Adam Finlinson. Photo by IceHockeyMedia
Whitley Warriors had two games over the weekend with an away trip to Solihull on Saturday evening before a home clash with Solway Sharks on Sunday night at Hillheads in Whitley Bay.
Warriors lost out on their travels by seven goals to three on Saturday. Import forward Phil Edgar netted all of Whitley’s goals as he managed to trouble the home side’s defence all night long.
Whitley were able to name a strong roster of players for their game on Sunday evening with Dan Pye coming back into the line up having missed Warriors’ game the previous evening. The first period of play saw Warriors outshoot the Sharks by nineteen shots to ten however neither team was able to find the back of the net due to the skills of Kyle Johnston in the visitors’ net and Richie Lawson in the Whitley goal.
The game did not stay scoreless for long though as the in-form Adam Finlinson netted with under two minutes played in the second period which saw Warriors take a 1-0 lead. Shortly afterwards Whitley were presented with a powerplay opportunity when Solway’s Scott Henderson was sent to the sin bin for a hooking misdemeanour however Sharks were able to successfully kill the penalty.
Solway were able to tie up the game up after fifty minutes of play when Stevie Moore found the back of the net with Connor Henderson picking up the assist. Warriors were on level terms for only sixty-nine seconds before they retook the lead when Martin Crammond was able to tip the puck in following a slap shot from Sam Zajac who was fed the puck by DJ Good.
Zajac remained central to the action as he grabbed an extremely late empty net goal to extend Warriors’ lead to 3-1 with just seven seconds left in the contest following Sharks’ decision to pull their netminder seconds earlier. Kyle Ross picked up the Man of the Match award for Warriors for another accomplished display from the youngster as he continues to establish himself in NIHL hockey.
Next weekend sees Warriors in action on one occasion when they head south to Nottingham to take on the Lions on Sunday evening in the East Midlands in a game that faces off at the unusual face off time of 7.30pm.