Warriors Minotaurs Preview: Sample likely to be back in action

Whitley Warriors fixture this weekend is a NIHL North Moralee Conference match up against the Manchester Minotaurs at their Hillheads home on Sunday (5pm face off).

Simon Leach’s  Warriors side currently sit 2nd in the Conference table following last weekend’s 5-5 draw away from home against the Sutton Sting at their Ice Sheffield base. Warriors led 5-2 in that game before a late surge from Sutton saw the game end all square after 60 minutes of action.

Warriors come into this weekend’s fixture with no new injury concerns and recent signing Ryan Sample could well be included in the Whitley line up for only the 2nd time since he returned to the club. Sample made quite an impression during his first game back against Sutton with his physical style of play and he is interviewed in this weekend’s programme which is available at the rink for £2 before and during the game.

Youngsters Callum Queenan and Ben Richards are also both likely to be available again on Sunday after missing the Sting away game last weekend.

Minotaurs currently occupy 6th position in the Moralee Conference standings with 7 points from the 9 games they have take to the ice in so far this term. Manchester’s stand out player is undoubtedly their  import forward Lukas Zeman who has netted a remarkable 20 goals in just 8 games.

Zeman managed to light the lamp 4 times when Whitley drew 5-5 with Minotaurs earlier this campaign and the Warriors rearguard will have to pay close attention to the Czech forward if they are to prevent him from continuing his rich vein of form.

Other players to note on the Minotaurs roster include combative d man Max Drakeley, promising youngster Jared Dickinson and their female goalie Nicole Jackson who picked up the ‘Man’ of the Match award on the last occasion Warriors played Manchester.

Whitley club captain DJ Good shared his thoughts ahead of this weekend’s clash against Manchester and also spoke about Minotaurs star player Lukas Zeman.

Sunday is a must win game for us, we have to be ruthless and learn from last week’s game. This Sunday is all about playing well for 60minutes and getting the all important win.

“It’s good to have imports in the league and Zeman seems a quality player and is the current top scorer in the division so it will be interesting to see how he performs in Whitley Bay”.

Warriors fans are reminded that Whitley are at home two Sundays in succession as following this weekend’s match up with Manchester  the Solway Sharks travel down from Dumfries to Tyneside for a league fixture next Sunday  (10th November, face off 5pm).