Whitley Warriors head to the north west on Saturday as Simon Leach’s side take on the Blackburn Hawks in a NIHL North Division 1 match up that gets underway at 5.45pm. Warriors will have defencemen Scott Cooper and Daniel Pye available for the game as neither player suffered any adverse reaction when they got back out onto the ice last Sunday after being out of action with a shoulder injury and concussion respectively.
Up front Whitley are almost at full strength as the only forwards unavailable for this weekend’s action are Jordan Barnes who is out with a long term knee problem and captain Jamie Tinsley who has not yet fully recovered from a hand injury he picked in a recent encounter with the Sutton Sting.
Warriors have played Blackburn twice so far this season with Hawks taking the points on both occasions. Blackburn beat Whitley 8-3 in Warriors first competitive game of the current campaign before Hawks claimed an 8-2 success at Hillheads in mid December. Whitley were able to match Hawks for much of the last game between the 2 sides as Warriors led 1-0 after the first period of play and the scores were level at 2-2 at the half way point of the match up before Blackburn took command of the contest.
Hawks are yet to lose a game in NIHL North Division 1 this term as Jared Owen’s side have won 12 and drawn 2 of their 14 games in league action to date. However Blackburn have lost to another NIHL North side this season as the Solway Sharks beat Blackburn in the crossover cup in the early weeks of the campaign. Blackburn look to be at full strength for this weekend’s game as power forward Jake Nurse is back in the Hawks line up after a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to a facial injury and experienced netminder Daniel Brittle is back in goal for the league leaders.
Blackburn general manager Alan Amos sadly passed away recently and Hawks will no doubt pay tribute to Alan before Saturday’s game against the Warriors gets underway. The entire Whitley Warriors organisation would like to offer our most heartfelt condolences and our thoughts are with Alan’s family and friends at this time.