Season 25/26: Week 21 Report
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BILLINGHAM STARS put in a dominant performance on Sunday to cast aside mid-table rivals Widnes Wild as the race for the playoffs begins in the National Ice Hockey League Moralee Division.
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As has been the case for most of the season, a rejigged Stars line-up took to the ice after a weekend of rest and recuperation was not quite enough to heal all the knocks. Shaun Galloway started at the back whilst Ben Greenhalgh and Ethan McLaughlin formed a third line forward trio with Lucas Dowdle. Billingham were also able to welcome Stuart Jackson from the Buccaneers to bolster the blue line.
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Although a little slow to get going, Stars grew into the game and started to get some shots in on Luca Tessadri between the Widnes pipes. Perhaps guilty of not making Tessadri work hard enough, Billingham finally got onto the scoresheet with a well-worked powerplay goal in the 15th minute, James Moss collecting a nice Rolands Gritāns feed and showing the hands to go around Tessadri and slot home. Billingham lost captain Michael Elder towards the end of the period, a high hit putting a premature end to his game.
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Elder’s absence meant more changes from the second period puck drop, Lucas Dowdle moving up to the first line and Tom Wakefield taking his spot on the third. Stars kept the momentum despite the disruption and moved further ahead in the 22nd minute, an off-balance Gritāns able to lift a rebound over Tessadri at his back stick. It was Gritāns again in the 29th minute, through bodies from close range to make it three and looking home and dry. A four-on-four play in the 35th minute saw more fancy stickwork from Moss as he capitalised on a Tessadri spill and tapped home at the far post.
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Yet more problems for Billingham in the 47th minute as the in-form Moss collided with the boards and left the ice with a nasty-looking lower body injury. Galloway was moved back up front to cover, and he duly got himself amongst the goals when he pounced on the puck out front and fired home in the 52nd minute. Ethan McLaughlin forced home past Tessadri’s skate in the 55th minute, but there was late heartbreak for netminder Jacob Hammond when Andrew Hopkins skipped clear and stayed clear of the oncoming defenceman to break his shutout with just 37 seconds remaining, final score 6-1.
Man-of-the-Match for the Stars was Joe Dowdle.
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Stars Stats:
James Moss 2+2; Rolands Gritāns 2+2; Shaun Galloway 1+0; Ethan McLaughlin 1+0; Iain Brown 0+3; Ben Greenhalgh 0+1; Chris Sykes 0+1; Will Thornton 0+1; Tom Wakefield 0+1
SOG: Jacob Hammond 29 (8 / 7 / 14)
Wild Stats:
Andrew Hopkins 1+0
SOG: Luca Tessadri 72 (19 / 34 / 19)
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Weekend Results
NIHL Moralee Saturday:
✈️ Hull Jets 5️⃣ - 4️⃣ Leeds Knights 2 ⚔️ (after overtime)
🦅 Blackburn Hawks 8️⃣ - 3️⃣ Solihull Barons ⚜️
🗡️ Sheffield Scimitars 5️⃣ - 2️⃣ Widnes Wild 🐾
NIHL Moralee Sunday:
🐉 Deeside Dragons 9️⃣ - 5️⃣ Sheffield Scimitars 🗡️
💫 Billingham Stars 6️⃣ - 1️⃣ Widnes Wild 🐾
⚜️ Solihull Barons 1️⃣ - 4️⃣ Hull Jets ✈️
🦁 Nottingham Lions 3️⃣ - 4️⃣ Telford Tigers 2 🐯
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