Warriors sting the Swarm
On Saturday 24th February, our Warriors 1 team welcomed Manchester Swarm to Planet Ice, Leeds for their third game in the "Blood, Sweat & Beers" Cup.
Having won their first two games in the competition, the Warriors were in confident mood going into this encounter.
In team news, the Warriors were without - Matt Gatenby (F), Ellen Gallimore (D) and Nathan Clegg (D). The starting netminder was Lewis Pickering with Ben Briggs as back-up.
1st period
The opening period started with both teams feeling each other out. But it was Warriors’ Ash Pryce #87 who broke the dead-lock with an unassisted goal after 2 minutes. The Warriors began to dominate and scored 4 more goals in the next 8 minutes. Goals coming from #38 Niku Ghaemi, #22 Mitch White, #13 Niks Kamaldins and #79 Sam Cromack.
Warriors 5 Swarm 0
2nd period
Having such a healthy lead, the Warriors went into the middle period full of confidence. This translated into what was their best period of the game. The team scored 8 goals and looked like they were too far ahead for the Swarm to recover. The goals came from #87 Pryce, #84 Chris Preston, #96 Dylan Noonan (3), #22 Mitch White, #30 Chris Blashko and #74 Wes Nixon. That said, the Swarm continued to fight and got their reward with a goal from #77 Bridges.
Warriors 13 Swarm 1
3rd period
Having exerted a lot of energy in the first 2 periods, the Warriors took their foot off the gas. The team were still creating chances, but found it difficult to breakthrough. The Swarm had changed goalies during the 2nd period and this seemed to help them them. The Swarm rallied in the final period and scored 2 unanswered goals. #77 Bridges scoring his second and assisting the other. A performance that resulted in him being awarded Swarm player of the game by the Warriors.
Warriors 13 Swarm 3
Points scorers:
Mitch White 2+3
Dylan Noon 3+1
Ash Pryce 2+1
Sam Cromack 1+2
Wes Nixon 1+2
Chris Blaschko 1+1
Niku Ghaemi 1+1
Andy Giles 0+2
Chris Giles 0+2
Niks Kamaldins 1+0
Chris Preston 1+0
Sam Forrester 0+1
Will Gibbons 0+1
Simon Morrow 0+1
Sam Cromack
Warriors’ player of the game
Tyler Heming
Captain’s player of the game
The Player of the Game for the Warriors, as selected by the Swarm, went to Sam Cromack for a great performance, collecting 1+2. And the Warriors’ helmet went to Tyler Heming who has been a rock in defence since joining the team.
Honourable mentions go to Dylan Noonan who scored a hat-trick and D Chris Blaschko who scored his first Warriors goal.
Thanks to Manchester Swarm for a good game of hockey. We’ll see you soon for the return game.
Our next game in the ‘Blood, Sweat and Beers’ Cup is at home to Halton Huskies.
Game details below:
Warriors 1 v Halton Huskies
Saturday 30th March 2024
Face-off : 9.45pm
@ Planet Ice, Leeds
Free entry
Finally, a huge thank you to all of those in the club who come to Warriors 1 games to support the team or help with the clock, scoresheets etc. We see you!
Thanks to:
Lisa Speed, Ash Davies, Tim Lyndon-Belt, Dean Cadman, Luke Cadman, James Way, Rich Guttridge, Stella Giswisser, Connor Brocklebank, Joe Quinn, Gary Clough, Wayne Higgins - plus any others who are not named here.
