The Tomahawks travelled to Humberside still sitting second in the table with games in hand on leaders Bradford, for their fist meeting of the season with Kingston. Although not having the best of seasons, Kingston do have England forward Sam Towner back in their team after a couple of seasons at Sheffield.
The 1st period set off at a frantic pace with Whitley applying all the early pressure, and they came close to opening the scoring when captain Dale Sharp hit the post with a shot in the first minute. At the other end, Mark Turnbull in the Whitley net had to react quickly to keep out a wrist shot from danger man Towner. The home side took the lead at 3.21 totally against the run of play after Sam Bradshaw`s breakaway chance for Whitley was saved by Sam Tolley in the home net, the puck was cleared down ice to Towner and he caught Turnbull by surprise with a quick release over the keepers glove hand. Whitley were soon on level terms when Harry Harley found Ben Richards with a pass out of defence, and he drilled a low shot past Tolley to tie the game at 4.30. Whitley then took the lead 9 seconds later, when with seemingly nothing on Harley lobbed the puck from centre ice towards the Kingston net and as Tolley went down to gather it, it somehow bounced straight over his pads and into the net. A minute later Whitley increased their lead, after a break down the left by Richards he cut inside and dropped the puck off for Sharp to tap home his sides third goal. The Tomahawks had a great chance to increase their lead even further when they had a 5 on 3 late in the period, with Liam Charnock and Alistair Marsden sitting in the home penalty box, but Kingston killed the penalty with some desperate defending. Turnbull then produced an incredible save in the Whitley net to keep the 2 goal advantage, when lying on the ice he managed to stick out his glove and deny Towner with the net wide open.
The second period was a really scrappy affair with the home side taking penalty after penalty, and the visitors not being to create anything on the power plays. Sam Towner went close when he rattled the post with a wrist shot, but the period ended scoreless with the Tomahawks maintaining their 2 goal advantage.
The home side quickly reduced the deficit in the 3rd period when that man Towner flashed his shot past Turnbull from a face off in front of the Whitley goal to make the score 3-2, but again Whitley hit straight back with Richards getting his second of the match after being sent clear by Sharp. Richards completed his hat-trick at 39.21, when after a quick interchange of passes with Jack Davies, he hit a one timer across Tolley and into the far corner of the goal. Whitley were totally dominant now and almost went further ahead when Callum Read`s slapshot from the blue line flew past the top corner of Tolley`s goal. Whitley`s 6th goal came at 41.51 with Callum Queenan rounding Tolley after being set up in front of goal by a clever pass by Harley. That was the signal to give Tolley a much needed break, and he was replaced in goal by David Good. His first task was to pick the puck out of his net after Richards set Harley up for his second of the game at 43.23 to make the score 7-2 . That’s how it ended, a good win for the Tomahawks to keep them on course for the Nationals.
Spirit of the Game; #24 Harry Harley
Goals; Ben Richards 3+3, Harry Harley 2+1, Dale Sharp 1+2, Callum Queenan 1+0, Sean Bamling 0+1, Jack Davies 0+1, Dean Kerr 0+1
PIM`s;Whitley 2, Kingston 14
Shots Faced; Mark Turnbull ( Whitley ) 24, Tolley & Good (Kingston ) 39 & 2