Warriors take the pre-season friendly series as the new era begins

A busy evening in Stars' netminder Thomas Brown's crease.

Whitley Warriors’ new era got under way on Saturday evening when they made the short trip down the A19 to take on local rivals Billingham Stars.

Warriors travelled with 19 skaters and two goalies, four players making their debuts among them. Canadian import Kyle Pow lined up alongside Harry Harley on the top defensive pairing, while Garry Simpson slotted onto the top forward line with Kyle Ross and Adam Finlinson.

Olly King and Belfast-born Adam Robinson formed a line with Lewis Crisp.

New Warriors captain Shaun Kippin centred the second line with Callum Queenan and Jamie Ord with Owen Yarrow, Anth Wetherell, Matthew Betham and Jay Lucas taking turns on the fourth line.

Connor Lewis partnered Rihards Grigors on the blue line, with Matty McDonald and Liam Smedley also forming a pair. Dean Bowater got the start in goal.

The game began at a fast and frantic pace with both sides taking their time to settle into the contest. Patriks Grigors forced Dean Bowater into an early save just three minutes in but that was as close as either team went.

However, former Whitley import Rolands Gritāns started to take the game by the scruff of the neck. He went surging forward in the sixth minute as he danced past the static visiting defence and forced Bowater into another save.

But having soaked up that pressure, it was the Warriors who broke the deadlock. Callum Queenan rifled home on the powerplay from the mid-slot, with a well taken finish, Matty McDonald supplying a good pass from the point.

A flurry of further penalties seemed to disrupt the play but at 12:04 the Warriors had doubled their advantage, Rihards Grigors firing home from the point with 29 seconds left on this latest man-advantage.

But despite being two goals down, the home side were far from out of it. In fact they served noticed of their intent soon after returning back to five skaters when Michael Elder shot from the low slot, only to see him denied by Bowater.

At the other end Whitley countered with some good chances of their own, Garry Simpson having two shots saved just outside the crease before on the following shift Shaun Kippin almost steered home Queenan’s rebounded effort.

Billingham ended the period strongly and the Warriors had to be thankful to Bowater once again after he stopped a breakaway whilst his team were shorthanded then managed to deflect a Shaun Galloway effort with the top of his blocker.

The hosts carried that momentum into the second period and made it a one goal game inside the opening five minutes. A poor giveaway by Rihards Grigors was seized upon by Billingham debutant Iain Brown, who shot from distance, and when Dean Bowater fumbled the effort it was bundled home by James Moss. It was about the only thing Bowater got wrong all night as he was the reason the Warriors held a two goal lead heading into the middle period.

Whitley soon had another powerplay but Billingham put pressure on them in the defensive zone and it was Gritāns who went closest to scoring.

Maybe it should have been taken as a warning shot because moments later the former Whitley favourite tied the game. The Latvian defenceman’s wraparound straight from a face-off in the Warriors defensive zone was stabbed home by Michael Elder after the puck deflected off Bowater.

The Stars were now very much in the ascendency and Joseph Walls had two efforts to give his side the lead. He forced Bowater into a high glove save for his first attempt, then stabbed at goal, forcing the Warriors goalie into another smart save a couple of minutes later.

Bowater continued to be much the busier of the two goalies and stopped Jack Emerson with four minutes remaining in the session. Whitley had survived what was an onslaught towards the end of the period.

Dean Bowater makes the save from Stars' Iain Brown as Kyle Pow disrupts the shot. — Dean Bowater makes the save from Stars’ Iain Brown as Kyle Pow disrupts the shot. Photo by Colin Edwards, CJE Photos.

The third period saw more penalty trouble for both sides with one or the other on a powerplay for the majority of the final session. That did open the game up further though. Tommy Spraggon saw his shot saved just 80 seconds in before Garry Simpson shot across the face of goal from an acute angle a minute later.

Kyle Ross attempted a wraparound on his side’s latest penalty before Kyle Pow shot from out wide and hit the base of the post.

On 48 minutes, Tommy Spraggon checked Owen Yarrow into the boards with the later falling awkwardly. That created a melee between both parties but somehow saw Gritāns as the only player in the box for ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’.

Just over a minute later Garry Simpson scored from the hash marks to convert and grab a well-deserved debut-goal. But just seconds after re-taking the lead the Warriors ran into penalty trouble of their own, twice having to defend a 5-on-3 powerplay.

