Whilst I did attend the Billingham game, I was busy watching Newcastle United restore some pride in their derby game with 5under1and before heading down the A19, whilst fighting off the flu and commentating on proceedings at the Forum so was too pre-occupied to produce my usual match-reports.
I am fortunate to once again turn to my good friend Bobby Dixon, who writes his own brilliant reflections on the game, to cover the games at Billingham and Sheffield. Bobby had an extra emotional night on Teesside too, so please read on to find out what it was:
Whitley Warriors @ Solihull Barons 4-6 Sunday March 13, 2016
Having recently returned from my latest hockey adventure in the States, I decided to give the trip to Solihull a miss. However with both sides already assured of their places at the post season party in Sheffield next month, and Andre Payette suspended for destroying Perry Doyle's face the Warriors took no risks and were unsurprisingly beaten by the home side.
Whitley Warriors @ Billingham Stars 1-4 Sunday March 20, 2016
Well that didn't go to plan, no one likes to lose a derby game and losing 4-1 was a bitter pill to swallow, however it was maybe on the cards, we had secured second and were never going to get that number 1 slot with Blackburn all but securing the title, we had little to play for other than pride, whereas with Billingham no longer able to qualify for the play-offs it was their cup final, winning the final bragging rights of the season.
We went into this game missing several key players and it showed, the Stars got off to a flying start and after 3:51 import Dennis Bostrum fired in a bullet of a wrist shot up high to beat Richie Lawson, we seemed to be struggling to get a foothold in the game and I think the main reason for this is we have 1 eye on the play-offs and have took our minds off the league and are happy to get through the remaining games injury free, my only concern is momentum plays a big part of hockey and hopefully we can kick-start again in time for the end of season showcase, the period finished 1-0 to the Stars and it was a fair scoreline as the period was the usual tight affair with Stars just edging it.
The 2nd period was where we lost the game, nothing seemed to work for us and on 27:31 Bostrum got his 2nd of the game with a speculative shot finding its way into the back of our net, and on 35:06 Andy Finn skating up high from the face off circles fired on goal and managed to squeeze it in, the period ended with the scoreline being 3-0 to the home side, we had our chances but whatever we tried either didn't work or Flav pulled off the save.
The 3rd period we decided to give young netminder Mark Turnbull some valuable experience, we seemed to get back into the game more and were creating more chances and seemed to play with a bit more intensity and we were finally rewarded with a goal after 51:04 after Jordan Barnes picked up the loose puck and fired it past Flavell to make it 3-1, game on, but just as we thought we were getting back in to the game, came the killer blow after 53:49 James Moss made it 4-1, game over, on 54:30 Jordan Barnes saw red and gave out a naughty slash and was given a 5+game for slashing but that wasn't the end Jordan decided if he was gonna get kicked out he wanted to take someone with him and was trying to drop the gloves but with the officials already on hand it was never going to happen and was handed a further 10 minute misconduct penalty for abuse of an official, the game ended with a very disappointing 4-1 defeat.
When I arrived at the Forum I was told I was handing out the Man of the Match awards which I was more than happy to do, what happened next had me very emotional, firstly the chants of there's only one Bobby Dixon from both sets of fans had me choked and humbled and as I was making my way back to the seating area Terry Ward said hold on bobby we're not finished yet and I was presented with a framed and signed from both sets of players picture of the match day poster, I just about held my emotions together until I got by the dressing room and when taking to a good friend of mine from Billingham I couldn't hold on any longer and it all got a bit tearful. I can't thank all involved with the fantastic gesture enough, just another reason what makes this sport so fantastic, I love my hockey family so much.
MOTM for Stars went to Ritchie Thornton
MOTM for Warriors went to Joe Stamp
Whitley Warriors @ Billingham Stars 1-4 Sunday March 20, 2016
The Final league game of the season boooooooooo. Warriors travelled to ice Sheffield which was perfect preparation for the play-offs on the same ice pad in a couple of weeks and took on bottom of the league side the Senators, the scoreline probably wasn't as wide as we all probably expected but if I'm honest we done everything but score, which was frustrating at time but we got the win and that is all that matters.
