BILLINGHAM EAGLES V BLACKBURN HAWKS
ENHL LEAGUE GAME
13th January 2001
Saturday 9th January saw the Billingham Eagles welcome the Players, officials and fans of the Blackburn Hawks. Blackburn were sitting joint third in the league with games in hand to the other contenders.
Eagles were without youngsters Scott Ward, Gareth Crinnion, Tom Griffiths and Stephen Wallace who were in action at Solihull playing in the GB U 18 clash with Solihull. Making another return for the Eagles was Simon Burns, this time he was returning to guard the Eagles net.
1st Period
The first opened with the Hawks collecting a 2 minute tripping penalty which they played off without loss. The playing off of the penalty was an indication of the task ahead for the Eagles, although the Eagles looked in command the Hawks counter strike could prove deadly.
The penalty role was reversed at 6:08 when Andy Fletcher picked up a 2 minute elbows penalty, this was played off without loss. The deadlock was broken at 10:01 when Hawks Mark Mcdonald blasted home a long range shot to put the Hawks one up.
Forty four seconds later the Eagles opened their scoring with an accurate Tom Brown shot past Colin Downie assisted by Paul Windridge and Andy Fletcher.
In the thirteenth minute some excellent stick handling skills from Andy Fletcher left the Hawks twisting and turning not knowing which way to go or where he was coming from
Andre Malo skated the length of the ice in an attempt to break the deadlock only to be denied by Colin Downie who covered low right to deny Andre a goal. The first closed Eagles 1 : Hawks 1.
2nd Period
At 26:46 the deadlock was broken but not to the advantage of the Eagles as Hawks Craig Sharmen added the finnish to a Danny Mcreil and Gorden Whyte assist.
At 30:07 Eagles captain Paul Windridge picked up a 2 minute elbow penalty, 43 seconds later the Hawks converted their power play to increase their lead when Mark Mcdonald got his second of the night.
An unusual call from ref Chidley came at 32:12 when Phillip Pritchard sat for a 2 minute call for passing the puck back to many times in own defensive zone during even handed play- delaying the game. At 31:88 the pressure was really turned up on the Eagles when veteran Bobby Haig scored the Hawks fourth goal at 31:18 assisted by Danny Mckreil.
The second can only be described as in -effective for the Eagles and the second closed Eagles 1 : Hawks 4
3rd Period
An alleged spearing penalty was called against Andy Fletcher at 48:55, 5 + Game. This was the opening incident to a Tom Brown roughing penalty that found Tom called 5 + Game, this must have been the ignition key for the Eagles who it seemed had put their aggression into hibernation for the winter.
The play of the whole match came at 48:55 when the Eagles found themselves going 3 on 5 against the Hawks, the Eagles stood up well to deny the Hawks the opportunity to put the outcome beyond doubt, however at 52:16 Gary Dowd collected a pass from Paul Windridge and skated the length of the ice and released a wrist shot that beat Hawks goalie Colin Downie on his left.
As the crowd celebrated a feeling of hope lifted the Eagles, unfortunately for the Hawks the only strategy they could generate was to sit back and ice and so they iced and iced. At 57:42 Simon Hehir reduced the deficit to one goal when he fired home to fire the Eagles even higher.
At 58:47 another rush from Gary Dowd commenced the anticipation was electrifying as Gary picked and powered his way through the Hawks to unleash a low slapshot that leveled the game.
With one minute 23 seconds left on the clock the Eagles were now well and truly encamped in the Hawks zone and again they seemed to be comfortable with a draw as they iced repeatedly as the Eagles tried to force the result.
Alas Eagles had found form a little too late and another draw meant that again the Eagles would have to wait to secure the League title.
Man of the match for the Eagles Gary Dowd
Man of the match for the Hawks Colin Downie (keeper)
PERIOD SCORES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | FINAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| BLACKBURN | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
PENALTIES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 4 | 6 | 50 | 60 |
| BLACKBURN | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
SHOTS ON GOAL
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| BURNS | 12 | 16 | 11 | 39 |
|
DOWNIE |
11 | 10 | 27 | 48 |
HOME PLAYER STATS