Whitley Warriors made the short journey south to Ice Sheffield to take on the Sutton Sting on Sunday afternoon. Warriors were able to welcome Tommy Ralph, Richie Lawson and Jamie Tinsley all back into their line up after the trio missed last weekend’s home game against the Blackburn Hawks.
Young goaltender Mark Turnbull was selected to start the game in net after impressing on his full senior debut last weekend against the Blackburn Hawks with Richie Lawson acting as Warriors back up netminder. Warriors rotated 5 d men throughout the contest and operated with 3 forward lines. Whitley were without a number of their younger players who were playing age group hockey at under 18 level.
Whitley made a promising start to the game however it was the home side who netted the contests first goal when Chris Sykes fired home for Sting after 5 minutes of play with Simon Butterworth picking up the assist.
Warriors were not in arrears for long though as d man Daniel Harris tied the game up at 1-1 on 15 minutes with a blast from the blue line which got the better of Sutton goalie Dmitri Zimzodra. Warriors were on the penalty kill late on in the first period and early in the 2nd after Jordan Barnes was given a minor penalty for boarding by Referee Liptrott however Warriors were able to successfully kill off the penalty with Rob Wilson impressing when his side was short handed.
Whitley then took the lead after 29 minutes of play when Daniel Harris fired home his 2nd goal of the game after some nice work from winger Callum Watson. Whitley continued to create openings in the latter stages of the middle period as all 3 of Warriors forward units were looking dangerous. Jordan Barnes made it 3-1 to Whitley after 38 minutes when he found the back of the net after the Sutton netminder Zimzodra could only palm out his initial shot, Martin Crammond and Tommy Ralph were both credited with assists on Barnes marker.
Warriors took a 2 goal lead into the final session of play however Sutton had levelled the game up at 3-3 by the 45th minute thanks to a 2 superbly taken Ryan Johnson goals for the home side. Late in the game Whitley then ran into some penalty trouble when Daniel Murdy and Karl Culley were sent to the sin bin for interference and hooking respectively. Warriors were able to keep the Sting powerplay at bay however Sutton took the lead on 55 minutes when import forward Movko fired home to the delight of the Sutton bench and their fans.
With little time left in the game Warriors Coach Simon Leach opted to pull goalie Mark Turnbull off late on to give his team the extra skater as Whitley chased the equalizing goal however despite their numerical advantage Warriors could not find a way past the impressive Zimzodra and Sutton claimed the 2 points on offer thanks to a victory by 4 goals to 3.
Blue liner Daniel Harris was selected as Warriors Man of the Match while Ryan Johnson was chosen as Sutton’s best player on the night.
Warriors Points –
Daniel Harris 2+0, Jordan Barnes 1+0, Callum Watson, Martin Crammond and Tommy Ralph 0+1
Sting Points –
Ryan Johnson 2+0, Chris Sykes 1+1, Movko 1+0, Simon Butterworth 0+3, Adam Robinson and Chris Colegate 0+1
Penalty Minutes
Warriors – 12
Sting – 16
Shots on Goal
On Warriors (Mark Turnbull) – 32
On Sting (Dmitri Zimzodra) – 43
Warriors skipper DJ Good shared his opinions on the match up.
“
We played well and we were unlucky not to come away with anything. Young Mark (Turnbull) in goal was strong again but we just didn’t capitalise on our chances.
“We should have won the game with given we were 3 – 1 however they are a good team and hopefully we will bounce back and get a win next Saturday against the Sheffield Spartans.”
Warriors sole game next weekend is an away fixture against the Spartans on Saturday in Sheffield which is Whitley’s last fixture in 2013 as Warriors have a fortnight away from the ice over Christmas and the New Year.