We were utilising the big ice well and creating lots of space and some of the passing was superb and it didn't take us long to get on the score sheet, after 7:39 Josh Maddock scored the opener assisted by Andre Payette. And just 5 minutes later we doubled our lead when Ben Richards scored assisted by A N other (as it was announced) eventually credited to Alan Yarrow, that was it for the scoring in the 1st period.
The 2nd period was where the game got frustrating we totally dominated the entire period and were pretty much camped out in the Sens end and we had 23 shots in this period with no reward but that was mainly down to Robert Browne in the Sens goal who was having an inspired game between the pipes after 33:24 we pulled Mark Turnbull and gave Jordan Boyle some ice time, it was good to see both young netminders getting some valuable ice time, the 2nd period somehow ended scoreless but that wasn't for the lack of trying, inspired netminding, the goal frame, and some slightly off target shooting all contributed to us not extending our lead but some of the build up play was superb and I would be more worried if we weren't creating the chances,
3 minutes in to the 3rd period and Joe Cross got called on a tripping penalty and that put us on the powerplay, unfortunately the powerplay didn't go according to plan and mix up on the Sens blue line just before the penalty was due to expire allowed Thomas Parkinson to intercept a loose pass and he broke down the ice and slotted the puck past Boyle in the Warriors goal to make it 1-2 after 45:23 played, 3 minutes later our powerplay unit got another chance after Jordan Martin got called on a Slashing penalty this time it did go to plan and after some good puck movement on the PP Callum Watson got the puck and slotted home to ease some of the nerves to make it 1-3, on 52:28 Warriors go caught on a slow line change and were rightly pulled up for too many men on the ice, Sens punished us for this on the powerplay when a shot from Jonathan Bell was tipped in, just in front of Boyle by Alexander Harding to make it 2-3, cue a nervy final 6 minutes, We actually played this period of the game very well and held up the puck nicely, won the vital faceoffs while sens were looking to pull their netminder but we managed to keep getting the puck in deep, fight to tie it up in the corners and pass the puck around nicely, on the final buzzer it did feel a bit like damn we only beat the Sens by 1 goal, but on reflection does it really matter if you win by 1 or win by 10, a win is a win, yes it would have been great to end the season with a more comfortable victory but it was still a victory and sets us up nicely for the play off game in couple of weeks.
MOTM for Senators went to Robert Browne, it couldn't of gone to anyone else he was superb for them.
MOTM for the Warriors was Ben Richards.
We finished the regular season with:
played 32, won 23, drew 3, lost 6, scored 138, conceded 78, +/- 60, PIM 500, points 49
(stats taken from EIHA website, may not be 100% up to date).
Next game for the Warriors is the big one, Semi final v Barons, 7:30pm face off
with a bit of hard work and a bit of luck we will be involved in the play-off final v Hawks/Sharks.
Whatever happens it is sure to be a great weekend of hockey with both Laidler and Moralee play-offs on the same weekend, 4 semi finals and 2 finals played over weekend 9th and 10th April.
COME ON YOU WARRIORS!
Other Results
Saturday, March 12Sheffield Senators v Solihull Barons 4-7
Sheffield Spartans v Solway Sharks 4-6
Sunday, March 13
Sheffield Senators v Billingham Stars 1-9
Sutton Sting v Solway Sharks 3-3
Blackburn Hawks v Telford Tigers 4-0
Saturday, March 19
Solway Sharks v Telford Tigers 7-1
Sunday, March 20
Blackburn Hawks v Solway Sharks 7-0
Saturday, March 26
Telford Tigers v Sheffield Senators 7-2
Blackburn Hawks v Solihull Barons 8-2
Solway Sharks v Sutton Sting 9-3
Sunday, March 27
Billingham Stars v Blackburn Hawks 3-3
Solihull Barons v Sheffield Spartans 6-1
Wednesday, March 30
Sutton Sting v Sheffield Senators 0-0 postponed
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