Season 26/27: Week 8 Report

BILLINGHAM STARS put visiting Sheffield Scimitars to the sword in their National Ice Hockey League Moralee Division encounter on Sunday evening, a two-period blast seeing off the bottom-placed side in front of the Forum faithful.

A somewhat lacklustre first period performance from the hosts gave no indication of the onslaught that would follow. Rolands Gritāns opened the scoring in just the third minute with a bullet of a shot that Scimitars netminder Dominic Rae could do little to even attempt to stop. Billingham failed to grab the advantage and Sheffield were back level in the tenth minute, an Andrew Heath ripper beating Jacob Hammond stick-side. Gritāns was on hand to poach one less than a minute later, but Scimitars shocked the home crowd by moving ahead in the 15th minute, two goals from Bailey Challans and Brandon Chard giving the Stars a jolt. A power play goal from captain Michael Elder tied things back up in the 19th minute, but it was clear that the hosts were not at the races and a dressing room talking to was much needed.

Whatever was said, it worked. Elder got the rout going just 23 seconds into the middle session, going high from close in to grab a lead the Stars would not relinquish again. Matty Pickup got in on the act in the 26th minute, his breakaway effort finding the bottom corner. Two hat trick markers in two minutes ensued for Gritāns and Elder, Elder’s 30th minute piece of individual skill seeing the end of a disgruntled Rae, Joshua Minns replacing him between the Scimitars pipes. Another power play effort for Callum Wilkinson in the 36th minute made it five without reply in the period and no way back for the beleaguered Scims.

Gritāns” low rifle in the 46th minute brought up point number 700 in a Stars jersey for Elder, a fantastic achievement for a genuine Billingham legend. Pickup bagged his second out front in the 53rd minute before James Hellens notched up another from the blue line less than two minutes later. Harry Roebuck picked up a consolation marker on the back stick in the 55th minute but Elder capped a fine individual performance and put point number 701 on the board with a short-handed effort into the roof of Minn’s net with a little over five minutes to go. 12-4 the final score, forty minutes to remember as Stars look to climb the table.

Man-of-the-Match for Billingham was Michael Elder.

Stars Stats:

Michael Elder 4+4; Rolands Gritāns 4+3; Matty Pickup 2+0; James Hellens 1+3; Callum Wilkinson 1+1; James Moss 0+4; Lucas Dowdle 0+2; Darren Stattersfield 0+2; Ben Greenhalgh 0+1; Rowan Mills 0+1

SOG: Jacob Hammond 30 (11 / 4 / 15)

Scimitars Stats:

Andrew Heath 1+1; Bailey Challans 1+1; Brandon Chard 1+0; Harry Roebuck 1+0; Harry Illingworth 0+1; Noah Barnes 0+1; Joe Matthewman 0+1; Jack Drasnfield 0+1; Sebastian Shillito 0+1

SOG: Dominic Rae 45 (30 / 15); Joshua Minns 26 (11 / 15)

Weekend Results:

NIHL Moralee Saturday:

🦅 Blackburn Hawks 5️⃣-1️⃣ Widnes Wild 🐾

🐯 Telford Tigers 2 6️⃣-3️⃣ Deeside Dragons 🐉

⚔️ Leeds Knights 2 4️⃣-2️⃣ Solihull Barons ⚜️

NIHL Moralee Sunday:

🐉 Deeside Dragons 2️⃣-3️⃣ Telford Tigers 2 🐯

💫 Billingham Stars 1️⃣2️⃣-4️⃣ Sheffield Scimitars 🗡️

🐾 Widnes Wild 6️⃣-4️⃣ Solihull Barons ⚜️

⚔️ Leeds Knights 2 5️⃣-6️⃣ Blackburn Hawks 🦅

🦁 Nottingham Lions 2️⃣-4️⃣ Hull Jets ✈️

Weekend Results:

Season 26/27: Week 7 Report

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