BILLINGHAM EAGLES V
BRADFORD BULLDOGS
ED1 NORTH
19th FEBRUARY 2000
The Billingham Eagles welcomed the players, fans, and officials of Bradford Bulldogs,this match would if the result went the right way confirm the Eagles as the English Division one north champions. Speaking with John Rogers before the game he expressed how pleased he was that Bradford had iced a team tonight even though the result was a foregone coclusion before the first puck was dropped. John went on to say that he hoped Bradford would stick with their game pointing out that there was a marked improvement in their performance since last year, and that a number of their younger players were developing and needed stability.As the years go on John expects their goal difference to reduce season by season.
1st Period
As infered earlier one way traffic was the expectation of tonights game, Eagles were without Tom Brown who is recuperating following an injury.Lady luck was not to be on the Bulldogs side when Eagles first goal was a deflection off a Bradford skate, scored by Liam Thompson assisted by Martin Lewis at 0:53. The Eagles second was a pointer to the things to come when Gary Dowd skated the length of the ice to shoot home unassisted at 3:03. Thirty seven seconds later saw the Eagles rack up their third when Simon Hehir layed on a nice pass from behind the Bradford net that was well placed by Martin Lewis.At 9:39 Eagles Gary Dowd sat for a 2 minute elbows penalty, the resulting powerplay for Bradford was played off without loss. Simon Hehir made it 4 at 12:43 when he scored assisted by Paul Winndridge and Ian Richardson. Both sides incurred penaltys at 13:15.The Eagles made it 5 when Ian Richardson blasted home a slapshot assisted by Simon Hehir and Martin Lewis at 16:25. Under a minute later saw Gary Dowd blast home assisted by D J Flett and Dale Taylor to close the first Eagles 6 : Bradford 0.
2nd Period
Twenty seven seconds into the second saw Andy Fletcher score assisted by Stephen Wallace and Simon Burns. At 25:26 a well placed pass from Paul Winndridge released Andy Fletcher who skated into the Bradford slot one on one with net minder Tommy Muff who to give him credit resisted the temptation to dive and stood up well denying Fletch his second goal. Paul Winndridge hit Eagles eighth assisted by Andy Fletcher. The ninth for the Eagles was scored by Martin Lewis assisted by Liam Thompson at 27:58.Eagles made it into double figures at 30:24 when Stephen Wallace hit home assisted by Paul Winndridge and Andy Fletcher. At 31 minutes Eagles changed net minder when Adam Flett made way for Ricky D Hall. Martin Lewis hit his hat trick goal at 31:42 assisted by Richie Thornton.Goal number 12 for the Eagles came at 31:53 when Richie Thornton skated across the blue line jinked a defender to release a powerful shot that beat the net minder, assists from Gareth Crinnion and Liam Thompson. Paul Winndridge made it 13 for the Eagles when he fired a low slapshot into the Bulldogs net assisted by Andy Fletcher and Brian Perry. At 37.37 the Eagles gained a power play when Bradford collected a 2 minute hooking penalty, the resulting intense pressure in the Bradford area allowed Martin Lewis to hit his fourth of the night assisted by Paul Winndridge and Andy Fletcher.
3rd Period
With a shut out looking on the cards the Eagles seemed unstopable as the goals kept flowing. Martin Lewis hit number 15 also his fifth of the game assisted by Stephen Wallace and Paul Winndridge at 43:10. Ian Richardson collected a 2 minute roughing penalty after referee Wardell saw his minor retaliation for being kicked by Bradfords Paul Smith, this was around the fourth occasion of the game that Smith had lashed out with his feet , yet no action from the referee or linesmen. At 51:43 Gary Dowd was called for a dubios checking from behind call that resulted in him collecting a 2 + 10. Eleven seconds later saw Simon Burns thrown out of the game for unnecessary roughnes, Bradfords Gusten Nyberg also got thrown out for roughing and collected a gross misconduct on his way off the ice for obscene gestures he made to the crowd as he left, Gary Dowd also collected a gross misconduct penalty for abuse of an official. At 52:51 Ian Richardson collected a 2 minute high sticks penalty. The Eagles finnished their regular league season with a four goal blitz in a five minute period. Goal 17 for the Eagles came at 55:13 when Paul Winndridge scored assisted by Brian Perry, Goal 18 was scored by Brian Perry when he shot home assisted by Martin Lewis and Gareth Crinnion, Goal 19 again scored by Brian Perry with an assist from Paul Winndridge thirty seconds later the same pairing exchanged roles as Paul Winndridge got his fourth for the night assisted by Brian Perry.
The game closed Eagles 20 : Bulldogs 0, to give Bradford due respect they turned up short benched, they may have lost twenty nil but did it with dignity and tried all the way untill the final buzzer. It had been hoped to have presented the ED1 north trophy this evening, but for some reason the EIHA had not provided the new trophy for presentation.
With the ED1 north play offs the next hurdle before the North / South Ed1 championship playoffs dates are yet to be fixed, unfortunatley we will not immediatley get chance to revenge the recent defeat by Whitley Warriors, as the two top teams ie Billingham and Whitley will both head the two ED1 north play off groups, the rest of the group will be decided by a draw. I have strong feelings that we may however meet the Warriors after the North / South play offs if both North Eastern teams can see off the southern challenge as occurred last year.
PERIOD SCORES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | FINAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 6 | 8 | 6 | 20 |
| BRADFORD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
PENALTIES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 4 | 2 | 61 | 67 |
| BRADFORD | 2 | 2 | 51 | 54 |
SHOTS ON GOAL
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 5 | 6 | 4 | 15 |
| ADAM FLETT | 5 | 2 | - | 7 |
| RICKY D HALL | - | 4 | 4 | 8 |
|
BRADFORD |
19 | 20 | 25 | 64 |
| JONNY MUFF | 19 | 20 | 10 | 49 |
| IAIN HANSON | - | - | 15 | 15 |
MAN OF THE MATCH AWARDS
EAGLES - PAUL WINNDRIDGE ( 5 Goals + 7 assists )
FREEZE - JONNY MUFF (49 shots = 16 goals )