BILLINGHAM EAGLES V WHITLEY WARRIORS
ENHL LEAGUE GAME
27th January 2001
Saturday 27th January saw the Billingham Eagles welcome the Players, officials and fans of the Whitley Warriors. With only Blackburn in contention for the League title the Warriors were making the short trip to Teesside to strengthen their play off position. Eagles coach Andre Malo had made the decision to retain the services ofhis younger key players who had been offered places in the GB U-18 side at Romford.
1st Period
The first opened at a cracking pace with the action moving from end to end. Referee Les Highway called his first penalty at 2:37 when Warriors Brian Dunn picked up a 2 minute interference penalty. Play resumed and the Eagles applied the pressure, coincidental 2 min penaltys were collected at 3:02 by Eagles Paul Windridge and Warriors Bobby Bradley. When the penalty ended and Spike returned to the ice some nice passing from the Eagles put Paul Windridge in a shooting position an excellent slap shot was met with an equally excellent glove save from Warriors Stephen Wall. At 10 min a fracas at the Causeway end of the rink saw an over the top reaction from Warriors Kevin Bucas resulted in Bucas collecting a 2 minute penalty for charging + a 2 minute penalty for roughing, Eagles Martin Lewis picked up a 2 minute sit for roughing. The deadlock was brocken at 13:47 when the Warriors opened their scoring account with a power play goal scored by Paul Sample with no assist.At 14:22 the Eagles again found themselves on the wrong side of the ref as Tom Griffiths sat for a 2 minute elbows penalty , with under a minute passed since the Warriors opening goal they doubled their tally with their second power play goal again scored by Paul Sample assisted by Simon Leach and Freddie Jonsson, time of the goal14:33. The play seemed non stop and the shift lenghts were increasing as both sides battled for their share of the spoils. The opening goal for the Eagles came at 18:08 when Stephen Wallace applied the tip to a Paul Windridge shot. The first closed Eagles 1 : Warriors 2.
2nd Period
In the first minute of the second Eagles Gareth Crinnion looked to have to an injury as he slid head and shoulder into the boards, however after a little assistance he was able to rejoin the game (probably 2 inches shorter). With penaltys flowing at the same rate as the first the Eagles were handed a golden opportunity as Warriors went 2 men down at 23:23 when Kevin Bucas collected a 2 minute interference and Simon Leac an un-sportsman like conduct call. The power plays were not goin the way of the Eagles and the 2 man advantage only lasted for 11 seconds untill Eagles Martin Lewis was called for holding the stick. Another period of non stop play and long shifts began only to be ended at 29:32 when the Whitley bench were called for too many men on the ice. Eagles continued to apply the pressure, one noticable flaw in the otherwise superb performance of Whitley net minder Simon Wall was the amount of rebounds he gives off, if Billingham could have rushed these rebounds, many presenting the puck, in the slot they would have punished the Warriors on a number of occasions. At 34:41Warriors Stuart Lonsdalepicked up a 2 minute interference penalty, although the Eagles rained shots on StepenWall they still failed to break their duck. With only nineteen seconds left on the clock Warriors Freddie Jonssen found himself going one on one with Eagles net minder Simon Burns, Jonssen slotted home low under Simon to hit the Warriors fourth of the nightThe second closed Eagles 1 Warriors 4.
3rd Period
After only 57 seconds of the third Warriors Freddie Jonsson was spotted roughing as the puck was still in the possesion of the Eagles a delayed penalty came into action and Simon Burns left the ice for the Eagles to be replaced by an extra out field player, with the man advantage the Eagles continued to advance and Martin Lewis retored the hopes of the Eagles and their fans when he scored assisted by D J Flett and Andre Malo. The Warriors certainly kept their heads up and got on with the job in hand and answered just under 2 minutes later when at 41:46 Paul Graham raced at the Eagles goal from the right wing and fired his shot home assisted by Carl Culley. The Eagles again kept pushing looking for any way to level this game, when at 45:06 Andre Malo went on one of his solo rushes blasting the puck at Stephen Wall, only to be presented with a rebound that he buried( assisted by PAul Windridge and Andy Fletcher)to make it Eagles 3 : Warriors 4. Thirteen seconds later saw a blistering slapshot released by Andre Malo from the point find the back of the nety, unassisted, by now the edge of the seat was all I maintained contact with as the Warriors pushed on to reply with a goal scored at 45:40 by Simon Leach, assisted by Andrtew Carter.At 46:51 the Eagles reduced the deficit to one goal when Ritchie Thornton skated into Whitley zone picked his point and lifted the puck into the roof of the net.The Eagles applied more pressure but the shutters were down as thye penalty calls came fast and often the Eagles called a time out, with the stratergy for pulling the kkeeper sorted the battle re-commenced.At 59:03 the Eagles collected a 2 minute bench penalty for Simon Burns delaying the game.
The game closed Eagles 5 : Warriors 6
With Warriors at Home tomorrow night (Sun 28th) to Blackburn a Whitley (updated league stats)victory would seal Billinghams League title........Come on you Warriarz...........Come on you Warriarz...
Man of the match for the Eagles Andre Malo
Man of the match for the Hawks Stephen Wall(keeper)
PERIOD SCORES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | FINAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| WHITLEY | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
PENALTIES
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| BILLINGHAM | 12 | 4 | 6 | 22 |
| WHITLEY | 10 | 8 | 14 | 32 |
SHOTS ON GOAL
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL | |
| BURNS | 13 | 11 | 14 | 38 |
|
WALL |
15 | 14 | 14 | 43 |
HOME PLAYER STATS