Autocraft Telford Tigers travelled to Berkshire to take on the Bees who sat bottom of the table. Tigers has announced during the week that import forward David Thomson had returned from injury and would replace Vladimir Luka as the team’s third import with Luka playing the rest of the season for the Laidler Division team. Despite the return of Thomson, the team were still short benched and Jake Price was added to the injury list and is out for the season.
A fractious game saw both teams trade penalties early on and scrappy play throughout. The only goal of the first period went to the visitors. Louie Newell’s shot from distance was deflected by Eric Henderson past Bees’ net minder Max Wright.
Just two minutes into the second period the Tigers’ lead was doubled when Danny Rose intercepted a pass on the Bees’ blue line and sent a shot in on goal. The shot hit James Smith and landed perfectly for Thomson to score.
Four minutes from the break, Henderson scored a second goal when Adam Harding led a break up the ice and found the unmarked Henderson who beat Wright to score Telford’s third goal.
Within a minute the home side got on the scoreboard with a goal from close range by Josh Martin.
Telford played sensible hockey for much of the third period and kept the clock running, shutting down the Bees’ attack. The win was sealed seven minutes from the end of the match when Scott McKenzie sent Devon Skoleski clear on goal. Skoleski hit a terrific wrist shot in off the bar for Telford’s fourth goal.
Tigers gain a much needed win on the road and two vital points in the standings.
Final Score: Berkshire Bees 1 Autocraft Telford Tigers 4.
Scorers: Eric Henderson (2), David Thomson and Devon Skoleski.
Man of the match: Brad Day.
After the game Head Coach Tom Watkins, commented, “That was a solid effort tonight a real gritty hard fought road win. The players dug deep and battled hard but we were also smart with the way we moved the puck. We made a lot of good plays and when we needed to play with a physical edge, we did.
Brad (Day) was solid in goal and you could see he was dialled in which gave the team a lot of confidence.”
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