Weekend Report: Sharks v Stars 100922 / Stars v Scimitars 110922

BILLINGHAM STARS short bench bagged two of the four points on offer on their opening National Ice Hockey League (N) Moralee Division 1 weekend, a road loss at reigning champions Solway Sharks followed up by a first win on the board back at the Forum overcoming Sheffield Scimitars.

Billingham made the tricky trip to Dumfries missing several key players: Chris Sykes, Tom Brown, Callum Wilkinson, Rolands Gritāns, Jack Emerson and Ethan McLaughlin all unavailable. With Brown absent Jacob Hammond took the netminding slot, whilst Tommy Spraggon moved up front to plug some of the gaps. It looked like it would be a long game for the visitors when Richard Bentham found the gap over Hammond’s shoulder on the power play in the fourth minute after a contentious tripping call against Ben Greenhalgh, the lead doubled - and the sense of injustice – when Ross Murray slotted through the five-hole in the sixth minute after an incorrect icing call. The Stars had to prove they were not there to make up the numbers and began to make inroads, Spraggon forcing the save in the ninth minute then some intricate interplay between Lewis Hall and Alex Preston in the 15th minute almost saw Billingham on the board. From that play however, Solway broke at speed and Jonathan McBean finished to make the game look safe before the end of the first twenty. The Stars were not about to give up without a fight, and eventually got the break they deserved when a Lucas Dowdle shot looped in off Calum Hepburn’s shoulder for the young Star’s first senior goal.

A scrappy second session saw errors and indiscipline from both sides and little in the way of momentum. Finally a little moment of quality as a lapse in concentration in the visitors’ defence gave McBean the space to pick his spot past the glove of Hammond in the 33rd minute. Another Billingham penalty late on saw Patriks Grigors despatched for holding and the Sharks punished it almost immediately, a speculative Lewis Houston slap finding the bottom corner for 5-1 in the 37th minute and a long way back for the guests.

Quality was again lacking in the final stanza, a typical first game of the season with neither side able to create much. With only ten shots on goal between the two teams, it fell to Scott Henderson to kill off the Stars with a shot straight through Hammond in the 47th minute. More penalties followed but no further additions to the score line, Solway running out comfortable victors in the end in a scruffy game that neither set of coaches will remember too fondly.

Man-of-the-Match for the Stars was Lucas Dowdle.

Sharks Stats:

Jonathan McBean 2+2; Scott Henderson 1+1; Richard Bentham 1+1; Ross Murray 1+0; Lewis Houston 1+0; Kell Beattie 0+2; Lewis Young 0+1; Kieran Hair 0+1; Stuart Kerr 0+1; Connor Henderson 0+1

SOG: Calum Hepburn 13 (6 / 2 / 5); Harry Elder 1

Stars Stats:

Lucas Dowdle 1+0; Ben Greenhalgh 0+1

SOG: Jacob Hammond 31 (12 / 15 / 4)

Back at the Forum on Sunday, Billingham could add Wilkinson back into the mix which meant that Spraggon could revert to the blue line. Sheffield arrived on the back of a 1-5 loss on home ice against Blackburn Hawks the previous evening, an unfamiliar-looking line-up skating out on Sunday as the Scimitars turn to their academy to build their roster. It was all Stars in the first session, an early Joe Walls chance blasted just over the bar was a sign of things to come. Unfortunately for the home side, the chances that were created went begging on every occasion as Billingham struggled to get past Brandon Stones in the Sheffield net. Finally the breakthrough came with just 42 seconds remaining before the buzzer, Wilkinson with the tap-in at the back stick with the Scimitars killing a too many men bench minor.

The Stars had an early shock in the middle period, Sam Keeling the man in the right place to poke home a rebound and square things up in the 22nd minute. This only seemed to spur the hosts on however, and just 32 seconds later Walls fired through the five-hole to restore the lead. Once again Billingham piled on the pressure but with no end product until the 32nd minute when James Moss got the final tip on a shot that Stones thought he had but eventually trickled over the line. Walls made the match more comfortable in the 38th minute with the goal of the game, a one-time effort at the far post that made the gap more daunting for the visitors going into the final period.

Much like the game the previous evening, the third period got scrappy but with no lack of effort from either side. The final touch wasn’t quite there and with no further additions to the score, the Stars recorded their first League and Cup points of the season with a 4-1 win.

Man of the Match for Billingham was Joe Walls.

Stars Stats:

Joe Walls 2+0; James Moss 1+1; Callum Wilkinson 1+0; James Hellens 0+1; Michael Elder 0+1; Shaun Galloway 0+1; Lewis Hall 0+1; Alex Preston 0+1

SOG: Jacob Hammond 23 (6 / 12 / 5)

Scimitars Stats:

Sam Keeling 1+0; Will Harper 0+1; Sam Rodgers 0+1

SOG: Brandon Stones 42 (13 / 21 / 8)

Weekend Results:

NIHL N1:

Solway Sharks 6 Billingham Stars 1

Sheffield Scimitars 1 Blackburn Hawks 5

Whitley Warriors 4 Widnes Wild 3

Billingham Stars 4 Sheffield Scimitars 1

Blackburn Hawks 3 Solihull Barons 4

Nottingham Lions 1 Solway Sharks 8