Warriors 1 fall short after brave display
On Saturday 13th May, our Warriors 1 team travelled to Ice Sheffield to take on the Don Valley Vikings in the return NRHC fixture.
In the corresponding home game, the Vikings took the 2 points back to South Yorkshire with a convincing 2-11 victory.
For the away game, the Warriors were without several important players. Wes Nixon, Ash Pryce, Sam Forrester, Jacob King, Sam Cromack, James Way and Lewis Astill were all unavailable to play.
Captain Chris Giles was also dressed to play but couldn’t continue after his first shift due to skate issues. This meant the team only had four D for the game.
Given all of the above, the Warriors were major underdogs going into this game.
On the plus side, this was player-coach Alex Jones’s first game back after a ban (which was imposed from the previous game against the Vikings).
1st period
Learning their lesson from the home game where they were 0-4 down within the first 12 minutes, the Warriors started the game on the front foot and looked dangerous when going forward.
After 7 minutes, the Warriors opened the scoring - Niku Ghaemi pounced on a rebound from an Ollie Gannon shot. 0-1 Warriors.
With confidence high, the Warriors were able to weather the Vikings attacks and keep pushing forward.
This paid off when defenceman Ollie Gannon picked up the puck inside his own zone and raced down the ice, evading the Vikings defence before slotting home a fantastic individual goal.
However, the Vikings were not going to lie down. Their attacks came in waves and for long periods it seemed like they were camped in the Warriors zone as the Warriors struggled to clear the zone.
Eventually, the Vikings got their rewards, scoring three unanswered goals. 3-2 Vikings.
At the end of the first period, the score was:
Vikings 3 Warriors 2
2nd period
Coach Jones and the players discussed areas for improvement during the interval. The Warriors were very much still in this game. But that first period had taken a lot out of the team and momentum was with the Vikings.
It turned out to be the game defining period, as the Vikings were able to extend their lead.
The Warriors picked up some minor penalties during the period and had to kill off a 5 on 3 which sapped the team’s energy.
The team battled hard and were rewarded with a Dylan Noonan goal (his third in as many games) from a Niku Ghaemi assist - but the Vikings strength in depth made the difference as they scored four during the period.
The period score was 4-1 Vikings - and now our guys faced an uphill battle.
Vikings 7 Warriors 3
3rd period
Going into the the final period, the Warriors were determined not to collapse and be on the receiving end of a thrashing. That wouldn’t be a reflection on how even the game had been.
It was felt that an early goal or two could make the Vikings panic - and that was the plan.
Netminder Ben Briggs made way for Lewis Pickering to take the final 20 minutes between the pipes.
It turned out to be a very tight period, with both netminders managing to guard their goal well.
Unfortunately, the Warriors couldn’t add any further goals to their tally, whereas the Vikings scored one more to bring the scoring to an end.
FINAL SCORE:
Vikings 8 Warriors 3
Points scorers:
Ollie Gannon 1+1
Niku Ghaemi 1+1
Dylan Noonan 1+0
Ollie Gannon
Warriors’ player of the game
Mitch White
Captain’s player of the game
Player of the game for the Warriors was Ollie Gannon who was effective at both ends of the ice. Captain’s player of the game went to Mitch White who worked tirelessly all game. Well done guys.
A tough game for the Warriors, against a strong Vikings team. But when we consider the players which were unavailable, you’d imagine this could have been a winnable game on another day.
This was the Warriors sixth game in the NRHC season, leaving only the home and away games against Whitley Bay Islanders to play.
Game details below:
Warriors 1 v Whitley Bay Islanders
Saturday 27th May 2023
Face-off : 9.45pm
@ Planet Ice, Leeds
Free entry
