Thriller as Barons battle through to clinch the Double

Motor Nation Solihull Barons : 3
(after shootout)
Nottingham Lions : 2

Laidler Play-off Final

21st April 2014

Easter Monday saw the Motor Nation Solihull Barons take on the Nottingham Lions in the culmination of the Easter Weekend Laidler play-off tournament. Both sides had come through testing semi-finals earlier in the weekend. The Barons were made to work hard by the Widnes Wild in the first semi-final while the Nottingham Lions had been pushed to overtime by a determined Coventry Blaze.

A strong crowd had gathered at Hobs Moat rink to support the respective sides in Monday's final and it was the Barons who held most of the ascendency during the first period. While the Barons forward lines peppered the Lions goal mouth repeatedly during the first twenty minutes, nothing was getting past Nottingham's popular netminder Alan Levers in his final game before retiring from the sport. While the Barons were pushing forward, the Lions showed they too could be a threat and this danger was realised in the eighteenth minute as a two man Nottingham breakaway bore down on the Barons goal. While goalie, Josh Nicholls dealt with the initial shot, the rebound found Dan Hazeldine who took the opportunity to put the Lions a goal up going into the first period break.

The second period began with further Barons pressure which resulted in Solihull's opening goal, Connor Hubbuck waiting for holes to appear in the Lions defence before firing home. Four minutes later and the Lions exploited confusion around the Solihull net to regain the lead, Slawomir Kaspzar doing the honours. The Barons continued to push however and the reward came five minutes from the period end, Connor Hubbuck finding Rich Slater on the back post who calmly slotted the puck into the space created in the Lions net to set things back even for the final period.

The final period continued in much the same manner, the Barons pushing forward but being continually frustrated by strong Lions defence and netminding while the Lions, continually keeping a forward high, were an ever present threat on the breakaway. Despite the best efforts of both sides, the score remained deadlocked at two apiece after regulation time, while a further five minutes overtime could not separate the sides.

The final therefore would be decided by penalties. Nottingham's Connor Glossop saw his first shot parried by Josh Nicholls in the Barons net. Josh Bruce was up next, the Barons winger waiting until Alan Levers had committed before finding space in the left hand side of the Lions net. The second round proved scoreless with Luke Branin and Joe Henry being thwarted by Nicholls and Levers respectively. Josh Nicholls faced down Dan Hazeldine for the Lions third shot, blocking the Lions shot, securing his shootout shutout and clinching the Laidler Playoff for the Barons.

As the Barons celebrated it was good to reflect on the inaugural Laidler Play-offs which saw four sides give their all on the ice to produce three massively entertaining and closely fought ties highlighting the very best in National League hockey.

A classic season then for the Barons with a couple of pieces of shiny metalwork for the trophy cabinet as reward. The players will gather once more for the end of season presentation evening on the 3rd of May to which all supporters are invited (see box to the right).

Stay tuned to solihull-barons.net and the Barons facebook over the Summer as the 2014-15 Barons come together and details of both warm-up and regular season games are announced.

See you all next year - a lot to live up to thanks to the efforts of your Solihull Barons !

Barons goals : Hubbuck, R Slater, J Bruce (shootout)
Barons assists : R Slater, Eaton, Hubbuck, Rodger
Barons MoM : Connor Hubbuck

Presentation Evening End of Season Presentation Evening The Barons players have asked to have a End of Season Presentation which will take place Saturday 3rd May 2014 at the super venue the New Waterside, on Birmingham Business Park 8pm.until Late, There will be a Disco, Hot & Cold Buffet and the Presentation. Tickets are £10-00 each, and are available from players, committee or myself. This is a night not to be missed. It’s our chance to come and discuss the season with the players and have a great time. John Butler, Chairman      To book please contact JOHN BUTLER 0121 770 8000 info@pbsports.co.uk