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Warriors stay strong at home
The Warriors have had a strong start to the season winning two thirds of their games so far and being unbeaten at home thus far. The Blackburn Hawks flew into town to try and take down the mighty Warriors.
Tonight saw the Warriors debut of former Newcastle Viper Dean Holland who looked like he had something to prove on the ice. From the face off the aggression in both teams was obvious. Big hits from both teams but it was Warriors who were stronger on the attack, looking like they were going to take an early lead, only stopped by a fantastic performance by the Hawks netminder Danny Brittle. The plays came fast and furious in this game and both teams were hot on the counter attack. At 06:22 we saw the first of few penalties as Warriors newbie Dean Holland drew a minor for slashing and Warriors manage to kill off the penalty without too much difficulty.
Midway through the first the Hawks wake up and start to show the home crowd how they play their hockey, but some players have difficulty staying upright on Whitley’s ice, with the Hawks crashing to the floor a number of times throughout the game.
Blackburn get a 2-on-1 but it’s wasted and nothing comes of it but Whitley’s counter attack forcing another save from an on form Danny Brittle. Another big hit from Holland puts Sam Dunford down on centre ice as Whitley advance their attack and the crowd lose it as the light beams and buzzer goes as Whitley take the lead. Or so they thought. For the second home game in a row Whitley have a goal disallowed the officials citing the puck hit the post and did not go in as the reason which was much debated for the next 5 minutes as the crowd vented their frustration and anger at what they believed was a fair goal.
The goal is ruled out and a face off takes place, Whitley are quickly back on the attack but denied once more by Brittle. A long shot from the blue line by Dean Holland is parried away into the corner by Brittle and Blackburn regain possession of the puck. Blackburn take the lead on the counter with a goal from Sean Day, assist from Jared Owen timed at 18:44 giving Blackburn the lead at the end of the first.
The start of the second period and Whitley are trying to play wide and push play into the middle to create scoring opportunities. Yet again Brittle’s glove denies the home side and holds onto Blackburn’s lead. The Warriors are making silly mistakes putting them on the defensive back foot and letting Blackburn forwards in forcing Whitley goalie Calvin Khass to make some good saves. More big hits on Blackburn gets under their skin and eventually Hawks defenseman Scott Glover takes a minor for tripping but thanks to Blackburn’s penalty killing line, they too manage to kill off the penalty. The game up until this point had been back and forth hockey with both teams taking turns on the attack. Blackburn manage to get another 2-on-1 but this time waste it with an offside call bringing the play back for a face off. The puck is dropped and the Warriors work their way toward the Hawks goal. Daniel Good makes a well scouted pass across to Callum Watson who has a free shot on goal and puts it upstairs finally beating Brittle to even the score at 1-1. Straight after the game re-starts, Khass is forced to make a great save to keep the scores even, however 11 seconds later Warriors take the lead with a goal from Shaun Kippin, with assists from Callum Watson and Andrew Cook. Out of nowhere, Warriors were suddenly in the lead. Play re-starts again and within 42 seconds Dean Holland scores his debut goal for his new team to make it 3-1 and three Warriors goals in 2:03. Blackburn take a time-out to regroup. The Hawks have let their heads drop and the Warriors are now starting to dominate the game as Brittle makes another save, this time a kick save that sparks disagreement between the 2 lines on the ice.
Only 01:22 into the third and Warrior defender Ally Brummet is down on the ice and cannot get back up. Play is stopped as the Warriors trainer makes her way over and with some help Ally makes his way to his feet to applause from the home crowd and makes it off the ice. More back and forth hockey follows with the defensive lines doing their job well to stop either team getting another goal. Holland puts the Warriors back on attack as Blackburn’s fans try to rally their team as the game enters it’s last ten minutes and fatigue apparent on both the home and away teams.
Callum Pattison takes a charging call after some tension leading to a anger fueled hit into the boards. As the Warriors kill off that penalty, Robert Wilson takes another 2 minutes for holding, but once again the penalty kill line shows their worth.
At 15:38 into the third, Shaun Kippin scores his second, unassisted, to put the Warriors 4-1 up and to just about put this game to bed. This does in no way mean that Blackburn were ready to give up. A altercation between Callum Pattison and Danny Brittle ends with Pattison drawing a 2 minute roughing penalty right at the end of the third. Warriors manage to kill this penalty just as well as they have done all night, but half a minute later Blackburn grab a consolation goal in the last minute to end the game on a plus for them.
Warriors played brilliantly this week to not only take the lead, but to then run away with it, but hats off to Blackburn goalie Danny Brittle who was outstanding and kept the game close and for that was rightly chosen by fans as Blackburns Man of the Match. On the other team Shaun Kippin was selected for his two goals.
Before the game I had an opportunity to speak with one of Warriors star forwards, Callum Watson;
Warriors are considered a hard team to beat, coming off the back of a 38 game unbeaten streak and are still unbeaten at home this season, what is the atmosphere in the locker room like?
It’s a good atmosphere in the dressing room this year. A lot of the games are a bit closer than they were last year so we are looking for the wins really.
We saw the collapse of the Newcastle Vipers last season. A team that shared the same rink as the Warriors. Has the demise of the Vipers had an effect on Whitley?
We’ve been lucky enough to get a couple of their players like Jamie Tinsley, good players and now Dean Holland has just signed as well so that’s strenghening the team with the experience they have from the higher leagues.
Last weeks game against Coventry Blaze had its heated moments and some good goals to put you 2 wins against 1 over them this season. Is there any big games that you like you get out of the way early in the season?
This year, every game has been close so we are treating every game as a big game. There’s no game you can go into and say ‘We are going to win hands down’ but the Billingham games – the derby games are the ones that we are looking forward to the most.
Finally, What would your advice be to anyone wanting to start playing hockey?
The way I started was doing Rookie badges. They teach you basic skating then you go onto sticks and gloves and get brought into the junior development teams. Just get involved.
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5-3 |
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4-5 |
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1-4 |
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4-4 |
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2-4 |
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5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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4-1 |
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5-2 |
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3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
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- Whitley sign former Newcastle Viper
- Whitley back to winning ways against ENL Blaze
- Warriors sign former EIHL netminder
- Warriors make first four signings
- Contenders ready, Warriors ready
