WEEKEND
PREVIEW
NIHL
NORTH DIVISION 1 (MORALEE)
Saturday 24th November 2018
Solihull
Barons vs.
Whitley Warriors
Solway Sharks vs. Hull Pirates
Sunday 25th November 2018
Whitley Warriors vs. Solway Sharks
Billingham
Stars vs. Solihull Barons
Fixture:
Solihull
Barons vs. Whitley Warriors
Date: 24th November 2018
Venue: Hobs Moat Road
Faceoff: 5:15 pm
 |
Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
|
Travelling to Hobs Moat Road for a second time this season, Whitley
Warriors will prepare for another tough encounter having so far recorded an
overtime loss and a home win against Solihull Barons. In
September’s fixture, Whitley fell behind by three goals to one but levelled the
scoring to take the Barons into overtime during which forward Adam Brittle
bagged both points for his side with just seven seconds of the five-minute
period remaining. Content with a point from this clash, the Warriors then
avenged their defeat with a 3-1 win on home ice last month, this time
responding with three goals subsequent to forward Matthew Maurice’s power play
goal in the early stages of the first period. With very little separating the
sides in this game for the most part, Whitley’s third meeting with the Barons
is expected to be another highly competitive encounter, particularly as the margin between these teams in the league standings is a fine one at the moment. In their
last five league games, the Warriors have won three fixtures whereas Solihull
have triumphed in two, recording a narrow 6-5 win against Sutton Sting
before edging last Sunday’s contest with a 5-4 victory over Blackburn Hawks. Meanwhile, in addition to beating the Barons last month, the Warriors’ most recent results consist of two wins against tenth-placed Nottingham Lions. Like the Barons, Whitley’s defeats arose against Sheffield Steeldogs and Solway Sharks, although the side were able to claim a point in overtime against the Dumfries outfit.
At the moment, Solihull’s Swedish import Niklas Ottosson is NIHL North Division
One’s second highest points scorer with 7 goals and 26 assists in 15 league
games whereas forward Luke Brittle has achieved 30 points from 13 fixtures. Likewise, Whitley
Warriors’ top points scorer Ben Campbell has also achieved 30 points to date having played one more game than the Baron, tallying 19 goals and 11
assists. Continuing to work hard to make
up for their difficult start to their 2018-19 campaign, David Longstaff’s side have rallied to improve on their early performances. Notably, Alternate Captain Sam
Zajac has contributed a great deal to Whitley’s offensive play whilst on the blue line, chipping in with 17 points in 13 league games.
Meanwhile, Player-Coach Longstaff has assisted on 10 occasions to find himself
Whitley’s third highest points scorer whilst skilled forwards DJ Good, Shaun
Kippin and Callum Watson have all achieved 9 points so far. Packed with pace,
power and skill this season, these teams are very evenly matched which should
make for another energetic encounter if the sides’ recent meetings are
anything to go by.
With Solihull two points ahead of Whitley going into this fixture,
neither team will want to miss out on the chance to defeat their closest league
rivals. As such, the Barons will aim for a victory to widen the margin between
themselves and the Warriors whereas Longstaff’s line-up will seek to close
this gap ahead of Sunday’s home game against Solway Sharks. Expected to be
another difficult clash, the result of this fixture will be an interesting one as
the mid-table battle continues.
Fixture:
Solway Sharks vs. Hull
Pirates
Date: 24th November 2018
Venue: Dumfries Ice Bowl
Faceoff: 7:00 pm
 |
Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
|
Preparing themselves for a visit from Hull Pirates on Saturday evening,
Solway Sharks will go into this fixture with hopes of achieving their first league
victory over Jason Hewitt's men since they bounced back from a 4-0 loss to the outfit with a 5-4 cup win at the beginning of the month. Last season, Solway failed to pick up a
single point against the Pirates, first suffering a 6-3 defeat before being
crushed by the same score line just over a month later at the Dumfries Ice
Bowl. Hunting a win at home in February to avenge these defeats, the
Sharks were disappointed to go 4-1 down in the early stages of the second
period and, despite their efforts to battle their way into the lead, ultimately missed out on the points as Hull retaliated with four goals to
triumph 8-5. Confronting the Pirates one week later, Solway endured a further
setback as they found themselves on the wrong end of a heavier loss of 11-2. In
consequence, the Sharks will head out onto the ice on Saturday with the knowledge
that victory will be no easy task but that it is certainly possible if they
throw everything into this fixture for the full sixty
minutes.
