BILLINGHAM EAGLES V WHITLEY WARRIORS
ENHL CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY - OFF GAME
17 TH. MARCH 2001
Saturday 17th March was the date a lot of people had been waiting for, our guests tonight were the fans, players and officials of the Whitley Warriors. It seemed like months ago that the Eagles had yet again bagged the League championship and all subsequent games had a hint of anti climax. With the Eagles having put the lay off to good use with 2 challenge games against England Under 18s and England Under 19s, each of these games were a tribute to good clean hockey, tonight would see a return to truely competitive hockey and the tactics involved within. The opposition the Warriors had found themselves inundated with cup games, they had seen off Birmingham in style, and last week, Lee Mercers Sheffield Scimitars had provided the entertainment at Hillheads, the resulting punch ups and niggles between the 2 top penalty taking sides within the league was always going to be the order of the day.
Tonight would see a true test for the Eagles with Warriors stalwart and main danger man Simon Leach having returned to fitness last week, it would give the Eagles the chance to prove that they could beat a full strength Whitley side that had also seen the return of Darren Taylor.
The Eagles were themselves without Ian Richardson who was recovering from injury, Gary Dowd was side lined through work commitments and Brian Perry had looked doubtful.
1st Period
The first started and the warriors found themselves going short handed at 3:10 when Bryan Bunn was called for a 2 minute hooking penalty. Thirty seconds later saw referee Steve Wardell with his arm in the air after spotting a cross check from Simon Leach, however with the Eagles still in possession a delayed penalty was in force, the penalty was cancelled when a well taken strike from Paul Windridge beat Steven Wall to open the Eagles scoring at 3:56, with assists to Martin Lewis and Richie Thornton. Another 17 seconds of play saw a coincidental penalty called when Simon Burns and Bobby Bradley goaded each other. Play continued with the Eagles playing 5 against the Warriors 4. The Warriors did a good job of denying the Eagles the chance to get set up in the Warriors zone, things were looking scrappy as Whitley picked up another pointless penalty when a dangerous move from Leach saw one of the younger Eagles players launched head first into the boards, Whitley again found them selves playing short handed until at 12:57 Darren Taylor marked his return with a well taken slapshot from the point to level the scores, assisted by the returning unmarked Simon Leach. With the scores level both teams fought hard to make an advance. The Warriors again went short handed at 15:53 when Paul Sample collected a 2 minute tripping penalty that came to an end at 17:05 when Eagles Andy Fletcher converted a superb rink length pass from Richie Thornton going one on one with Stephen Wall, and beating him with style to move the Eagles ahead, second assist awarded to Paul Windridge . The First closed with the Eagles taking a one goal advantage to the dressing room. Billingham Eagles 2 : Whitley Warriors 1
2nd Period
As the first had closed the second opened with both teams fighting for both possession of the puck and the ice space, Eagles were the first to convert their efforts in to goals when Simon Hehir fired home an equal handed goal assisted by Paul Windridge at 23:34. Three minutes later a strange goal saw the Eagles extend their lead, a puck fired into the Whitley zone came to a halt behind the Warriors net, a situation that would normally have seen the net minder nip behind and pass out or redirect the puck took a twist as Stephen Wall stood motionless in his crease allowing Scott Ward to get to the puck and pass forward to Stephen Wallace who fired past Wall to make it Eagles 4 , Warriors 1.
A purple patch of penalties followed with Warriors Freddie Jonsson and Eagles Shaun Buckley collected 2 minute coincidental penalties, Warriors Paul Sample also collected a 2 minute un- sportsman conduct call, all timed at 28:09. As the Warriors game deteriorated Andy Carter found himself sitting for an unsportsman like conduct call at 30:26, then at 31:02 Simon Leach again took a 2 minute sit this time for a slashing call. With some good powerplay opportunity's coming the way of the Eagles credit has to be given to the Warriors for not allowing the Eagles to capitalise . A further coincidental penalty was called at 34:30 when Warriors Wayne Dunn and Eagles Martin Lewis were called for roughing. Going back to the play the Warriors were piling the pressure on and some remarkable saves from Eagles net minder Simon Burns kept the Warriors with only one goal for their toils. At 38:06 the action returned to the penalty box with Stephen Winn sitting out a 2 minute cross check penalty, with the amount of provocation being levelled at the Eagles team, Andre Malo must take credit for the discipline and level headed approach maintained by both younger and senior members of the team. The second closed Billingham Eagles 4, Whitley Warriors 1.
3rd Period
The third opened with the Warriors again on the wrong side of the referee with Wayne Dunn picking up a 2 minute roughing call, the Eagles pushed hard but were unable to effect an advantage from the powerplay, the scoring was resumed at 45:10 when Martin Lewis, Paul Windridge and DJ Flett found themselves in the clear with only one Warrior to beat, some nice positioning and passing allowed Martin Lewis to slot home his second of the night an even handed goal, assisted by Paul Windridge and DJ Flett. Eagles took a 2 minute penalty at 45:32 when DJ Flett was called for holding the stick. With the penalty played off without loss Eagles turned up the heat on the Warriors who responded with another penalty this time Stephen Winn for boarding, the Warriors then lost the services of their only scorer of the night so far Darren Taylor when with only 9 minutes left on the clock he was called for a 2 minute hooking call with a 10 minute misconduct penalty, the Eagles made sure with their third power play goal of the night hit hard and low by Simon Hehir with assists to Richie Thornton and DJ Flett. At 57:49 a consolation goal was scored by Simon Leach assisted by Bobby Bradley and Paul Mcginnety, then in the style we had become used to the Warriors rounded off the nights affairs with a 2 minute interference penalty going to Bobby Bradley. Final score Billingham Eagles 6 : Whitley Warriors 2.
As I write this tonight, I have just seen that the Altrincham game has been reported as OFF, earlier stories suggested ice time problems for the Aces .
Man of the Match
Billingham : Simon Burns *****
Whitley : Simon Leach **
PERIOD SCORES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | FINAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| WHITLEY | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
PENALTIES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 2 | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| WHITLEY | 10 | 12 | 20 | 42 |
SHOTS ON GOAL
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| BURNS | 10 | 11 | 10 | 31 |
| WALL | 11 | 9 | 9 | 29 |
HOME PLAYER STATS