REPORT: MATCH WEEK 17

BILLINGHAM STARS came through another tough test on Sunday evening to pick up three more National Ice Hockey League (N) Moralee Division 1 points as well as ensure a Moralee Cup semi final place with a 4-6 win at Deeside Dragons.

Missing top scorer Iain Brown and netminder Jacob Hammond, the Stars came up against a full-strength Dragons outfit who had despatched local rivals Widnes Wild the previous evening by racking up ten goals whilst conceding just four.

It was imperative to get off to a good start, and Rolands Gritāns duly delivered when he skated through the Deeside defence in the fifth minute and poked home his own rebound to open the scoring. End-to-end action followed, both sides with chances but it was the home side on the mark in the 15th minute when no one picked up James Parsons coming in on the follow-up for an easy flick past Billingham netminder Mark Turnbull. It was all square for just over a minute, Chris Sykes finishing a scramble in front of Matt Croyle in the Dragons net for a power play marker and a one-goal advantage at the interval.

In a second session littered with minor penalties, Deeside hauled themselves level once again with less than a minute gone, a nice power play set-up finished high into the net by danger man Jake Witkowski. Sykes saw his 29th minute effort ping the crossbar before Lucas Dowdle stripped the last defenceman of the puck and fired low past Croyle two minutes later. Still the hosts came back, Ross Kennedy with another power play goal in the 37th minute when he slotted a lucky rebound into the unguarded net.

All to play for going into the final twenty, the Dragons were ahead for the first time in the 49th minute when Will Harper fired through traffic, Billingham claiming interference on Turnbull but nothing given. Less than two minutes later, Conner McNulty on the break fed Tommy Spraggon who finished into the roof of the net for a tie game once more. The Stars edged back ahead in the 55th minute, Shaun Galloway from close range on the power play. Deeside pulled Croyle in the dying seconds, but with less than a minute to play, Sykes won the footrace to prevent an icing call and was left with the easiest of tap-ins into the empty net for a 4-6 final score.

Man-of-the-Match for Billingham was Conner McNulty.

Dragons Stats:

Jake Witkowski 1+2; Ross Kennedy 1+1; James Parsons 1+0; Will Harper 1+0; Matt Wainwright 0+3; Jared Dickinson 0+1; Marc Lovell 0+1

SOG: Matt Croyle 25 (9 / 8 / 8)

Stars Stats:

Chris Sykes 2+0; Rolands Gritāns 1+1; Tommy Spraggon 1+0; Shaun Galloway 1+0; Lucas Dowdle 1+0; Conner McNulty 0+4; Ben Greenhalgh 0+1; James Hellens 0+1; Darren Stattersfield 0+1; Callum Wilkinson 0+1

SOG: Mark Turnbull 32 (12 / 12 / 8)

Weekend Results:

NIHL N1 Saturday:

✈️ Hull Jets 5️⃣ - 🔟 Blackburn Hawks 🦅

🐾 Widnes Wild 4️⃣ - 🔟 Deeside Dragons 🐉

NIHL N1 Sunday:

🐉 Deeside Dragons 4️⃣ - 6️⃣ Billingham Stars 💫

⚜️ Solihull Barons 1️⃣1️⃣ - 3️⃣ Nottingham Lions 🦁

🐾 Widnes Wild 1️⃣2️⃣ - 4️⃣ Sheffield Scimitars 🗡️