Whilst Solway’s usual core of forwards have put in some excellent
performances of late to allow their team to compete with their immediate
competition in NIHL North’s Division One, the Sharks will also rely on
defencemen Lewis Baldwin, Stuart Kerr and Liam Stenton to break up Hull’s
creative play whilst complementing their side’s offensive work. Knowing that a
single slip in concentration could significantly hamper their efforts against
the Pirates, the Sharks will aim to be at their most clinical. Last season,
Solway’s forward Iain Bowie proved to be most effective against Hewitt’s men,
notching 3 goals and 3 assists against Hull and, as such, it is hoped the Shark can match, if not better, this feat against
the Pirates this season. In comparison, Hull also have a great deal of skill
within their roster, not least top points scorer Hewitt, right winger Bobby
Chamberlain and forward Matty Davies who have so far collectively accumulated 40
goals and 61 assists to allow their side to contend in some incredibly
difficult fixtures this season. Winning all of their last five games, the
Pirates will aim to add another victory to this season’s record as the outfit
vie for silverware having narrowly missed out on the NIHL North Division One
(Moralee) title in March.
Whilst Solway will aim to take points off Hull to progress from fourth
position, a win for the Pirates would allow Hewitt’s men to widen the gap between
themselves and third-placed Telford Tigers whilst putting pressure on league
leaders Sheffield Steeldogs. Due
to the challenges Solway faced against Hull last season, this game will provide
an interesting insight into the Sharks’ ability to compete with the former EPL
outfit as they head out with the objective of building on last season’s fourth
place finish.
Fixture:
Whitley
Warriors vs. Solway Sharks
Date: 25th November 2018
Venue: Whitley Bay Ice Rink
Faceoff: 5:00 pm
 |
Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
|
As Whitley Warriors and Solway Sharks prepare to
face each other for a third time this season, David Longstaff’s men will head
out onto the ice with the hopes of making amends for their previous home
fixture against the Dumfries outfit, having found themselves on the receiving
end of a 9-4 defeat in September. Since this disappointment, the Warriors have visited the Ice Bowl and stunned the Sharks to pick up a point
from a 3-2 overtime loss after initially gaining a 2-0 lead in this game.
With Solway currently in fourth position, and just two points separating them from
second-placed Hull Pirates ahead of this weekend, the Sharks continue to
compete at a very high level and have only lost one of their last five league
fixtures, recently suffering a surprise 7-3 defeat to Steven Duncombe’s
Blackburn Hawks. However, as the Warriors are still in the process of turning
their season around, Whitley will aim to establish some good form, having lost
every alternate league game since the end of September.
Solway’s forwards Iain
Bowie, Joe Coulter and Rick Bentham have been most influential over the course of their last five league games. Whilst Bowie
has 4 goals and 4 assists to his name in recent encounters with Blackburn,
Solihull, Whitley and Billingham, both Coulter and Bentham
have achieved 6 points to make a great difference to the Dumfries outfit.
