Adam Finlinson looks for the pass. Photo by IceHockeyMedia.
Whitley Warriors recorded a second straight four point weekend with a shoot out victory over Blackburn Hawks on Saturday before following that up with a 5-2 home win over Solihull Barons on Sunday.
Warriors travelled across the Pennines with 16 skaters plus 2 goalies but were without forwards Jamie Ord, Ross Douglass and Kyle Ross, while defencemen Liam Smedley and Lennon Thomas also missed out. They were able to welcome back both Shaun Kippin and Thomas Fraser to the line-up though, the latter having missed the last fifteen games due to injury. Dean Bowater got the start in goal.
Whitley faced a tough battle against the Hawks in a game which went the distance. The Lancashire side ran into penalty trouble early on with the Warriors laying siege to their net and forcing Alex Oldale into a string of saves, the home goalie keeping his side in the game as Whitley out-shot the Hawks 22-7 in the opening period.
But Oldale was unable to prevent the Warriors from taking the lead at 12:33 when Adam Finlinson squeezed home the puck on the glove side when there didn’t appear to be much of a gap if any at all. It was a fantastic opportunistic strike to give his side the lead.
Oldale continued to frustrate the Warriors attack for the next thirty minutes of action, despite his side being out-shot 17-7 in the second period. But the longer the score stayed 1-0, it kept the Hawks in the contest and there was a sense of inevitability when they scrambled home an equaliser at 43:43. A fiercely struck shot from Jacob Lutwyche hit Warriors goalie Dean Bowater in the face cage but with no whistle from the officials, as is normal in this situation, play continued with the puck bouncing into the crease for Tate Shudra to crash home and level the score.
Whitley felt aggrieved at the non-call, especially when Bowater was forced to leave the game and was replaced by Josh Crane for the final part of the contest. But having put that disappointment behind them, they were back ahead six minutes later when Dean Holland and Phil Edgar got an odd man rush, with the former feeding the latter for a fantastic finish. Games between Whitley and Blackburn, rarely disappoint and this latest clash was no different.
Shaun Kippin can count himself unlucky to have been called for a penalty after a disagreement with the Hawks bench, but just a second after returning to the ice the home side tied the game for a second time, Tate Shudra and Aaron Davies combining to set up Devids Jurinenovs.
There can be no arguments though in terms of Blackburn deserving their goal. They were the stronger side for a large portion of the third period and outshot Whitley 11-5.
With no further goals it meant that for the second time this season the sides went into overtime at Blackburn. Earlier in the season Whitley were chasing the game and ended up losing in a shootout but this time they had the better of the exchanges during the 3-on-3, Dean Holland stabbing agonisingly wide of the post by just inches, when sent through by Edgar.
And so the teams went to a shout out. Harry Harley saw his effort saved by Oldale’s pads, before Lutwyche missed for Blackburn. Phil Edgar then scored to give Whitley the lead, but with Tate Shudra and Dean Holland both firing wide, it meant it was left to Devids Jurinenoks to keep the Hawks alive.
The Latvian import scored which sent the shootout into sudden death. Phil Edgar was allowed to take a second penalty shot in the fourth round and scored once again with a clever finish. Dragging Oldale wide, he shot home from an acute angle and over the pads. James Riddoch missed the next Hawks penalty meaning Whitley came back with both points.
Stats
Shots
Warriors: 48
Hawks: 29
Scorers
Warriors: Adam Finlinson 1+0, Phil Edgar 1+0, Anth Wetherall 0+1, Callum Queenan 0+1, Dean Holland 0+1, Harry Harley 0+1.
Hawks: Tate Shudra 1+1, Devids Jurinenovs 1+0, Jacob Lutwyche 0+1, James Riddoch 0+1, Aaron Davies 0+1.
PIMs
Warriors: 6
Hawks: 14
Man of the match
Warriors: Callum Queenan
Hawks: Tate Shudra
On Sunday, Whitley Warriors had another close game with Solihull Barons. But the story of the night was undoubtedly Adam Finlinson’s four goal haul which turned into five for the weekend.
Ross Douglass, Kyle Ross and Lennon Thomas all returned to the line-up, which meant 21 players were listed for the game. Dean Bowater was able to start again in net despite leaving the game early at Blackburn.
Shaun Kippin’s return to the team over the weekend came at a great time, It saw him forge a very productive second line with Finlinson and Ross as they combined for four goals and seven points. The trio combined at 13:01 to open the scoring with Finlinson getting his first of the night, when shooting blocker side with a missile of a shot. But a lot of the credit should go to Kippin, who did a great job creating a screen in front of the net which really made the scoring chance.
A little over three minutes later, Finlinson had his second. Showing great hands, he turned Barons defenceman Marcus Maynard inside out before unleashing a good finish to beat Graham Laverick. The first half was scrappy at times but very close between two evenly-matched sides but the Warriors eked out a comfortable lead by the first intermission.
Barons needed a positive response to begin the second period and got one. Some great vision from Swedish import Niklas Ottosson at 24:04 was coupled with a strong pass across the face of goal to pick out Daniel Mulcahy who steered the puck home. The Barons very nearly tied it up moments later as they were very much the team in the ascendency but an injury to Kyle Ross seemed to refocus the Warriors’ efforts and they soon restored their two goal advantage with Adam Finlinson’s hat trick marker. A stretch pass from young defenceman Lennon Thomas was enough to split the Barons defensive pairing and play Finlinson in on goal to finish well.
Tensions began to rise during the game and at 31:03 Brandon Anderton of the Barons and Warriors defenceman Adam Wood dropped the gloves as they trailed the play in the Whitley zone. Both received five minute fighting major penalties. But before the period was over the Warriors went 4-1 up. Adam Finlinson did some hard work digging the puck out of the corner to find Shaun Kippin in the slot, but despite the Whitley alternate captain appearing to sweep the puck home, the goal was awarded to Finlinson for his fourth of the night and fifth of the weekend.
The Barons shook that disappointment off to start strongly at the beginning of the third period. Just 61 seconds had elapsed when Niklas Ottosson rang an effort in off the post with a good shot that beat Dean Bowater on his blocker side into the bottom corner. But Whitley made the game safe with six minutes remaining when Phil Edgar danced through the Barons defence. Dean Holland took the puck to the net in the build up with Edgar picking up the pieces to score, the Whitley captain collecting his 40th assist of the season.
So another two wins and a four point weekend for the Warriors as they look to carry their improved form into the final stretch of the season.
Stats
Shots
Warriors: 47
Barons: 42
Scorers
Warriors: Adam Finlinson 4+0, Phil Edgar 1+0, Shaun Kippin 0+2, Kyle Ross 0+1, Dean Holland 0+1, Callum Queenan 0+1, Lennon Thomas 0+1, Rihards Grigors 0+1.
Barons: Niklas Ottosson 1+1, Daniel Mulcahy 1+1, Philip Mulcahy 0+2.
PIMs
Warriors: 5
Barons: 5
Man of the match
Warriors: Adam Finlinson
Barons: Niklas Ottosson