Warriors in epic encounter with North Stars
On Saturday 20th April, our Warriors 1 team welcomed Nottingham North Stars to Planet Ice, Leeds for the first ever contest between the two teams.
The Warriors went into this game unbeaten for the season, but knew facing the North Stars would be a major test. The Warriors have been playing non-checking games this season but this game included checking.
In team news, the Warriors were without - Ben Briggs (NM), Sam Cromack (F), Ash Pryce (F), Will Gibbons (F), Ollie Gannon (D), Matt Gatenby (F) and Nathan Clegg (D). The starting netminder was Lewis Pickering with Joe Quinn the back-up for the first time. Ollie Gannon took the role of bench coach alongside Will Gibbons.
1st period
The opening period started well for the Warriors as they began on the front foot. With only 1:09 on the clock, Mitch White put the hosts ahead, with the assists coming from Andy Giles and Tom Mallon.
The hosts also managed to draw two minor penalties from the North Stars, meaning a 5 on 3 powerplay for a one minute period. Whilst unable to convert on the five versus three, they did score on the five on four, to make it 2-0 in the 4th minute. Dylan Noonan slotting it home from Mitch White and Chris Giles assists.
It wasn’t long to wait before the Warriors extended their lead to 3-0 when Chris Preston found Wes Nixon who made no mistake in front of goal. With a 3-0 lead after only 6 minutes, the Warriors were purring.
But then came the reality check. The North Stars, who have fast and skillful players, always looked threatening throughout this period and they got their reward in the 7th minute with a fine team goal. This was a wake-up call for the Warriors.
The hosts put that behind them and pushed hard to extend the lead whilst also trying to contain the North Stars rapid forwards. In the 9th minute of the period, Mitch White grabbed his second goal of the night with assists coming from Andy Giles and Adam Gibbons.
Only a further three minutes had passed when White scored his hat-trick goal. Assists coming from Wes Nixon and Andy Giles. The score was now 5-1 to Warriors after only 12 minutes.
With such a healthy lead, there was now a danger that the Warriors may ease off and become complacent. The North Stars certainly weren’t giving up this game without a fight. The visitors roared back into the game and scored two goals in three minutes to finish the goal-scoring for the first period. The visitors now only had a two-goal deficit at 5-3.
Warriors 5 North Stars 3
The first interval
Bench Coach, Ollie Gannon gives the team some pointers.
2nd period
With the North Stars having scored the last two goals in the first period, the concern for the team was that the momentum would now be with the visitors. The Warriors needed to get that back in their favour!
But the period did not start as they hoped. The North Stars opened the scoring in the 23rd minute to reduce the deficit to one at 5-4. The visitors had now scored three unanswered goals and the Warriors needed to respond.
Thankfully, it only took one minute for this to happen. With 24 minutes on the clock, the Noonan, White, A. Giles line combined to give the Warriors the insurance goal at 6-4. White scoring the goal.
But the North Stars weren’t giving up on this game. The visitors scored two unanswered goals in the 26th and 30th minute of the period to tie the game at 6-6. An amazing comeback from the visitors, considering they had been 5-1 behind.
Having been pegged back from a commanding lead, it was now the Warriors that had to show strength and character to keep fighting and not let the game slip away from them.
The Warriors responded in the following minute when Noonan took a pass from A.Giles and skillfully burnt past the D man and buried it into the top corner. The Warriors were back in the lead at 7-6. See the goal video below:
The next goal was crucial. The Warriors needed some daylight between the teams but the North Stars were also pushing hard for the equaliser.
Unfortunately, it took only one minute for the North Stars to find that equaliser. On 32 minutes, the North Stars number 18, Barkevics scored his 4th goal of the night to make it 7-7.
Warriors netminder Lewis Pickering was injured during this passage of play and was replaced by Joe Quinn, who was making his Warriors 1 debut.
Both teams were now cancelling each other out. But on the plus side, it was always the visitors that had been doing the chasing.
With the period drawing to a close, it looked like the teams would go back to the locker rooms all-square. But, the Warriors managed to get ahead in the game with only 27 seconds of the period remaining. Mitch White scoring his 5th goal of the night, assisted by Noonan, who himself was on 2+2.
The Warriors now went into the second interval ahead in the game at 8-7.
Warriors 8 North Stars 7
3rd period
During the break, the Warriors were readying themselves for a huge final 20 minutes of hockey. The team knew that the next goal would be crucial and that the North Stars would be pumped to get another equaliser.
The period was end to end with both teams giving it their all, but unfortunately the North Stars drew first blood in the period, drawing level at 8-8 with 44 minutes on the clock. This was now the third time that the visitors had pulled the Warriors back to a tied game and the worry was that it might demoralise the home players.
With the clock ticking down, all players were eager to avoid making a mistake that could lead to their team losing at the death.
The North Stars hadn’t been in the lead at any point during the game, until now - the 51st minute. Their two most dangerous players in Levy and Barkevics combined to put the visitors 8-9 ahead with only 8 minutes to play.
The Warriors were stunned, but there was no time to dwell on it. They had to push as hard as possible to get the equaliser.
With only 98 seconds left in the game, that equaliser came. Tom Mallon took a shot from the blue line which went high, deflecting off a North Stars player and into the net. The Warriors bench erupts!
See footage of the goal below:
But the Warriors still wanted the win. The bench called a Time Out and considered pulling the goalie for the extra man.
Time Out
The Warriors bench called a timeout with the score at 9-9 and one minute remaining.
Despite pushing hard and pulling the goalie in the dying seconds, the Warriors could not breakthrough before the final buzzer sounded.
What a game. Ending even at 9-9.
Warriors 9 North Stars 9
Points scorers:
Mitch White 5+2
Andy Giles 0+5
Dylan Noon 2+2
Tom Mallon 1+1
Wes Nixon 1+1
Niku Ghaemi 0+1
Adam Gibbons 0+1
Chris Giles 0+1
Chris Preston 0+1
Chris Giles
Warriors’ player of the game
Chris Preston
Captain’s player of the game
The Player of the Game for the Warriors, as selected by the North Stars, went to Chris Giles, collecting 0+1. And the Warriors’ helmet went to Chris Preston who works tirelessly for the team and is always an offensive threat.
Honourable mentions go to Mitch White for his 7 point haul, Dylan Noonan for his 2+2 and Andy Giles who racked up 5 assists. Also, back-up netminder Joe Quinn made his first appearance for the team and produced a great performance after starting goalie Lewis Pickering had picked up an injury in the second period.
Thanks to Nottingham North Stars for a brilliant game of hockey! Hopefully we’ll see you soon.
The next hockey for our Warriors 1 team is in the Kingston Cobras tournament in Hull.
Game details below:
Kingston Cobras Tournament
Saturday 1st June to Sunday 2nd June 2024
@ Hull Ice Arena
Free entry
Finally, a huge thank you to those in the club who came down to the game to support the team or help with the clock, scoresheets etc.
Thanks to:
Lisa Speed, Phil Bradley, Tim Lyndon-Belt and Stu Shepherd.
Also, big thanks to Ryan Marsh for providing film footage from parts of the game.
