Hexagon Telford Tigers were looking to end a three game losing streak with a home game against Hull Pirates on Saturday night at Telford Ice Rink.
Tigers had lost to Swindon, Hull and Leeds in their previous games and had seen their lead at the top of the table cut to six points.
Tigers were missing Jonathan Weaver, James Smith and forward Andy McKinney – who was serving the final game of his four game suspension.
Tigers started with Brad Day in goal, Hull started with Ash Smith.
The game started with Tigers having plenty of possession but Hull defended well. Hull were dangerous on the break and Day had to react quickly to prevent Bobby Chamberlain from scoring with a wrap around shot. Shortly after, Chamberlain’s shot went through Day but was cleared from the goal crease. Tigers had two power plays in quick succession after Matty Davies was called for goaltender interference and then Kevin Phillips for kneeing. Despite some neat passing in the Hull zone, Tigers could not score. The two penalties seemed to prevent the officials from calling any more for Tigers during the period. Referee Elward refusing to call a clear cross check on Adam Taylor and a tripping call when Florian was taken down by an errant Hull stick. A further missed call led to a Hull 3-on-2 breakaway when Brandon Whistle was held behind the Hull goal allowing Hull to break. Fortunately for Tigers, Thomas McKinnon reacted quickly to clear the puck. The period ended goalless with both teams heading for a well earned rest.
The second period started in a much more scrappy fashion for Tigers with the team struggling to exit their defensive zone and being caught with a number of icing calls. The failure to exit the zone cost Tigers the opening goal of the game in the 27th minute. Hull recycled the puck and Jonathan Kirk’s shot was saved by Day but Chamberlain was first to the rebound to score for Hull. Within a minute, Hull had doubled their lead and it was from another failure to clear the zone. Davies won the puck on the blue line, skated in on goal and passed to the unmarked Chamberlain at the far post to score. Tigers’ resilience showed as they fought back immediately. Whistle and Scott McKenzie led a breakaway and some neat passing between the two left Fin Howells with an open goal to tap into and halve the deficit. The goal gave Tigers some life and they were level shortly after with a power play goal. Hull’s James Archer was called for hooking Dominik Florian in front of goal. On the subsequent power play, Whistle found Ricky Plant close in on Smith. Plant forced the puck past Smith from close range to draw the sides level.
Tigers were putting their bodies on the line against the dangerous Hull attack with both Howells and Danny Rose throwing themselves in front of shots. The final action of the period saw McKinnon hit the cross bar with a rising slap shot.
The third period was full of controversy and Tigers would end up questioning the officials competence once again. Early in the period Florian was serving a hooking penalty when the puck was hit towards Jason Silverthorn who attempted to knock it out of the air with his glove. The puck appeared to get caught up in his shirt but referee Miller awarded a delay of game penalty for Silverthorn closing his hand on the puck, which incensed the Tigers’ players and fans. Hull were gifted an extended 5-on-3 power play which they fully used to their advantage by scoring through Davies from close range. Miller compounded the fans ire by awarding further penalties after the Hull goal: Tigers’ Brad Day for unsporting conduct and Corey Goodison was given a ten minute misconduct penalty, putting Hull back on a 5-on-3 power play. Hull immediately added a fourth goal through David Norris to further antagonise the Tigers’ fans.
Tigers then had their own 5-on-3 power play after Matt Bissonnette and James Archer were sent to the penalty box but the power play unit was not firing as they would have liked and, despite some pressure, they could not score. Hull scored a fifth goal which looked marginally offside as Davies entered the Tigers’ zone and passed to Bissonnette to set up Lee Haywood to score.
Just as the game looked gone, Tigers fought back again. Smith in the Hull goal cleared the puck straight to McKenzie who passed to the unmarked Whistle in front of goal. Whistle scored at the second attempt to draw Tigers within two goals of the lead. With eight minutes left, Ollie Lord closed the gap to one goal with a slap shot from the blue line that flew past the unsighted Smith.
Tigers poured forward and had a glorious chance to level when Florian went through on goal but his shot was blocked by Smith. Tigers pulled Day for the final two minutes of the game to add an extra attacker but could not get the crucial equalising goal. James Archer scored into the empty net with seconds left to seal the win for Hull and send Tigers crashing to their fourth consecutive defeat. The officials left the ice to a chorus of boos from the home fans.
Final Score: Hexagon Telford Tigers 4 Hull Pirates 6.
Scorers: Fin Howells, Ricky Plant, Brandon Whistle and Ollie Lord.
Man of the match: Fin Howells.
After the game Head Coach Tom Watkins, commented, “The game should always be decided by the players on the ice, disappointingly it didn’t feel like it was tonight. A five minute stretch effectively influenced the result after several poor calls by the officials went against us. We got ourselves back in the game after falling behind in the second period and then again in the third. We pulled it back to one goal and at that point we should have levelled. We had two breakaway chances we should have scored on. We have to pick ourselves up and get back on track.”