Photo by IceHockeyMedia
Whitley Warriors travelled north to take on the Solway Sharks on Saturday evening in the Scottish borders. Warriors were captained by Jordan Barnes for this NIHL North Cup fixture as club skipper Dean Holland was unavailable for the trip up to Dumfries. Whitley travelled north with 13 skaters plus 2 netminders for the contest as Warriors made full use of the roster of players at their disposal.
Whitley trailed 1-0 after the opening 20 minutes of action however Warriors did get on the scoresheet twice in the 2nd period through Jordan Barnes and the in form Ben Richards. David Longstaff’s side were 4-2 down after 2 periods of action however Warriors were still very much in the game as they were generating almost the same number of efforts on goal as the top of the table Sharks.
Whitley opted to give their young goaltender Jordan Boyle some ice time in the 3rd period of the contest as the youngster replaced Richie Lawson in the Warrior net after 40 minutes of action. The final period saw Solway increase their lead to 6-2 through strikes from captain Struan Tonnar and the experienced forward Marc Fowley before a late powerplay effort from Ben Richards saw Warriors reduce the deficit to 6-3 with only 24 seconds left in the game.
There was also a late altercation in the game when Solway’s Darren Stattersfield and Warriors Jordan Barnes dropped the gloves both players were giving fighting penalties by the officials on duty while Stattersfield also received 12 minutes in penalties for a checking a Warriors player from behind.
Warriors are in cup action once again next Saturday evening when they travel down to Blackburn to face the Hawks before a game against the Billingham Stars in the league next Sunday on home ice at the clubs Hillheads base which gets underway at 5pm.