Whitley Warriors travel to Altrincham on Sunday evening to take on the Manchester Minotaurs in a crucial NIHL North Moralee Conference match up as Warriors look to qualify for the end of season play offs. Whitley are currently battling it out with the Sutton Sting for 4th spot in the Conference, Warriors are a 1 point ahead of Sutton however the Sting do have a game in hand making every game the 2 sides play between now and the end of the season a must win contest.
Warriors have faced Manchester on 3 occasions so far this season and are yet to taste defeat claiming a 5-5 draw away from home at the start of the season along with 2 victories (6-1, 7-1) on home ice the latter of those successes coming only last weekend when Whitley were able to record a comfortable victory over Minotaurs on Tyneside.
Manchester’s main danger man this season has been the talented import forward Lukas Zeman who currently leads the scoring charts for the division. Zeman netted a hatrick against Whitley back in October when the sides drew 5-5 and the Czech forward will no doubt be hoping to light the lamp on a number of occasions this coming weekend.
Whitley’s top marksmen this term Adam Reynolds shared his views on the Manchester game this weekend.
“This weekend’s game against Manchester is massive for us, it’s a must win game if we want to keep on pushing for the playoffs. We have to keep winning and not rely on other teams doing us favours.
“Zeman is a key player for them and we have to shut him down as he has a keen eye for goal but there whole team is solid so it’s not just about him we have to be smart and play a good road game.”
Following Sunday’s clash with Manchester Whitley have 1 Moralee Conference match remaining a home game against the Telford Titans on Sunday March 16th (face off 5pm) at Hillheads Ice Rink in Whitley Bay. It is hoped that Warriors supporters come out in force for the clash with the Telford Titans given how important this fixture looks to be.