Gritāns was the architect with a clever delayed pass to wrong-foot the covering Warriors defender, which picked out James Moss at the back post. The former Whitley junior’s shot pin-balled its way through the crease off the glove side post and over the line.

A holding call on Joseph Walls with just over seven minutes remaining gave Whitley another chance to re-take the lead. But despite plenty of shots on goal, they just couldn’t find a way past Thomas Brown.

The final two minutes of the game saw chances for both sides as they looked to find a later winner.

Dean Bowater made two excellent saves twenty seconds apart, his first a good reaction save to prevent a certain goal before he forced the shooter to fire wide of his glove side for the second.

Whitley had a chance with 50 seconds to go as Garry Simpson’s double effort was thwarted by Brown before Bowater was called upon once more with 19 seconds left. A scramble in front of his crease was soon stopped when he covered up with his glove.

All in all this won’t go down as one of the classic Tees-Tyne derbies but there were some positives to be had. Dean Bowater undoubtedly was responsible for preventing a defeat with the sheer number of shots he had to face.

The powerplay looked sharp, with all three Whitley goals coming on the man-advantage. This is especially welcome after last season’s powerplay became predictable and toothless. Garry Simpson, on his debut, looked impressive throughout and thoroughly deserved his goal.

Stats

Shots
Warriors: 20
Stars: 37

Points
Warriors: Callum Queenan 1+1, Garry Simpson 1+1, Rihards Grigors 1+0, Harry Harley 0+1, Adam Finlinson 0+1, Shaun Kippin 0+1.
Stars: James Moss 2+0, Michael Elder 1+1, Rolands Gritans 0+2, Iain Brown 0+1.

PIMs
Warriors: 14
Stars: 18

Man of the Match
Warriors: Callum Queenan
Sharks: James Moss

The following night Whitley took to the ice at Hillheads for the first time under Tony Hand. A packed-out rink was rewarded with what was a hard-worked win.

The queue to get into the building was the longest it has been for many years and possibly since the last time they faced their other local rivals Durham Wasps, such was the anticipation to get a first look at the team for the new era.

Whitley Wolf made his debut as team mascot, leading the teams onto the ice before entertaining the crowd from the stands while a return to an old favourite, entrance song “Rofo’s Theme”, also whipped the crowd up into a frenzy.

The Warriors' dramatic entrance set the atmosphere for the game. — The Warriors’ dramatic entrance set the atmosphere for the game. Photo by Charlie Mood.

All it needed was the teams. Whitley had one addition, Ross Douglass making his seasonal debut and rotating on both the Kyle Ross and Olly King lines. There was also a change in goal, with Ryan Wardell making his Warriors debut against his former side.

The opening period was a tight affair with clear goal scoring opportunities at a premium and both sides evenly matched, much like they had been the previous evening.

The closest either team came to opening the scoring was when a Chris Sykes effort pinged off the top of the crossbar when he looked through on goal.

The second period saw the Warriors start to assert themselves on the game more. They got their reward at 24:39 when Harry Harley sniped a shot from the point, right in front of his own bench which found the top corner of Thomas Brown’s net, Matthew Betham and Adam Robinson getting the assists, the latter with his first point for the club.

It perhaps needed to take a shot like that to get the breakthrough as the Stars goalie was in fine form, limiting the Warriors to few chances around his crease.

The lead was then doubled on the powerplay at 32:51. With Patriks Grigors serving a holding penalty, Garry Simpson, who had an excellent debut weekend, finished a move that involved Rihards Grigors for a powerplay move that had more than a hint of Murrayfield Racers about it.

The third period saw the Warriors very much in control and it was arguable their strongest session they played all weekend. With a comfortable two goal lead they seemed to open up a bit more. Billingham were certainly pushing to get back into the game, but by doing so allowed themselves to be vulnerable at the back.

Rihards Grigors made the game safe with less than five minutes remaining when he fired home from near the left wing boards which sailed past a despondent Brown.

Of course both games were only friendlies and so count for very little other than getting fitness levels up ahead for the league season opener next week against Nottingham Lions, but all the same the Warriors can hold bragging rights over their local rivals until the two sides meet again early next month.

There were plenty of positives to come from the game though, including a fantastic performance from Garry Simpson for the second straight night, which earned him the Man of the Match award.

But spare a thought for new Warriors goalie Ryan Wardell, who was a composed and calming presence at the back with his 41 save shutout against his former side, which he will be more than pleased about.

With two strong goaltending performances this weekend, it does pose an interesting question for the new Warriors coach: who gets the start next week against the Lions?