Whitley Warriors hosted the league leaders the Blackburn Hawks on Sunday evening on Tyneside in a NIHL North Division 1 encounter. Warriors were without Adam Reynolds, Daniel Pye and Jordan Barnes through injury while club skipper Jamie Tinsley was unavailable for the game which saw DJ Good step in to captain Whitley.
Richie Lawson started the game in goal for Warriors with Mark Turnbull acting as back up netminder. Warriors began the match up using 3 defensive pairings with youngster Liam Smedly partnering Daniel Harris due to the absence of Daniel Pye. In attack Warriors opted to go with 3 lines of forwards however given Whitley were generally rotating 8 forwards both Dean Holland and DJ Good were logging plenty of ice time.
Warriors started the game well and took the lead just 5 minutes into proceedings when Dean Holland found the back of the net from close range after the Hawks defence had switched off as they thought the puck had gone out of play. Blackburn ran into some penalty trouble during the first period of play which presented Whitley with a number of powerplay opportunities however Warriors could not make their man advantage count. Whitley were dealt a blow during the opening period of action when veteran d man Paul Matthews had to leave the ice with an ankle injury.
Blackburn flew out of the blocks in the middle session of play as just 18 seconds into the 2nd period Hawks Player/Coach Jared Owen netted the equalising goal. Just 50 seconds later the visitors took the lead when the in form Luke Brittle netted an unassisted marker. Warriors almost found responded straight away however youngster Callum Queenan was just unable to find the back of the net when he had a good opening at the back post.
Whitley were able to tie the game up though on 27 minutes when Callum Watson fired past Hawks Stuart Ashton with a sweet shot after some eye catching work from DJ Good and the lively Queenan. After 33 minutes of play Warriors blue liner Josh Maddock was given a minor penalty for holding and Blackburn made the most of their powerplay chance as Luke Brittle fired home which saw Hawks take the lead once more. Hawks went on to grab another goal before the end of the 2nd period when Jared Owen lit the lamp after some nice build up play from the Brittle brothers Luke and Adam.
Warriors looked to use the speed of Callum Watson and Callum Queenan early in the 3rd period however the Hawks defence was able to thwart Whitley’s offensive efforts and Blackburn grabbed their 5th goal of the contest after 45 minutes when the hard working Aaron Davies fired past Warriors senior goaltender Richie Lawson. Three minutes later Hawks skipper Chris Arnone found the back of the net with Davies being credited with an assist on Blackburn’s 6th goal of the game.
Hawks soon had their seventh goal of the evening when Jordan Bannon netted unassisted shortly afterwards, Warriors opted to change their netminder at this point of the game with young goalie Mark Turnbull replacing Richie Lawson in between the pipes. Whitley also opted to give some of their younger players such as Kyle Ross and Craig Johnson some ice time late on given the scoreline.
Whitley ran into penalty problems towards the end of the game as Warriors were given 5 minor penalties alongside 2 misconduct penalties in the last 5 minutes of play. Hawks took advantage and Chris Arnone netted his 2nd goal of the game, shortly afterwards Warriors Head Coach Simon Leach called a time out so that his side could re group and Whitley were able to see the game out on the short hand without conceding any further goals.
Luke Brittle who picked up 4 points during the contest was chosen as Hawks Man of the Match while Callum Queenan was elected Warriors best player during the 60 minutes of action. Whitley defenceman Scott Cooper must also be praised as he went back to the dressing room midway through the 2nd period with a dislocated shoulder only to return to the action minutes later once the shoulder had been popped back in to only suffer the same injury once again later in the game.
Whitley Points
Callum Watson 1+1, Dean Holland 1+0, DJ Good and Callum Queenan 0+1
Blackburn Points
Luke Brittle 2+2, Chris Arnone 2+1, Jared Owen 2+0, Aaron Davies 1+1, Jordan Bannon 1+0, Adam Brittle and James Riddoch 0+2, Rick Ravey and Tom King 0+1
Period Scores
1st (1-0) 2nd (1-4) 3rd (0-4)
Penalties
Whitley – 38 minutes
Blackburn – 10 minutes
Warriors next game is on the 4th January when the Solway Sharks travel down to Tyneside from Dumfries for a NIHL North Division 1 match up. Face off is at 5pm for what should be an end to end game of hockey between 2 of the top NIHL North sides.