After their rather disappointing draw in their previous game at Sheffield, the Tomahawks were back on the road to take on Nottingham at The National Ice Centre. Whitley were 5-2 winners in the previous meeting of the 2 clubs at Hillheads.
The visitors got off to the best possible start after only 80 seconds when Ben Richards, in possession behind the Nottingham net, threw the puck out in front of Tom Hovell in the home goal, and in the mad scramble that ensued it was Harry Harley who got his stick to it and forced the puck over the line for the opening goal of the game. Nottingham then had a player sent to the penalty box for roughing at 1.52, quickly followed by Richards at 2.35 for slashing to leave the sides 4 on 4. Whitley were quick to capitalise on the extra space on the ice when Jack Davies received the puck at halfway, he held off a couple of defenders and lifted his shot over the shoulder of Hovell to double his teams lead at the 3 minute mark. With both sides back to 5 skaters, Nottingham got back into the game at 4.49 when Tom Wells netted the rebound after Connor Glossup`s effort had been saved by Mark Turnbull in the Whitley net. Tempers began to flare at this point, and Wells received a 2+10 at 5.51 for a check to the head, then Whitley`s Davies received a 2+10 at 9.40 for a check from behind. As the period drew to a close, Nottingham`s Joe Steeples received a 2 minute penalty for boarding.
The second period started with the Tomahawks on the power play and they went further ahead at 15.16 when captain Dale Sharp netted the rebound after Harleys shot had been saved by Hovell. Sharp and Richards both went close to increasing Whitleys lead before they eventually added a 4th at 22.49 through Adam Finlinson, when Harley found him with a square pass completely unmarked on the doorstep. Whitley were dominant now, and scored a 5th at 25.34 when Matty Campbell saw his shot from the point spilled by Hovell onto the stick of Richards who in turn found Harley in front of goal and he made no mistake to make it 5-1. Wells did manage to pull a goal back for the home side at 29.25, skating from centre ice and firing a shot from the blue line which was fumbled by Turnbull, Wells picked up his own rebound to score from a narrow angle.
The 3rd period was riddled with penalties with the game almost getting out of hand. The home side realising they had no chance of winning were not going to go down without a fight and tried every dirty trick in the book to either injure Whitley players or provoke them into fights. Firstly Callum Read took a stick to his stomach which left him doubled up in pain, then Harley had a face to face with 1 man wreckin` ball Steeples, then Davies was attacked by Wells which saw the Nottingham player receive just a 2 minute penalty after Davies had received a 2 match ban for a similar offence at Telford. Whitley did go close through Sean Bamling and Read later in the period but couldn`t add any more goals to their score and they ran out 5-2 winners. All in all, a good disciplined performance under extreme provocation, and thankfully the Tomahawks left Nottingham with no injuries, no suspensions but most importantly with the 2 points in the bag.
Spirit of the Game; #5 Jack Davies,
Goals; Harry Harley 2+3, Dale Sharp 1+1, Jack Davies 1+0, Adam Finlinson 1+0, Ben Richards 0+2, Sean Bamling 0+1.
PIM`s Whitley 26, Nottingham 30.
Shots Faced. Mark Turnbull ( Whitley ) 14, Tom Hovell ( Nottingham ) 44.