Season 25/26: Week 10 Report

A TRIP to South Yorkshire to take on winless Sheffield Scimitars in a rare lunchtime face off was the only action of the past weekend for Billingham Stars, and the Teessiders skated out on the right end of a 1-6 scoreline as the Scimitars fell to their 15th straight defeat of the season.

The home side managed to contain Billingham until the 14th minute, netminder Nick Winters once again the thorn in the Stars side as he pulled off save after save to keep the visitors at bay until Alex Preston finally got their noses in front. Less then three minutes later the lead was doubled, captain Michael Elder on the follow-up. Billingham had time left to extend the gap further, Iain Brown hitting the roof of the net from close range in the final minute of the period.

The middle session saw yet more shots fired the way of Winters, but he stood firm and it was Sheffield who got themselves onto the scoresheet through a classic counterattack that was finished by Simon Williams in the 26th minute. Winters frustrated the Stars offensive units until the 37th minute when Rolands Gritāns ended his recent scoring drought with a scruffy rebound. Brown again left it late and picked off a power play marker with 42 seconds remaining on the clock.

Scimitars clearly thought Winters had seen enough rubber and he was replaced by Hayden Oates at the start of the third period. Gritāns bagged his second in the 42nd minute, but that was the only time Oates would need to pick the puck out of his net as Billingham eased down several gears, 1-6 the final score and an early finish to the weekend.

Man-of-the-Match for the Stars was Ethan McLaughlin.

Scimitars Stats:

Simon Williams 1+0; Lennon Weeks 0+1; Sam Rodgers 0+1

SOG: Nick Winters 40 (23 / 17); Hayden Oates 19

Stars Stats:

Rolands Gritāns 2+1; Iain Brown 2+0; Michael Elder 1+0; Alex Preston 0+1; Callum Wilkinson 0+3; Chris Sykes 0+2; Joe Dowdle 0+2; Lucas Dowdle 0+1

SOG: Jacob Hammond 19 (7 / 7 / 5)

Weekend Results

NIHL Moralee Saturday:

🗡️ Sheffield Scimitars 1️⃣ - 6️⃣ Billingham Stars 💫

✈️ Hull Jets 5️⃣ - 2️⃣ Telford Tigers 2 🐯

🦅 Blackburn Hawks 8️⃣ - 4️⃣ Deeside Dragons 🐉

⚔️ Leeds Knights 2 4️⃣ - 9️⃣ Solihull Barons⚜️

NIHL Moralee Sunday:

🐉 Deeside Dragons 3️⃣ - 2️⃣ Blackburn Hawks 🦅

⚜️ Solihull Barons 1️⃣1️⃣ - 4️⃣ Telford Tigers 2 🐯

🐾 Widnes Wild 1️⃣ - 6️⃣ Hull Jets ✈️

🦁 Nottingham Lions 6️⃣ - 3️⃣ Leeds Knights 2 ⚔️