wound up a huge slap shot that was only prevented from going in by a Telford player diving across the ice to block the puck with his body.
The goals continued to rack up in the final period, Shaun Kippin doubled his tally for the night at 44:56 after receiving a pass from line-mate Dean Holland, before two powerplay goals arrived 92 seconds apart.
Corey Goodison, who had a decent game for the Tigers, was off the ice for an interference call at 48:02, and just 18 seconds had elapsed on that penalty before Adam Reynolds netted his first goal of the season. Harry Harley played the puck to Dean Holland who in turn found Reynolds waiting at the back door for a simple tap in. Twelve seconds after the re-start and it was Simon Harrison’s turn to sit in the box after a tripping call. With twenty seconds remaining on the penalty Callum Watson converted to take the score to 8-0.
Once again there was another quick penalty taken after the re-start, this time it was Kyle Ross called for hooking straight from the face-off. This gave the Tigers another Powerplay opportunity and they would take it, Harrison scoring past a prone Mark Turnbull who had arrived in the game just past the mid-point of the second period to give Richie Lawson a well-deserved rest. The goal completed what was a crazy few minutes with goals and penalties exchanged for both sides.
Turnbull had a taken a knock on his knee and was clearly not happy and so skated back to the bench not long after. Lawson checked back into the game and would end it with a shut out saving all 20 shots he faced.
It was left to Shaun Kippin to apply the exclamation mark on this victory. Both teams were skating 4-on-4 until Telford’s Matthew Lees’ penalty expired moments before the end of the game leaving the Warriors to kill off their own penalty, but amongst all that the puck made it’s way through to ‘Skippy’ who fired through Ellis’ legs, with less than five seconds remaining on the clock to claim his first Warriors hat-trick.
Team News
Whitley had a large bench for this game despite losing Callum Queenan to a lower body injury prior to the game. Andre Payette started the game Centering the Fourth line alongside Kyle Ross and Ben Richards, who was returning from a long term injury. When Payette switched back to defense during the second period, Ross moved to Center allowing Alan Yarrow to take up a pot on the wing. Shaun Kippin, whose goal return has increased since being moved to Center the top line had Dean Holland to his Right, with Queenan missing. The two of them developed a great understanding alongside David Longstaff. The Second line saw DJ Good with Jamie Tinsley and Callum Watson, while Adam Reynolds centered the third line between Martin Crammond and Jordan Barnes.
The defense was mixed up slightly too. Regular pairing Harry Harley and Joe Stamp remained, and both were impressive throughout. Harley has been great offensively this season and had a particularly good game against Telford, while Joe Stamp was outstanding defensively, reading the game well at all times and cleverly cutting out a pass that would have seen Telford with a breakaway. Scott Cooper was paired alongside Josh Maddock for this game while Liam Smedley who also had a good game had the experienced Dan Pye to help him out.
Richie Lawson started the game in goal but was offered the chance of a well-deserved rest mid-way through the game. Mark Turnbull who replaced him, managed less than 18 minutes before an injury forced him to swap places back with Lawson.
25 Longstaff – 11 Kippin - 14 Holland
27 Tinsley - 9 DJ Good – 6 Watson
18 Crammond – 4 Reynolds – 17 Barnes
13 Ross – 7 Payette - 64 Richards then 22 Yarrow - 13 Ross – 64 Richards
24 Harley – 3 Stamp
21 Cooper – 19 Maddock
8 Smedley – 38 Pye
7 Payette – 23 Pritchard
35 Lawson- 84 Turnbull
Opposition View
Telford were missing Four of their top forwards at Hillheads with the EPL Tigers side having called up leading scorer Adam Taylor alongside import Karol Jets, while Ben Washburn and Macauley Heywood were also missing. Defenseman and captain Daniel Croft sat this one out too. Many of you will remember Croft as being Andre Payette’s punch bag in the game earlier on in the season. Denis Bell was another huge loss for the visitors as he has performed well between the pipes for the Shropshire-based side this season, meaning they had to dress youngster Sam Ellis instead. Philip Mulcahy was double-shifting at Center with Callum Bowley and James Smith forming the top line with him. Corey Goodison was the Tigers top defenseman.
72 Bowley – 13 Mulcahy – 94 Smith
21 Aston - 10 Betteridge – 66 Price
7 Griffin – 13 Mulcahy – 19 Callagher
18 Hustwick – 9 Goodison
8 Harrison – 23 Lees
31 Ellis
Quotes
Shaun Kippin: 'Getting my first Whitley hat-trick means a hell of a lot, I've not scored too many goals this year so it was good to chip in with a few. The first two were put on a plate by Lobby [David Longstaff] and Dean [Holland] and the third was a shorthanded goal, it's always good to score shorthanded.'
Adam Reynolds: 'It's great being back and I am loving it so far. It has been tough having the time off and coming back mid-season as I am well behind on the fitness side of things but hopefully a few more games will bring me up to speed.'
'It was nice to get one [goal] early and hopefully there will be a few more to come, but I honestly wouldn't care if I didn't score again this season as long as the team gets results. If we continue the work the lads put in from the first half of the season I will be happy.'
News
* Of the Nine goals Whitley scored, just three of them came at even strength. Shaun Kippin, Adam Reynolds and Callum Watson all converted on the power play, while the other three goals came whilst short-handed.
* Shaun Kippin who earlier in the season felt he was struggling for goals, bagged himself a hat-trick. All three goals were scored differently, with his first on the power-play, his second even handed and his buzzer beater with 4.7 seconds left on the clock coming whilst his team were short-handed. Proof indeed that ‘Kippy’ can ‘score in a brothel’.
* There has been some debate recently over Kippin’s nickname. He has always been known as ‘Skippy’ throughout his career but this season Andre Payette has taken to calling him ‘Kippy’ and that is now starting to stick. So on occasion during the reports you will see both ‘Skippy’ and ‘Kippy’.
* I was fortunate enough to co-commentate during the game once again for the NIHL radio. It’s still a learning curve but such a great experience and hopefully there will be further opportunities to do so again this season.
Other Results
Saturday, January 16
Sheffield Spartans v Telford 7-5
Solway v Blackburn 5-3
Sutton v Billingham 5-2
Sunday, January 17
Billingham v Senators 5-3
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