Weekend Preview: Match Week 4
BILLINGHAM STARS get back on the bus for another weekend of National Ice Hockey League (N) Moralee Division 1 travels with a rare early afternoon face off in Nottingham tomorrow followed by a tense local derby up in Whitley Bay on Sunday.
The Lions and the Stars will do battle on the arena pad at lunchtime tomorrow, an early appetiser for local hockey fans as they look forward to Panthers v Sheffield Steelers in the Challenge Cup later on in the day. Nottingham had an eventful summer with some confusion as to whether they still had a place in the League at all at one point. Once the dust had settled they put their energy into building a roster capable of competing with their eyes on a higher placing then last season, their efforts then hampered somewhat by a points deduction relating to a failure to fulfil a number of fixtures. The Lions have had to contend with a handful of departures as Jacob Race and Billy Crofts both left for Solihull, whilst James Shaw returned to Deeside Dragons. Head Coach Matt Bradbury will continue to put his faith in youth and consequently Nottingham will have one of the youngest rosters once again this season. Nottingham have yet to register a win this season, their only point from their opening four games coming from an overtime loss at Widnes Wild, so they will be looking to open their account on home ice tomorrow afternoon.
Whitley have made a perfect start to their campaign with maximum points from their first five games. Perhaps more impressively, they have conceded just four goals and will prove tough to unlock on home ice, as the Stars found out when they took on the Warriors in a preseason challenge series just a month ago. New Head Coach Tony Hand has certainly got his team into a winning groove in this early part of the season, and his new-look side has made another addition this week with the two-way signing of Gary Kelly from Aberdeen Lynx. Living up to many people’s predictions of potential title winners, Whitley will want to retain the North East ‘top dog’ mantle that they took back at the beginning of the month and retain their unbeaten start to the season.
For Billingham, life on the road has been more hit than miss so far as an unkind schedule delivered five away games on the bounce. Tomorrow is Game Four away from the Forum, the Stars two out of three wins putting up a decent return to this point. The down sides have been on the discipline and injury fronts, Patriks Grigors picking up a lengthy ban for an illegal challenge on James Parsons at Deeside two weeks ago and Thomas Brown likely to miss both games this weekend after picking up an injury during last Sunday’s game at Solihull. With Jack Emerson and Callum Wilkinson already on the treatment table, the Stars will be looking to bolster their roster in the coming weeks. Jacob Hammond and Sam Dowd will both travel to Nottingham tomorrow, Dowd having impressed with the Buccaneers in recent games.
Billingham will be on the road all weekend in National Ice Hockey League (N) Moralee Division 1, facing off at Nottingham Lions tomorrow afternoon at 1.20pm followed by a 5pm face off at Whitley Warriors on Sunday.
Weekend Fixtures:
NIHL(N)1:
Nottingham Lions v Billingham Stars, Saturday 1.20pm
Hull Jets v Whitley Warriors, Saturday 5.30pm
Whitley Warriors v Billingham Stars, Sunday 5pm
Deeside Dragons v Solihull Barons, Sunday 5.15pm
Blackburn Hawks v Sheffield Scimitars, Sunday 6pm
Nottingham Lions v Widnes Wild, Sunday 7.20pm