Warriors took on the Widnes Wild in the 2nd leg of the promotion/relegation play off on home ice on Sunday evening. Warriors youngster Callum Queenan received the Prohockeynews NIHL North Division 1 Young Player of the Year Award just before the game got underway for his superb showings over the course of the season.
Once the action got underway Whitley started the game positively and took the lead after 79 seconds when Adam Reynolds found Dean Holland in space at the back post and Warriors #14 found the back the net with ease. Wild were creating offensive openings of their own though and the visitors drew level after 7 minutes of play when Daniel Bullock got the better of Whitley netminder Mark Turnbull.
Warriors then ran into a little penalty trouble and Widnes made the most of their man advantage as import forward Filip Supa was able to net a powerplay marker stylishly to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. Whitley went onto tally 21 shots in the opening period of play and Warriors creativity paid off when Callum Queenan fired home just as the buzzer sounded for the end of the 1st stanza of action.
The 2nd period saw Warriors continue to generate a lot of chances and Whitley took the lead on 26 minutes when Harry Harley found the back of the net with a nicely struck shot. Daniel Pye made it 4-2 shortly afterwards when the big blue liner came forward and fired home his 4th goal of the season unassisted. Warriors were handed a powerplay opportunity towards the end of the 2nd period and Jamie Tinsley fired home while his side had the man advantage after Thomas Jackson of the Wild had been penalised for a slashing misdemeanor.
DJ Good added a further goal after 36 minutes of play when the popular front man got away from the Widnes defence and fired past Greg Ruxton in the Wild goal. Warriors opted to give some of their younger players some ice time in the 3rd period with the likes of Kyle Ross and Connor Shanks getting regular game time.
Whitley were still able to control the game though and Warriors extend their lead further with 3 quickfire goals when Alex Lawson, Kyle Ross and Callum Watson all found the back of the net in frantic spell of play. Widnes opted to replace their overworked starting goalie Greg Ruxton at this point with Nicole Jackson however the change in netminder was not able to stop Warriors offence and Whitley grabbed a further 2 goals through Dean Holland and Adam Reynolds to claim a 11-2 victory on the night and a 20-5 aggregate success in the promotion/relegation play off match up.
Warriors Coach Simon Leach shared his views on the play off games and also spoke about stepping down from his current role and what the future at Hillheads may hold for him.
“Coming back with a good result from yesterday’s game at Widnes helped us tonight however at times in the 1st period I didn’t think we played at the intensity we should play at. After the 1st period we got ourselves in gear and created a number of good chances.
“Widnes worked hard and battled but we were able to get the job done and secure the clubs future in NIHL North Division 1.It’s been a difficult season at times however our main focus was to maintain our league status and we have been able to do that.
“Looking forward I want to try and make a difference behind the scenes and if things are right for me and right for the club everyone is going to benefit.”
The clubs end of season Presentation Night will take place at the Seahorse next Saturday 18th April at 7.30pm. Warriors players and coaching staff will be in attendance for the presentation night where the clubs player of the year will be announced while fans who have sponsored shirts this season will also be presented with their shirt by their chosen player. It would be great to see as many supporters as possible at the event as Warriors look to end their 2014/15 season positively.