Warriors 3 struck down by Lightning
On Saturday night our Warriors development team had their first ever competitive game. Fittingly, it was against fellow Loiners - Leeds Lightning.
The team were without their coach, Tom Mallon, who was on playing duties with Warriors 1. But fortunately. Warriors 2 players Howard Barwick and Luke Newbiggin covered as bench coaches - with Jeff Hardy supporting on the gate.
The Lightning team iced a mixture of development and more experienced players which tipped the balance in their favour from the start.
Despite that, the Warriors battled hard and the score was 0-2 to Lightning by the end of the first period.
The second period saw the Lightning bag 5 more goals meaning the score was 0-7 going into the final period.
The Warriors battled hard in the final period, never giving up. But unfortunately there was a late flurry of Lightning goals in the last few minutes, making the final score 0-10 to Lightning.
Player of the game for the Warriors was goalie Jack Cook, who played the 2nd half of the game. Pulling out a couple of fantastic rebound saves.
Player of the game for Lightning was Lewis Collins who scored 5 goals. Well played Lewis.
It was a good game, with excellent spirit from both teams. The Warriors put in really strong efforts and showed great attitude throughout.
There were lots of friends and family watching which added to the occasion.
The 0-10 score line seems wider than how the actual gameplay was, as it didn’t feel like a one-sided affair.
Standout performances:
Both goalies, Stephen Elliott and Jack Cook made saves on 2 on 1's.
Arek Koziels. Ivans Lebedjoks & Matthew Dudderz went close to scoring.
Stella Giwisser had a shot off the post in the last 3 mins.
Captain Rich Guttridge and the defence group did a really solid job.
Well done guys. Onto the next!
Finally, big thanks to Howard, Luke and Jeff who took on the bench coach role for the game. A real club effort.
Big thanks to Pat Leung for taking some amazing photos of the game. Pat’s work can be seen on Instagram profile @patleung1021.
Here’s some more photos of the game:
