Renegades hang on to draw with Sharks
WHITLEY Renegades drew 5-5 with Kingston Sharks but lost 4-3 to Sutton Sting on a double weekend of English Under-20 League action.
A competitive first period between the Sharks and the Renegades ended goaless.
The Sharks upped the tempo at the start of the second period and it quickly brought them a 3-0 lead in a five-minute spell - Reaghan Taylor (2) and Kieron Furlong scoring.
The Renegades called their time out and were soon on the scoresheet through Joseph Dowdle at 26.51, Thomas Fraser adding an assist.
However, they then fell into penalty trouble and had both Alex Mitchell and Daniel Justovics sitting out when Taylor hit his hat-trick marker at 32.25.
The visitors responded before the second interval as Fraser was involved with the link-up play allowing Jamie Ord to score twice at 33.29 and 36.05 to reduce the lead to 4-3 in Kingston’s favour.
Matthew Betham also netted an assist.
The visitors pressed their hosts and their pressure paid off as Jack Wilkinson equalised from an Owen Curry pass at 44.49 and Renegades turned their earlier 3-0 deficit into a 5-4 lead when Curry and Dowdle assisted on Justovics’ goal at 52.12.
Kingston were short-handed when they levelled the scores for 5-5 at 58.19.
Whitley almost handed Kingston both points as they had two players sitting out minor penalties in the final minute - but they held on for a share of the spoils.
At Hillheads 24 hours later, Sutton went into an early lead when Jacob Frost struck in the third minute the only goal of the opening period.
The visitors doubled their advantage just five seconds after being given a powerplay 37 seconds into the period - Morgan Glasby finding the net.
The home side halved the deficit when they were short-handed three minutes later through recent signing Jay Lucas, Fraser adding the assist at 23.22.
This middle period brought more pressure on the Sting net, only for their netminder Ben Ward to keep his side ahead.
However with one minute remaining in the period, parity was restored when Ord struck - Lucas helping himself to an assist.
Sutton edged 4-2 ahead with ten minutes to go but with a little over three minutes to play Ord netted his second goal of the game, Fraser and Dowdle providing the assists.
Despite the Renegades’ efforts, Sutton held out to take both points.