Also making an impact, forward Lewis Houston and Slovakian import Peter Gápa
have both contributed to Solway’s offensive exploits of late, collectively
tallying 10 points over the course of recent league fixtures. Hoping to combat
the Sharks’ attacking play will be Whitley’s strong defensive unit which
includes former Solway ‘D’ man Ross Connolly, skilled blue liner Liam Smedley,
versatile Canadian Phil Edgar and Latvian defenceman Rolands Gritāns. Whilst
recent additions Gritāns and Edgar did not experience Whitley’s 9-4 home defeat
to the Sharks at the beginning of the season, the duo will certainly do all they
can to prevent a result of this nature on Sunday evening, with Gritāns a force
to be reckoned with and Edgar cutting a composed figure in recent
games. Further to these players, defenceman Harry Harley has returned to the Hillheads
outfit after a short spell with Hull Pirates and will therefore aim to add to
an already strong defensive line-up when he takes to the ice with the Warriors
this weekend.
Set to be another important clash in terms of the league standings, Whitley will aim for two points to keep pace with Solihull Barons
whereas Solway once again need to secure a victory to contend with their close
league rivals Telford Tigers, Hull Pirates and Sheffield Steeldogs at the top
of the table.
Fixture:
Billingham
Stars vs. Solihull Barons
Date: 25th November 2018
Venue: The Forum
Faceoff: 6:30 pm
 |
Photo
Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson
|
Preparing to face
Solihull Barons for a second time this season having already achieved a narrow
5-4 away victory over the side on the opening weekend of their 2018-19
campaign, Billingham Stars will hope to be as successful against Daniel Brittle’s
outfit this Sunday. In their last encounter with the Barons, the Teessiders
found themselves up against a shortbenched Solihull in what proved to be an
incredibly close game. Taking the lead on the power play through forward James
Moss on 8:23 before extending their tally to 3-0 in the early stages of the
second period, the Stars were troubled when the Barons responded to go
within one goal of their visitors. Though recovering their two-goal lead before the
midpoint of the game, the Stars then allowed the Barons back into the contest
as defenceman Daniel Harrison and forward Luke Brittle hit the target to make
it 4-4. Continuing to pursue maximum points, Billingham did not give up on
their hopes of a victory which paid off when youngster Ethan Hehir beat
netminder Sam Hewitt to secure a win for his side. Due to the close nature of
this clash, it was unsurprising that play became tempestuous to result in a
total of 119 penalty minutes being dished out during this fixture; Barons’
Andrew Whitehouse, Niklas Ottosson and Marcus Maynard received fighting
penalties alongside Billingham’s Cain Taylor, Thomas Keeley and Jack Davies. In
consequence, this game has the potential to be another bad-tempered affair, particularly
as Solihull will be out to avenge their defeat.
Setting out to prevent
the Barons from taking points from The Forum on Sunday, Billingham will turn to
current top points scorers Chris Sykes, James Moss, Kevin Boyd and Michael
Elder to facilitate their victory, the quartet having collectively accomplished
24 points in their last five league games, with Sykes achieving 5 goals and 4
assists to lead the way in points production for his team. Also making an
impact in recent weeks is forward Cain Taylor who has scored 3
goals and contributed a further 3 assists whilst Hehir continues to be an
important member of Billingham’s line-up, so far chipping in with 7 points in
11 league games. Meanwhile, Solihull’s two-way player Matthew Maurice has presented himself as a real threat once again this season, notching 14 points in 11 league
games to date whilst forward Adam Brittle has also stood out with 5 goals and
an assist in Solihull’s last five league games; notably achieving a hat trick
against Sutton Sting. Similarly, Slovakian forward Filip Supa achieved 6 points during the same time period. As a result of this talent, this
game is likely to be another high scoring one with both teams
demonstrating their ability in recent games.
Whilst Billingham will
hope that they can accomplish another two points to build on last weekend’s
13-1 win over Nottingham Lions, Solihull will hope to head into this game on
the back of a victory over Whitley Warriors and, should this be the case,
Brittle’s men will most certainly set their sights on a four-point weekend
which would greatly disappoint the Stars who hope to displace Sutton
Sting from eighth place prior to next Saturday’s league fixture against Telford
Tigers.
