KINGSTON JETS V BILLINGHAM EAGLES
ENHL NORTH
22nd October 2000
Sunday 22nd October put the Eagles on the road to the Hull Arena to face League Leaders Kingston Jets. Jets had stretched their lead the previous evening with a victory on the road at Grimsby. Eagles were fielding a full strength side with Adam Flett returning and Tom Griffiths returning from a dislocated shoulder injury.
1st Period
The first opened with some penalty problems for the Eagles with Gary Dowd being called for an interference penalty at 1:05 and Stephen Wallace also collecting a 2 minute penalty for interference at 2:22 the resulting power play proved fruitless for the Jets although they pushed forward Adam Flett and the short handed unit were well up to the challenge. The game moved fast with the Eagles maintaining the pressure, Jets Ryan Lake collected a 2 minute holding penalty at 9:54 the pressure from the Eagles gained no advantage as the Jets played the penalty off without loss. At 14:07 the Eagles took the lead with their opener scored by Tom Brown assisted by Martin Lewis. Five minutes later the Eagles notched up their second an even handed goal scored by Richie Thornton with an assist from Ian Richardson. The first closed Jets 0 : Eagles 2.
2nd Period
The second opened with Eagles player / coach Andre Malo collecting a 2 minute charging penalty. Jets increased the pressure and reduced the Eagles lead when Matt Street scored a power play goal assisted by Andy Steel and John Ross. The Jets found themselves short handed at 28:44 when Simon Hehir scored assisted by Martin Lewis and Tom Brown. Three minutes later Eagles edged further ahead with a power play goal when Tom Brown unleashed a blistering one timer on a pass supplied by Martin Lewis that burned into the Jets net to take the Eagles tally to 4 goals. The game was free flowing with end to end action until at 38:16 Gareth Crinnion collected a 2 minute slashing penalty. Jets turned up the heat and got their second power play goal for the night scored by Dean Smith assisted by Andy Steel at 39:37 to close the second Jets 2 : Eagles 4.
3rd Period
After 29 seconds in to the third period Eagles Brian Perry collected a 2 minute hooking penalty that was defended without loss. Jets found themselves in penalty troubles with Andy Winn picking up a 2 minute tripping penalty that Jets played off. Jets again collected another penalty that they again played off without loss at 49:32 when Tim Rion collected a 2 slashing call. The Eagles closed the door and defended well, the resulting frustration showed again when Jets Ryan Lake collected a 2 minute tripping penalty at 50:15 and team mate Paul Wallace collected a 2 minute unsportsman conduct for his comments on the Wallace call. Jets called a time out at 56:03 and Billingham born and bred coach Paul Simpson set his strategy for the remaining 3 minutes. As play resumed and Kingston won the draw Jets net minder Karl Holmes was pulled, however it looked to be a waste of effort as Jets Ryan Lake found himself stuck in his own defensive zone stopping and blocking the resulting shots on to the empty net from the Eagles. Following a break in play Jets returned their net minder and held off the Eagles pressure. With 22 seconds on the clock the Jets again pulled the keeper to gain an out field advantage, as play resumed the clock did not staying firmly fixed at 22 seconds ( sound familiar ) after the protestations of the Eagles line and bench play was stopped and the clock reduced to 10 seconds remaining, Kingston again elected to face off without the net minder and after winning the draw a long range shot from Tom Brown into the yawning jets net sealed what may prove a valuable victory and a hat trick for Tom assisted by Simon Hehir and Ian Richardson, goal timed at 59:59 to close the game Kingston Jets 2 : Billingham Eagles 5.
An entertaining game where the Eagles never looked pushed.
PERIOD SCORES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | FINAL | |
| KINGSTON | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| BILLINGHAM | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
PENALTIES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| KINGSTON | 2 | 4 | 8 | 14 |
| BILLINGHAM | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 |
SHOTS ON GOAL
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| KINGSTON HOLMES | 10 | 13 | 12 | 35 |
| BILLINGHAM FLETT | 10 | 6 | 7 | 23 |
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