Matty McDonald and Josh Crane keep Richard Slater from scoring. Photo by J&K Davies.
Whitley Warriors had to come from behind against Solihull Barons last weekend to remain top of the NIHL 1 North standings. Title favourites Solway Sharks had returned to the top on Saturday with their win over Widnes, but Whitley were able to reclaim top spot with a good win at a difficult venue.
Whitley travelled with fifteen skaters and goalie Josh Crane but were without defenceman Adam Wood and forwards Shaun Kippin and Callum Queenan.
Hobbs Moat Road is never the easiest of venues to visit, especially when you are short-benched, and that point was proven when the home side spotted themselves a two-goal lead early into the second period. Whitley actually outshot their hosts 18-12 in the opening period but found themselves a goal behind at 17:51 when Finnish import Filip Byfält scored from a Brandon Anderton feed.
The Barons doubled their advantage early into the second period when veteran forward Paul Stanley found the net after being set up by Andrew Whitehouse and Marcus Maynard. Stanley, who at 39 is the oldest player on the Barons team, started his career in 1999 and spent some time with Nottingham Lions before returning to his hometown club and is showing no signs of slowing down his production.
Was the pressure of reclaiming top position in the standings starting to weigh on the Warriors’ mind? We soon found out that wasn’t the case just past the mid-point of the game when Phil Edgar fired home a Dean Holland assist to make it a one goal game.
Solihull then got into penalty trouble and with Byfält serving a roughing call, Harry Harley levelled the scores on the powerplay from Holland’s second assist in as many minutes. Both sides then exchanged further penalties with Philip Mulcahy’s initial roughing call giving the Warriors another man advantage. This time it was Kyle Ross who found the net after Harley turned provider with Holland grabbing a third assist.
The Warriors had gone from being two goals down to 3-2 up in the matter of 1 minute 58 seconds and turning the game on its head. However, moments later Whitley ran into some penalty trouble of their own when Ross Douglass was called for holding.
The Barons, who could have been forgiven for thinking it wasn’t going to be their night after blowing a comfortable lead, used the additional player to level the score with 18 seconds left on the powerplay, Byfält netting his second of the game with Richard Slater and Maynard getting the helpers on the goal. For Helsinki-born Byfält, this is his first season back playing hockey having taken five years away from the sport. He last iced for HC Morjens of the Finnish fifth tier in 2017 but with his two goals for the Barons he was showing no signs of rust.
But the Barons were level for little more than a minute before the Warriors edged back ahead courtesy of a third powerplay goal. With Swedish import Niklas Ottosson sitting in the box for holding, Steven Chalmers restored his team’s lead on the man advantage.
The Warriors dominated the middle session and out-shot the Barons 32-7 but with a slender lead the home side were far from out of the contest. In fact, Solihull took the game to the Warriors and outshot them 14-6 in the final period, but it was to no avail when Ross Douglass increased the lead at 47:25. A final push was needed from the Barons if they were to salvage something now but instead frustration grew as they couldn’t find a way past Josh Crane in the Whitley net. With 3:35 remaining, Warriors were called for a too many men penalty followed by an interference infraction on Ross Douglass just six seconds after the first penalty had elapsed, meaning the momentum was very much with the Barons as they ended the game on the man advantage.
But once again Josh Crane stood tall, and the Warriors headed back North with the points and with it top spot in the NIHL 1 North League standings.
Stats
Shots on goal
Warriors: 56
Barons: 33
Points
Warriors:
Harry Harley (1+1), Phil Edgar (1+0), Kyle Ross (1+0), Steven Chalmers (1+0), Ross Douglass (1+0), Dean Holland (0+3).
Barons:
Filip Byfält (2+0), Paul Stanley (1+0), Marcus Maynard (0+2), Brandon Anderton (0+1), Andrew Whitehouse (0+1, Richard Slater (0+1).
Penalty minutes
Warriors: 12
Barons: 12
Man of the Match
Warriors: Adam Finlinson
Barons: Sam Hewitt