Photo by Ice Hockey Media - Colin Lawson
Warriors entertained the Sutton Sting on Sunday evening at their Hillheads base. Whitley went into the game at almost full strength as player/coach David Longstaff was able to call upon all of his senior players other than Dean Holland and Alex Lawson who are both currently out of action due to injury.
Sting came into the match up on the back of a 4-2 success on Saturday evening against the Solihull Barons however Sutton were behind 7 minutes into the game when Shaun Kippin netted a short handed effort after some excellent approach play from the lively Callum Watson. Kippin almost made it 2-0 shortly afterwards when the visitors net minder Dmitri Zimzodra just kept the shot from Warriors number 11 from entering the back of the net.
Sting grabbed a short handed marker of their own after 10 minutes of action when Shaun Ashton found the corner of the net with a powerful strike from just inside the blue line. However under 40 seconds later Warriors made the most of their powerplay opportunity when skipper Jamie Tinsley found the back of the net after a flowing attacking move that saw superb contributions from both Shaun Kippin and David Longstaff.
Shortly into the middle period of play Warriors Jordan Barnes and Stings Scott Glover traded blows after an altercation at the cafe end of the rink. Both players were given 4 minutes in penalties for their troubles by referee Emerson.
Sutton drew level with 23 minutes on the clock when import Slavs Movko fired past Richie Lawson for the first even handed goal of the game. The scores did not stay level for long though as Whitley regained the lead just over a minute later when inform winger Ben Richards grabbed his 3rd goal of the season with a neat back post finish after being set up nicely by the industrious Martin Crammond. Both sides continued to create chances during the remainder of the middle session of play with Warriors Harry Harley almost grabbing the home side another goal with a powerful effort from just inside the blue line when Warriors had the man advantage.
The 3rd period saw plenty of end to end action with the first goal of the session coming on 54 minutes when Ryan Johnson fired home a powerplay marker to tie the contest up at 3-3. Warriors quickly regrouped and David Longstaff fired his side into the lead 4 minutes later when he struck a sweet shot that got the better of the impressive Zimzodra in the Sting goal. Sting opted to pull their netminder late on and Whitley were able to tally an empty net goal through blue liner Harry Harley which saw Warriors claim a 5-3 victory and remain top of the NIHL North Division1 table.
Shaun Kippin was selected as Warriors Man of the Match while goaltender Dmitri Zimzodra was chosen as the visitor’s top player during the match up.
Whitley assistant coach Dave Holland shared his views on the game.
“Another excellent result for us, we were up against a team that had 3 strong forward lines with an import on their first and third lines. So for us to play like we did against them and to outshoot them by 64 to 28 shots is fantastic.
“Everybody played tonight and that was always our plan to do that. Dan Pye took a knock tonight which saw Stu Tomlinson get extra ice time and he did well for us and did nothing wrong at all during his shifts out on the ice.
“We practice our systems week in and week out and when we got the lead late on we went very defensive as we didn’t need another goal however we then got a late goal when they pulled the netminder.
“To get to this stage of the season without conceding a defeat is really really good for us. Dan Pye should be ok for our next game as well as we think he just has a dead leg and nothing too serious.”
Warriors next game is away from home against the Sutton Sting in a NIHL North Division 1 encounter on the 18th October. Whitley’s next home game is the following weekend when Warriors host local rivals the Billingham Stars on Sunday 25th October at Hillheads in the first Tyne Tees Derby of the season that is scheduled to face off at 5pm.