Warriors 1 get caught by the Trawlers
On Friday 21st March 2025 our first team welcomed Grimsby Trawlers to Planet Ice for their third game in the IHSC Cup.
Having suffered a shootout loss in their previous IHSC Cup game against Don Valley Vikings, our Warriors 1 team were hoping to bounce back on home-ice against the newly formed Grimsby Trawlers.
The Trawlers are a combination of the Grimsby Falcons and Ice Bears that have been in the recreational scene for a number of years, so the Warriors were under no illusions regarding the quality of the opposition.
Warriors joint-coach, Andy Giles and his brother, team captain Chris Giles, who both played for Grimsby IHC as juniors. looked forward to a rare contest against a hometown team.
The game also marked the debut of Warriors forward, Chris Norman, who has impressed in training over recent weeks.
This game was originally arranged for Saturday 22nd March, but had to be brought forward to the Friday night. The Warriors would like to thank the Grimsby guys for being so flexible. We know this meant they were relatively short benched as a result.
Dressed players:
Joe Quinn (NM), Chris Giles (C), Dylan Noonan, Mitch White, Andy Giles (A), Tyler Heming, Callum Greenhalgh, Matthew Gatenby, Ellen Gallimore, Niks Kamaldins, Jordan Batty, Tom Mallon, Adam Gibbons, Will Gibbons, Chris Scampton, Simon Morrow, Harvey Galloway, Chris Norman and Ivis Homuts.
1st period
From the opening exchanges, it was clear the Trawlers had some skillful players in their ranks who could cause the Warriors some problems.
And if it hadn’t been for the heroics of Warriors netminder, Joe Quinn, the team could have found themselves a few goals behind within the first half of this period.
That said, the Warriors also posed a threat at the other end of the ice as they were denied by the Trawlers netminder, Sleeth.
With 14:05 on the clock, the visitors opened the scoring with one of their 20 shots on goal for the period.
Keen to go into the break on level terms, the Warriors ramped up the pressure in the visitors zone and just over a minute later at 15:26, they got their reward. Mitch White scoring the goal from Andy Giles and Dylan Noonan assists.
It remained 1-1 until the first interval despite both teams creating good chances.
Warriors 1 Trawlers 1
2nd period
Everything went up a level in the 2nd period. Shots on goal and penalty minutes increased during the second stanza, as both teams looked to establish a lead, ahead of the final period.
With 23:40 on the clock, the Warriors took a 2-1 lead. The puck broke loose to defenceman Chris Giles on his own blue line, and he fired a diagonal cross-ice pass to his brother Andy, retreating toward the red line on the left wing. Andy quickly fed Mitch White on the right wing, who hit the offensive zone at speed, weaved through the defence, and scored a brilliantly worked goal.
But the visitors were getting some joy on the stretch passes - and this was leading to occasional break-aways on goal. Fortunately, Warriors netminder, Quinn, was on hand to deny.
But the warning signs were there and on 29:29, the Trawlers got the equalising goal.
With 31 minutes on the clock, the Warriors took a 4 minute penalty which was taxing on the teams energy levels but they did manage to kill off the Trawlers powerplay.
The Warriors spent long periods penned in their own zone, unable to clear the puck. This resulted in panicky and desperate defending but thankfully, the hosts got through this without conceding.
They were grateful to hear the buzzer for the end of the period. Time to regroup!
The visitors outshot the hosts by 23 to 16 in the period.
Warriors 2 Trawlers 2
3rd period
It was hoped that the short-benched Trawlers might start to tire in the final period and give the Warriors the upper hand.
But, that was far from the case. With 46:39 on the clock, the visitors went 2-3 ahead after the Warriors didn’t clear the zone effectively.
With only 13 minutes left on the clock, this was a major blow for the Warriors as they knew it took a huge amount of effort to get past netminder, Sleeth.
Understandably, the hosts now started to take more risks to get back in the game.
But unfortunately, as can happen, a promising Warriors attack broke down and the play went in the opposite direction resulting in a Trawlers goal. The shot was a snipe in the bottom right corner which Quinn had no chance of saving. Time of goal: 49:46.
The Warriors were now two goals down at 2-4 with 10 minutes remaining.
But within a few minutes, things got worse - a dubious minor penalty was called against the Warriors which effectively killed the game, as there would be very little time left to play in the game once it was served.
Having killed off the penalty, the Warriors soon found themselves on the power-play with 57 minutes on the clock. This gave the team a slight glimmer of hope.
But this hope was emphatically crushed by the Trawlers as they scored two short-handed goals on 57:32 and 58:48 to end the game as a contest.
Final score :
Warriors 2 Trawlers 6
Points scorers:
Mitch White 2+0
Andy Giles 0+2
Chris Giles 0+1
Dylan Noonan 0+1
Going into this game, the Warriors knew it would be a tough one. The Trawlers had already registered some good results in the lead up to this game.
There was hope that the visitors short-bench might work in the Warriors favour - but this didn’t materialise.
Hats off to the Trawlers who seemed to grow into the game as it went on, displaying some great skill and clinical finishing.
On the bright side for the Warriors, they matched the visitors for more than two periods and were only punished in the third period for taking more risks offensively, which was a calculated gamble.
Joe Quinn
Player of the game
Joe Quinn
Captain’s player of the game
Player of the Game, as selected by the Trawlers, went to Joe Quinn - and the Captain’s helmet also went to Joe Quinn!
Joe took 57 shots in the game and made some fantastic saves.
That was the Warriors third game in the IHSC Cup. With a shootout loss and a regulation time win under their belts from the previous two games, the Warriors remain on 3 points.
Our first team’s next game is in Hull against the Knights. This will be a huge challenge for the Warriors as the Knights are a well established recreational team.
Details below:
IHSC Cup
Sunday 13th April 2025
Hull Knights v Warriors
@ Hull Arena
Face-off : 16:45
Free entry
Watch this space for future Warriors 1 fixtures : Fixtures and Results.
Thanks to Richard Sells Photography of Otley Camera Club for taking some great pictures of the game.
