WHITLEY WARRIORS V BILLINGHAM EAGLES
ENHL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL - 1st Leg
13th May 2001
Sunday 13th May saw the Eagles take to the road and make the short trip to Hillheads. The Eagles were at last able to field a full strength squad against the Warriors, however Warriors were without, Winn, Mcginnety, Baxter and Clish. Surely the Eagles would again hope to contain the Warriors and reap the results in the second leg at home.
1st Period
The first opened with some incredible pressure and work rate from the Warriors that left the Eagles chasing their tails on numerous high speed deep runs into the Eagles zone, initial thoughts were they cant keep that up for 60 minutes.
A couple of heart stoppers in the early minutes as the Eagles blue liners fanned a few clearance's. At 5:33 Warrior Wayne Dunne took a 5 min sit for holding the stick. The penalty was played off by the Warriors. As the Warriors returned to full strength the tide was beginning to turn as the Eagles were gaining composure and presence. The opening goal came from Stephen Wallace who slotted home assisted by Simon Hehir to give the Eagles a go ahead goal. Under a minute later Simon Burns delivered a superb stop as he spread himself low to block a one timer slap shot from Darren Taylor.
The Warriors brought it level at 10:30 when a nicely applied tip from Simon Leech only just went wide, however the rebound of the back boards landed at the foot of the right Eagles pipe where Andy Carter pounced and buried the puck . Eagles went a man down when Ritchie Thornton was called for interference.
The Warriors moved ahead with a power play goal at 12:53 when another one timer from Taylor found the back of the net. Warriors were next to be called as Freddie Jonnsen found himself being out skated by Stephen Wallace, Jonnsen collected a 2 minute holding call. The Warriors played the penalty of without loss.
The Eagles found themselves getting a 2 minute sit for Shaun Buckley when he was called for a slashing penalty. The first closed, Whitley Warriors 2 : Billingham Eagles 1.
2nd Period
With the Eagles coming out for the second it was apparent that the size of squad giving enthusiasm and depth was going to pay dividends, the Eagles were unlucky on a number of occasions as they put the puck into the crease of the Warriors on a few occasions. Three minutes into the period saw Freddie Jonnsen called for a high sticking infringement that left Ian Richardson sprawled on the ice.
Eagles levelled the score at 23:59 with a powerplay goal that saw Tom Brown cross the line with the puck before releasing a pass behind him that Paul Windridge skated onto and applied a nice finish to beat Markham and bring things back to all square. Under a minute later the Eagles fans were celebrating again when Tom Griffiths found himself 4 yards out in front of goal, taking aim Tom beat Markham and the roof was lifted in the Billingham area, as the Eagles moved ahead, the assists went to Simon Hehir and Stephen Wallace.
Warriors Wayne Dunn and Eagles Graeme Harrison skirmished, Dunn collected a 2 + 2 for Roughing and Unsportsman like conduct. Graeme Harrison collected a 2 minute roughing.
In the 34 minute DJ Flett was unlucky to be denied by Markham, At 34:23 Paul Graham released a shot after Paul sample won a face off and all was level, the atmosphere was electric as the Eagles and Warriors battled for control.
A rash of penalty's saw the Warriors reduced to 3 men, the Eagles stayed at 5 until Brian Perry was called for a roughing penalty, that saw Simon Leach drop his gloves and attempt to goad Brian into retaliation earning himself a 10 minute misconduct sit , as the penalty's mounted the Warriors looked to have moved their bench to the other side of the ice.
A worrying moment at 46 minutes saw linesman Bill Hannant drop to the ice clutching his throat, I cant say if it was a puck or a stick that made contact, but Bill seemed to be having trouble breathing, after a short delay the game restarted with bill opting to skate on. In the 48th minute the Eagles were camping in the Warriors zone with some good passing and solid pressure. The second closed Warriors 3 : Eagles 3..
3rd Period
As the third commenced it was announced that due to ice problems the third would be split into 10 minutes each way. The Warriors found themselves a man down at 45:20 when Paul Sample collected a 2 minute hooking call.
Eagles found themselves a man down 19 seconds later when Brian Perry was called for hooking, with the penalty played off things were starting to gel for the Eagles as they had the benefit of the depth of bench until a bizarre twist in the tale at 49:40, Tom Brown in an altercation on the boards retaliated after taking a cross check to the face only to turn round and see a penalty being called for his retaliation, not in the best frames of mind Tom incensed by the cross check to the face and obviously infuriated by a single call against him left the ice exchanging a verbal difference of opinion with Mr Wardell, as Tom got into the box, he opened the door once more to mix verbalism with Mr Wardell, who instantly gave him a +2 misconduct, upon this Billingham hockey hit a low not seen since Ted Phillips punched Alec Gibson, Tom returned to the ice and delivered a cross check to the chin of the ref, nothing can defend Toms actions, the red mist was down but I fear on this occasion we wont be seeing a return of Tom.
As Tom picked up a 2 + 10 + Gross Misconduct for abuse of an Official + Gross Misconduct for abuse of an official, the heads of a number of Billingham players went down, however Andre Malo informed them the game was theirs for the taking and used the respect of the players to motivate the Eagles.
Warriors must have received an incredible boost seeing Tom thrown out and responded within 17 seconds of the game restarting with a power play goal scored by Simon Leach, this stirred the Warriors fans who had slept through most of the third only waking up for the Tom B incident.
As the game entered the last 10 minutes the Eagles were trailing by one, still an acceptable score to bring home to the Forum for the second leg, but in what was an inspiring last 10 minutes that was the least the Eagles wanted with the crowd behind them the Eagles put on a show of determination that confirms why they are the League champions.
At 52:02 Andy Fletcher hit home accepted by Paul Windridge and Gary Dowd. Then just over a minute later Eagles supremo and master of finishing Stephen Wallace found himself going 1 on 1 with Markham, having seen a lot of these situations for the young Wallace, I knew straight away where my money was, with a deke and draw Wallace got the commitment from Markham that saw him sprawl face down, leaving Stephen to push the puck over the line assist to Andre Malo. As if we could take any more, three minutes later Andre Malo skated into the Warriors zone , taking time to pick his spot, Malo released a wrist shot that beat Markham, assist to Simon Hehir.
I have not enjoyed a game as much since the Bombers were promoted from the First Division back into the premier in the last game of the season away at Kingston.
Well done Eagles a truely inspiring team effort.
PERIOD SCORES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| WHITLEY | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| BILLINGHAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
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