Adam Finlinson carries the puck into the Stars' zone. Photo by Colin Edwards, CJE Photos.
Whitley Warriors took home the spoils in the latest Tyne-Tees derby last weekend, but faced a vastly improved Stars side from the one they had faced last year.
Whitley have now won the last fifteen meetings between the two sides, but on Sunday faced the hardest test from their local rivals during that time.
Whitley welcomed back several of the players who missed the trip down to Solihull last week and travelled with twelve forwards and five defencemen. Meanwhile, Jordan Boyle also returned to back up starting goalie Josh Crane.
In what was a tense and evenly-matched derby game, Whitley were given an early opportunity to put their prolific powerplay to the test. However, with Shaun Galloway serving a cross-checking penalty it was the home side who got the breakthrough with a shorthanded goal, veteran duo Chris Sykes and James Moss combining for the former to score.
Soon after it was the Warriors who ran into penalty trouble when first Shaun Kippin and then Adam Wood served minor infractions, defenceman Wood earning an additional two minutes for roughing. By the time both sides returned to full strength, Whitley were level when Ross Douglass fired home from Matty McDonald.
But before the period was over, a Patriks Grigors cross-check saw a reaction from Phil Edgar and Dean Holland, who both earned themselves roughing penalties, without any further punishment to the Stars’ Latvian defenceman.
A typical fiery derby clash in the opening period saw the Warriors outshoot their hosts 21-9. It would be more of the same in the middle period with Thomas Brown the busier of the two goalies once again. But tempers seemed to calm down with only two minutes being assessed to each side as they cancelled each other out in what was becoming an increasingly tight clash.
You sensed that whichever side got the next goal, would go on to win. That proved to be the case when Adam Finlinson converted on the powerplay at 46:40, Alex Preston’s cross check penalty proving costly for the Stars.
Three minutes later the Warriors doubled their lead when Ross Douglass netted his second of the game from Callum Queenan’s assist. That soon became a three goal lead a little over a minute later when captain Dean Holland scored from an Adam Wood pass.
The Stars had battled hard and ran the Warriors close for much of the contest up to that point but the damage was done in a five minute spell that saw the game taken out of their reach.
A couple of late penalty calls for the Stars saw them unable to mount a late push as the Warriors remained the more disciplined to bring the points back with them up the A19.
With the result of this game counting towards both the league and the cup standings, it is looking likely that these two sides could well meet again at the semi-final stages of the competition, and if they are as closely contested as this latest encounter was on Teesside, then the fans of both sides will be in for a treat.
Stats
Shots on goal
Warriors: 65
Stars: 30
Points
Warriors: Ross Douglass (2+0), Dean Holland (1+1), Adam Finlinson (1+0), Matty McDonald (0+1), Phil Edgar (0+1), Adam Wood (0+1), Callum Queenan (0+1).
Stars: Chris Sykes (1+0), James Moss (0+1).
Penalty minutes
Warriors: 14
Stars: 16
Man of the Match
Warriors: Josh Crane
Stars: Tommy Spraggon