Warriors 1 and 2 game reports v Comets

May 16

Saturday night saw both Warriors 1 and Warriors 2 face-off against their Cleveland Comets’ counterparts at Planet Ice in Leeds.

This was the second time the clubs had met, as on 28th March, Warriors 1 were defeated 10-6 by the Comets at Billingham Ice Forum - whereas Warriors 2 came away victorious with a 15-1 win.

Warriors 1

Just like with the away game, Warriors 1 went into an early lead as Lewis Astill hit a one-timer with his first touch of the game after 10 seconds. With the assist coming from Mitch White.

The great start continued for Warriors 1, as Mitch White got on the scoresheet with a goal assisted from Dan Zylinski.

Adrian Garcia bagged a third (unassisted) and Raivis Voitans made it four with a goal assisted by Tom Mallon.

With only one reply from the Comets, the first period ended with the Warriors 4-1 ahead.

It wasn’t all good news for the Warriors though as debutant Jacob King was on the receiving end of a charge against the boards which later resulted in a hospital visit from concussion. To add insult to injury, this was not punished by the officials.

The Warriors knew that the Comets would come out for the second period with the bit between their teeth and they weren’t wrong.

The Comets scored three times during the period whereas the tiring Warriors could only register one - a second goal for Raivis Voitans with assists from Mitch White and Chris Giles.

By the end of the period the Warriors had a slender 5-4 lead - but momentum was now with the Comets.

During the third period, frustration on both sides threatened to spill over. Eventually it did as Dan Zylinski had a fight and took a 10 minute penalty.

The Warriors pushed and pushed to get the sixth goal as they needed the insurance goal. Unfortunately the puck just wouldn’t go in the net as the Comets defended extremely well.

With an injury to another D, Jordan Batty, the Warriors were now down to 4 D and the legs were tiring across the team. The Comets took full advantage and scored 3 unanswered goals to make it 5-7 Comets going into the last 3 minutes.

Coach Alex Jones pulled goalie Lewis Pickering for the extra man (Chris Giles) to try and get the elusive goals, but unfortunately this did not happen as the Comets wrapped things up with an empty net goal - making the final score 5-8 Comets.

This was a very entertaining game for the spectators as two evenly matched teams slugged it out.

As the Comets have beaten the Warriors on the two occasions they’ve met, the Warriors will be keen to strike back soon and show that they can record a win against them.

Shout out to our Player of the Night, goalie Lewis Pickering, who made so many great saves and spilt nothing all night.

Penalty minutes :

Warriors : 34

Comets : 32

Shots on goal :

Warriors : 41

Comets : 54

Player stats:

Raivis Voitans 2 + 0

Mitch White 1 + 2

Adrian Garcia 1 + 0

Lewis Astill 1 + 0

Chris Giles 0 + 1

Tom Mallon 0 + 1

Warriors 2

Warriors 2 faced off against the Comets in the earlier game. With coach Darren Wilson on holiday, Warriors 1 coach Alex Jones stepped in as bench coach.

This was a far tougher assignment compared to their previous meeting, as the Comets iced some of their A team.

As a result, this was a low scoring affair with neither team able to stretch a lead.

The ever reliable Simon Moreow bagged a goal for the Warriors (assisted by Kristaps Savickis), as did Tom Cokill (assisted by Jamie Thurston) who has really shown his quality since joining the club.

But, unfortunately this wasn’t enough, as the Warrior narrowly lost 2-3. They pushed the Comets hard and came close to an equaliser at the end of the 3rd period, but it wasn’t to be.

Special mention needs to go to goalie, Ben Cohen, who had a great game and picked up the Player of the Night award for the 2nd consecutive game.

Player stats:

Simon Morrow 1 + 0

Tom Cokill 1 + 0

Kristaps Savickis 0 + 1

Jamie Thurston 0 + 1