BILLINGHAM EAGLES V
SUNDERLAND CHIEFS
ED1 NORTH
18th MARCH 2000
Saturday 18th March saw the Eagles play the home leg of their ED1 play off campaign against local rivals the Sunderland Chiefs. Eagles went into the game with a one goal advantage, however they were missing Richie Thornton who was on GB U-18 call up, Gary Dowd and Simon Burns were both sitting out their bans. Making his Eagles debut was Under 19 captain Marty Lauwers in defence.
1st Period
Fifty seconds into the first saw Sunderland go short handed when Stuart Potts was called for a slashing penalty on Stephen Wallace , the incident took place as Stephen approaced the Sunderland net , despite the attentions of Potts Stephen still released a worthy shot. The Eagles power play lasted sixteen seconds untill Paul Winndridge collectedd a 2 minute Unsportsman conduct penalty. With play reduced to four on four a fine slap shot from Brian Perry , taken just over the blue line gave Brian his 200th Eagles career point, assisted by Tom Brown. As the game took shape the first was reminiscent of Thursdays encounter that saw both net minders denying some worthy chances.At 6:50 the Eagles gained another power play advantage when Chiefs Chris Earl took a 2 minute tripping penalty. This was played off by the Chiefs without loss.At 11:34 the Chiefs collected a 2 minute bench minor penalty for unsportsman conduct. The Eagles had the greater possesion but again two superb net minding performances dominated the period. The first closed Eagles 1 : Chiefs 0
2nd Period
One and a half minutes into the second saw Stephen Wallace get the Eagles second goal when he flicked a back hand shot into the Chiefs net from the edge of the Chiefs crease. The Eagles then set up camp in the Chiefs zone maintaining the pressure. Brian Perry was unlucky when a first time shot from the blue line went narrowly wide. The 24th minute saw the silky skating skills of Stephen Wallace on display as he skated around 2 Sunderland defenders to make a nice through pass to Andy Fletcher , who was denied by Sunderland man in the pipes Stephen Wall, seconds later Wallace made another rush on goal , only to himsekf be denied by Stephen Wall. At 25:11 the action returned to the other end wher Sunderlands Tim Mckay and James Waller combined to open Sunderlands scoring. Eagles new boy Marty Lauwers was unlucky when a well taken shot from the point went just wide. Martin Lewis found himself one on one with Stephen Walls following a nice pass from Tom Brown, again Wall was up to the save. Thirty seconds later Si Hehir got his goal when he fired past Wall assisted by Martyn Lauwers.Eagles got their fourth goal when Sunderlands Bobby Jinks was too busy interfering with Stephen Wallace in front of the Chiefs net that he failed to notice the shot from Brian Perry that made it Eagles 4 : Chiefs 1.
3rd Period
The third was played as 2 x 10 minutes hanging ends at the halfway point. The Eagles went short handed at 45:59 when Defence man Ian Richardson was called for a 2 minute slashing penalty. The Chiefs capitilised on the power play when Kevin Musther found a hole in the pads of Adam Flett , his powre play goal cut the deficiet to 2 goals. Eagles got their fifth goal at 49:26 when Stephen Wallace collected Andy Fletchers rebound of Stephen Wall to make it Eagles 5 : Chiefs 2. The sixth goal for the Eagles was a cheeky goal scored unassisted by Martin Lewis . Ex Billingham Bomber Kenin Musther lost control of the puck behind his own net allowing Eagles Martin Lewis to nip in steal the puck and score a wrap around goal. The score closed Eagles 6 : Chiefs 3.
PERIOD SCORES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| SUNDERLAND | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
SHOTS ON GOAL
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| FLETT (Bham) | 12 | 10 | 18 | 40 |
| WALL (Sund) | 16 | 25 | 15 | 56 |
PENALTIES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 4 | 0 | 8 | 12 |
| SUNDERLAND | 4 | 0 | 12 | 16 |
MAN OF THE MATCH AWARDS
EAGLES - ADAM FLETT
CHIEFS - SIMON WALL
HOME PLAYER STATS JUNIORS