Hexagon Telford Tigers 2 welcomes Blackburn Hawks 2 to Telford Ice Rink on Saturday night where they faced each other in their first clash of the 2019/20 Laidler Campaign.
Much to everyone’s delight, Tigers 2 welcomed back Callum Griffin to the roster who has been out from an injury since the first weekend in September after being hospitalised with an injury to his neck. Another familiar face who returned to Tigers 2 on Saturday was defenceman, Henry Adams.
Once again, netminders Ryan Lewis and Oli Johnson shared the crease for the game but first between the pipes was Ryan Lewis. Similarly, for Blackburn; the Hawks netminders also shared the crease.
A ropey first minute saw Hawks take the lead only 54 seconds into the game which ultimately fired up the Tigers to get their game together and an equalising goal was found by Tigers returnee, Oliver Hunt just before the 4-minute mark.
This set up the Tigers nicely for the rest of the period with further goals from Supa, Anderton, Preece, Bartholomew and a hat trick goal from Oli Hunt. The period ended in the Tigers favour; 7 goals to 1.
The puck dropped for the second period and it was more of the same… Goals! Goals! Goals! Despite a solid and persistent effort from the Hawks, not one of their 7 shots could find their way into the Tigers net. A quieter period for Tigers only saw them succeed with 2 of the 20 shots which were on goal.
Tigers had certain control of the game at the end of the second period, with a comfortable 8 goal lead.
The hosts opened the third period with a goal from fan favourite, Callum Griffin; which was then followed by a further 7 goals including a gaol from Harrison and hat-tricks from Thomason and Jolly.
A scrap-less, goal filled game ended having seen 70 shots on goal from the Tigers, and 20 shots on goal for Hakws; a remarkable and determined effort for both Hawks’ netminders.
Final Score:Hexagon Telford Tigers 2 (17) Blackburn Hawks 2 (1)
Scorers: Oli Hunt, Filip Supa, Brandon Anderton, Liam Preece, Liam Bartholomew, Henry Adams, Callum Griffin, Simon Harrison, Dan Thomason, Jordan Jolly
Man of the match: Jordan Jolly
After the game, Assistant Coach Doug Wildman commented; “A few line changes were made by Ces with a couple of lads missing and of course, the return of Griff [Calllum Griffin] who is back from his injury. The game went as planned, having get to see many of our plays in action. We moved the puck around nice and took our changed with three of the lads getting their first hat-tricks of the season, which is always great to see.”
