Warriors hit back to reel in the Sharks

WHITLEY Warriors suffered mixed fortunes in their two weekend National Ice Hockey League Division One matches, writes CHRIS MACKENZIE.

The Whitley Bay outfit lost 7-3 at Solihull on Saturday night but then bounced back to see off Solway Sharks 3-1 at Hillheads 24 hours later. Import forward Phil Edgar

(pictured below) netted all of Whitley’s goals at Solihull as he managed to trouble the home sides defence all night long.

Whitley were able to name a strong roster of players for their game last night, Dan Pye coming back into the line-up having missed the game the previous evening.

The first period saw the Warriors out-shoot the Sharks by 19 shots to 10.

However, neither team was able to find the net due to the skills of Kyle Johnston in the visitors’ net and Richie Lawson in the Warriors’ goal.

The game did not stay scoreless for long, though, as the in-form Adam Finlinson netted with under two minutes played in the second period.

Shortly afterwards the Warriors were presented with a powerplay opportunity when Solway’s Scott Henderson was sent to the sin bin for a hooking misdemeanour – but the Sharks were able to successfully kill the penalty.

Solway levelled the game up after 50 minutes when Stevie Moore found the net, Connor Henderson picking up the assist.

The Warriors were only on level terms for 69 seconds before they retook the lead.

Martin Crammond was able to score following a slap shot from Sam Zajac, who was fed the puck by DJ Good.

Zajac remained central to the action as he grabbed an extremely late empty net to extend the Warriors’ lead to 3-1 with just seven seconds left in the contest following the Sharks’ decision to pull their netminder seconds earlier.

Kyle Ross picked up the man of the match award for the Warriors with another accomplished display as the youngster as he continues to establish himself in NIHL hockey.

The Warriors are next in action at Nottingham Lions on Sunday (face-off 7.30pm).