Whitley Warriors had a weekend off from their NIHL North Division 1 programme as Simon Leach’s side were not scheduled to take to the ice in competitive action over Valentines weekend. Warriors next game is this coming Sunday when Whitley take on the Blackburn Hawks on home ice at Hillheads in a game that faces off at 5pm.
Warriors will have to be at their best to come away with a positive result from their match with Blackburn as the Hawks have not lost a league match this season and were crowned NIHL North champs on Sunday evening when they got the better of the Sheffield Spartans by 5 goals to 2 and other results went their way.
Whitley will be without skipper Jamie Tinsley for the Blackburn match up as he is unavailable for the game while Paul Matthews is also likely to be ruled out of action as he aggravated his ankle problem when he returned to training recently after a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Warriors are hopeful that Richie and Alex Lawson will both be fit to ice against the Hawks though. Richie missed Whitley’s last NIHL North game against Sutton due to a knee injury while Alex had to leave the Sting game after he took a heavy blow to the head in the early stages of the contest.
The availability of the Lawson brothers would be a timely boost to Whitley as Warriors look to move away from 6th place in the standings as ending the season in that position would mean Warriors have to take part in a relegation play off match against the side who finishes 4th in NIHL North Division 2 for the right to compete in the top division of NIHL North hockey next term.