Warriors 2 defeated by Blazers
On Sunday 17th June, our Warriors 2 team travelled to Ice Sheffield to take on the Sheffield Blazers.
This was the first time our Warriors 2 team had faced the Blazers.
Our Warriors 1 team had met the Blazers in home and away challenge games and come away with close victories, so this was sure to be an interesting match-up.
In team news, the Warriors were without several players: Simon Morrow, Corey, Clough-Howard, Dale Sunderland, Den Bautris, Howard Barwick, Luke Cadman, Luke Newbiggin, Matt Bolan and Mohsan Lin.
1st period
The Warriors had an instant impact, with Tom Cokill scoring after only 18 seconds.
The hosts levelled it at 1-1 with 3 minutes 16 seconds on the clock.
The teams were in a stalemate for a period of 13 minutes before Warriors Arek Koziel put the Warriors back in front with the assists coming from Tyler Heming and Tom Gabbitas.
No further goals were scored in the period, meaning the Warriors were in the lead going into the first interval.
Blazers 1 Warriors 2
View of the bench as coach Forrester looks on.
2nd period
Going into the second period at 1-2, the Warriors had good reason to be optimistic.
But, the first period took a lot of energy out of the team, meaning the Blazers were able to capitalise. The hosts scored four unanswered goals in a 10 minute spell, taking them to a 5-2 lead.
Fortunately, the Warriors were able to strike back on 34 minutes with an unassisted goal from Tom Gabbitas. 5-3 Blazers.
The Blazers bagged their sixth goal of the game before the Warriors roared back with two quick goals only 10 seconds apart. Tom Cokill getting his second of the game (unassisted) before turning provider to Captain, Niku Ghaemi. Both goals coming in the 38th minute.
It was now a one goal game, with the Blazers winning 6-5.
Unfortunately, the hosts had time for one more meaningful attack in the period which resulted in their 7th goal of the game.
The period ended 6-3 to the Blazers with the overall score being:
Blazers 7 Warriors 5
3rd period
With only a two goal deficit, it was all to play for in the final period.
The Warriors pushed as hard as they could and got their reward within four minutes of the restart when Ghaemi and Cokill combined to make it Blazers 7 Warriors 6.
Momentum was now with the Warriors and they took advantage 2 minutes later when D Nathan Clegg scored the teams 7th and equalising goal.
With 46 minutes on the clock, the Warriors had turned it around. A fantastic effort.
But such a monumental effort seemed to take it out of the team, as despite the Blazers picking up a couple of minor penalties, they were able to score two short-handed goals, as the Warriors’ legs became tired.
The score was now 9-7 to the Blazers and with the Warriors feeling demoralised and exhausted, the hosts took full advantage by scoring two further quick goals in the 54th minute, to finish off the nights scoring.
FINAL SCORE:
Blazers 11 Warriors 7
Points scorers:
Tom Cokill 2+2
Niku Ghaemi 2+0
Tom Gabbitas 1+1
Nathan Clegg 1+0
Arek Koziel 1+0
Chris Scampton 0+1
Tyler Heming 0+1
Ben Cohen
Warriors’ player of the game
Ben Cohen
Captain’s player of the game
It was a clean sweep of awards for netminder Ben Cohen as he picked up both the Man of the Match award and Captain’s player of the game award. Well played Ben!
This was a great test for our Warriors 2 team and despite the loss, there are lots of positives to take from this result.
The team won the first period and mounted a big comeback despite being without some key players.
Next up for Warriors 2 is an M62 Cup game, which will be against Manchester Swarm, at Planet Ice Altrincham.
Game details below:
Manchester Swarm v Leeds Warriors 2
Sunday 9th July
Face-off @ 17:45
Planet Ice Altrincham
