BILLINGHAM EAGLES V
FLINTSHIRE FREEZE
ED1 NORTH
5th FEBRUARtY 2000
A busy weekend for the league leading Billingham Eagles.Tonights game against Flintshire Freeze and what could be a crucial derby match against second placed Whitley Warriors, who like the Eagles remain unbeaten at home this season Saturday 5th February 2000 saw the Eagles welcome th players fans and officials of the Flintshire Freeze. The Eagles needed a win to virtually guarantee the ED1 north crown, there was also the matter of seeking retribution against one of the two teams to beat the Eagles on the road this season. Eagles were tonight without Andy Fletcher and Brian Perry who was sitting out a five point one game ban.
1st Period
The first period opened with the Eagles turning on the pressure, an inch perfect pass from Paul Winndridge put Tom Brown in the clear, Tom was unlucky when some clever skate and stick co-ordination in the Flintshire crease narrowly failed to produce the opening goal.Flintshire went shorthanded at 4:46, Eagles failed to capitilise on the powerplay.Eagles continued to apply the pressure and Paul Winndridge forced the Flintshire net minder to committ himself, Paul lifted the puck high only to be denied when the shot rattled the pipework. At 10:43 Eagles captain Paul Winndridge stepped around a Flintshire defender and finnished well to open the Eagles account assisted by Richie Thornton and Stephen Wallace. Eagles hit their second when Tom Brown assisted by Paul Winndridge took possesion infront of the Flintshire net, spinning round and releasing his shot as he span to make it Eagles 2 Flintshire 0. At 17:05 some good passing saw the Eagles move swiftly up the ice, Tom Brown and Paul Winndridge combined to allow Paul to lift it over the Flintshire goalie, assisted by Stephen Wallace to make it 3:0.Eagles fourth for the night came twenty five seconds later when Martin Lewis spotted the gap between the pads of the Flintshire goalie,the resulting accurate shot made its way to the back of the net, much to the surprise of the Flintshire net minder, assists to Gary Dowd and Simon Hehir. The combination of Brown and Winndridge proved fruitfull when Tom got his second of the night to make it 5:0. Confusion in the Eagles crease allowed Flintshire to pounce on a loose puck and lift it over Fletty to close the first Eagles 5 : Freeze 1.
2nd Period
Flintshire opened the second period scoring with an unassisted goal scored by Founds at 25:12 .The Eagles absorbed some pressure from the Freeze with Adam Flett showing some good form in the Eagles goal. Eagles scored their sixth when D J Flett took a wrist shot from the face of circle to score assisted by Simon Hehir and Martin Lewis.Under a minute later it was Martin Lewis who scored for the Eagles, somehow he managed to release a shot even though he had a Flintshire defender all over him like a dose of measles, assisted by DJ Flett and Richie Thornton. At 31:04 Tom Brown got his hat-trick goal ( three hat-tricks in the last three games )when he picked up a deflection off a Flintshire helmet to blast home unassisted making it Eagles 8 : Freeze 2. Eagles kept up the pressure when Gary Dowd battled through the Freeze defense to shoot a one timer that beat the keeper low assisted by Simon Hehir. At 33:03 Simon Burns was unlucky to be denied by the pipework.Eagles went into double figures when Martin Lewis fired home assisted by Simon Hehir to complete another Eagles hat-trick. The Freeze added a consolation marker at 37:49. A co-incidental penalty call at 38:42 changed the play to 4 on 4. The second closed Eagles 10 : Freeze 3.
3rd Period
The action in the third started with Stephen Wallace having the time in front of the Freeze net to juggle the puck from back to fore hand before choosing and completing his shot assisted by Paul Winndridge to make it Eagles 11 : Freeze 3. Eagles went short handed at 48:08 when Liam Thompson collected a 2 min Roughing penalty.With the game beyond doubt Eagles kept up the pressure , at 50:10 Tom Brown colleced his own rebound and finding the angle too tight beside the Flintshire net placed a cross crease pass to Gary Dowd who one timed his second goal of the night. At 51:54 Ricky Hall took over from Fletty in the Eagles net. At 55:07 some nice work behind the Flintshire net from Paul Winndridge resulted in a pass to Tom Brown who applied the finnishing touch to get his fourth of the night. Flintshire collected a consolation goal at 56:53 to close the game Eagles13 : Flintshire 4.
A good team performance with some good work from the younger players. I think it is safe to say that we are now the Ed1 North champions again, Whitley will no doubt say they can still win if they beat us at Hillheads and then we go on to be beaten at home by Bradford, based on tonights performance anyone who makes such a suggestion would be very naive to say the least. As stated earlier tomorrow night sees us travel to Whitley with the intention of breaking their unbeaten at home record and officialy regaining the ED1 north mantle.
PERIOD SCORES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | FINAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| FLINTSHIRE | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
PENALTIES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| FLINTSHIRE | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
MAN OF THE MATCH AWARDS
EAGLES - D J FLETT
FREEZE - SIMON WEBB
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