The Blackburn Hawks proved to be too strong against both the Solway Sharks and then the Solihull Barons to be crowned NIHL Playoff Champions.
The Hawks had to come from behind against Solway in Saturday’s Semi-final, but a burst of four goals in quick succession turned the game on its head. The Sharks took control of the game early on and could have increased their lead before the first intermission, but Blackburn showed their quality with two quick-fire goals, which forced Solway into taking a time-out to try and stop the bleeding. That didn’t work, though, as soon after, Rick Bentham put in a great individual performance against his former side to help ease the Hawks into the final.
The champions were met in the final by the Solihull Barons who were surprise winners over league runners-up Whitley. Just like Solway had in their semi-final with the Hawks, Whitley took the lead against the Barons and were well in control throughout the opening period. Harry Harley had a goal disallowed after the officials judged Andre Payette had his skates in the goal crease, but not to be denied, the Whitley blue-liner scored again soon after and this time it counted. DJ Good had a decent shout for a penalty shot turned down as Whitley were trying to add to their advantage, but as the period wore on, Tom Soar was a constant reminder of the threat that the Barons carried. Indeed just like Blackburn had done with Solway, the Barons had turned the game around with two quick goals. Soar, who has scored goals for fun this season fired Solihull level on the powerplay, before hitting a long range shot which deceived Warriors goalie, Richie Lawson, to put his side ahead. Lawson then had to leave the game due to injury, and it was clear he wasn’t able to skate freely as he left the ice. With Mark Turnbull now between the pipes, the Barons looked to test the new goalie, but Whitley then hit back to tie the game up when Ben Richards found the net.
The third period saw Solihull really take control. Soar fired his hat-trick marker after receiving the puck straight from a face-off. The power forward who has Elite League experience with the Nottingham Panthers, wound up a huge slap shot which clipped the underside of the bar and went in. Less than two minutes later though, Callum Watson tied the scores again, but with just over nine minutes remaining, Soar completed his brilliant cameo performance when he tapped into the net following good work from Nicklas Ottosson, who had all the time in the world to go past the Whitley defense and pick out his line mate at the back post.
Having watched Soar bag four goals, the Swedish import wanted a goal of his own and when Mark Turnbull stopped his initial shot with less than three minutes to go, he took a swipe at the puck as it appeared to be falling loose from Turnbull’s grasp. However he accidently slashed at the goalies pads with Dan Pye taking exception to it and launching the Swede off his feet and into the net. It was such a hit that the net was pushed over and Ottosson landed into it looking something like a tortoise rolling around on its back. However a melee of players then scrapped it out as frustrations started to boil over. It was quite an amusing sight though and one that can be seen on the highlights package of the DVD produced by Pyro Media.
Whitley had to push for the equaliser so pulled Turnbull for the extra attacker but were unable to find the goal they needed and Solihull were left to grab a fifth with an empty netter.
The final proved to be something of a miss-match as Blackburn looked a cut-above Solihull. They grabbed an early lead with two quick goals and although the Barons did get the score back to 2-1 before the opening period was over, they were quickly blown away from the high intensity play of the Hawks. What was really impressive was the way Blackburn’s defensemen restricted Solihull from getting shots away and also being able to break up their play. Solihull actually looked tired, and maybe that gruelling encounter with the Warriors less than 24 hours earlier was starting to take its toll.
I think there can be no complaints with the outcome, and Blackburn truly were worthy champions. Although Whitley did push Blackburn right until the end of the league campaign, they were by far and away the best team in the league. The Sheffield Senators were obviously cut adrift at the bottom, but the teams who finished between second and eighth were evenly matched with results potentially being able to go either way between those sides. Next season could be tighter still as a number of those Hawks players could be moving on meaning the champions could be pulled back into the clutches of the chasing pack, while Deeside will represent a much tougher prospect for sides in the Moralee conference than the Senators were able to provide this year. So next season could shape up to be one of the most exciting ones in years.
Talking of the Deeside Dragons, first of all let me take this opportunity to say congratulations on earning promotion to Division 1 and also on winning the playoff championships for the Laidler Conference. The Whitley fans really took the Dragons team to their hearts with some great banter and support between both sets of fans and players. Owen Bennett [the Dragons enforcer], is one of the real characters of the game, and his antics on the ice and in the penalty box kept the Whitley faithful entertained throughout their final victory over rivals, Widnes Wild. I was also able to talk to some of the Deeside players after both of their games this weekend, and thought what a great bunch of lads they are. We are looking forward to trips to Queensferry already next season.
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