Whitley Warriors picked up a victory on Saturday evening when Simon Leach’s side beat the Manchester by 8 goals to 1 in the north west. Veteran blue liner Paul Matthews was back on Warriors roster after a lengthy spell out of action due to an ankle injury however Rob Wilson and Callum Watson both missed the contest with Minotaurs.
Warriors started the game well and took the lead after 3 minutes of play when Dan Pye fired home on the powerplay after some pleasing build up play from Martin Crammond and Ben Richards. Whitley continued to create openings and Warriors led 4-0 by the end of the first period of play thanks to a superb hatrick from Dean Holland whose third goal came when The Tynesiders had the man advantage late on in the opening stanza.
Simon Leach’s side continued to trouble Manchester’s defence at the start of the 2nd period and just 93 seconds into the middle session of play Harry Harley fired past Minotaurs goalie Fox. There were no further goals until the final minute of the 2nd period when Minotaurs Daniel Berry fired home seconds before Adam Reynolds grabbed Warriors 6th goal of the game.
The final period of play saw Warriors grab 2 further goals through DJ Good and Dan Pye as Warriors claimed an 8-1 victory over Manchester. Dean Holland had an impressive game for Warriors and picked up 5 points during the 60 minutes of action while DJ Good, Harry Harley and Adam Reynolds were all able to register 3 points in their side’s victory.
Warriors Man of the Match went to netminder Mark Turnbull who was able to turn away 38 of the 39 shots that came his way in the contest which saw the young goaltender end the match with a save percentage above 97%.
Supporters are reminded that Whitley are in action on home ice on Sunday evening (5pm face off) when the Solway Sharks travel down to Tyneside for a NIHL North Division 1 encounter. Warriors are hopeful of attracting a large crowd to the game as part of their ‘Join the Tribe’ initiative where sports fans from across the north east have been invited to come along and see what British ice hockey is all about.