Deeside Dragons – Solihull Barons

Recap

The EDG Property Solihull Barons were edged out on Sunday evening by the Deeside Dragons in a closely fought game which could have gone either way but as it had in the Barons last visit a few weeks ago, the points stayed in North Wales.

The first period would see the Barons take an early lead, Niklas Ottosson netting following support from the Mulcahys after less than 30 seconds on the clock. The home side would emerge from the first twenty with three unanswered goals of their own thanks to Jared Dickinson, Petr Valusiak and Michael Clancy. This would set in train an escalating goal chase of the Dragons by the Barons which would dominate the rest of the game.

The second period began with the Dragons further easing out their lead as Andrew McKinney slotted the puck between the pipes before the Barons brought themselves back into contention with a trio of goals from Phil Mulcahy and a pair from Niklas Ottosson. No sooner had the Barons dragged themselves level once more than Valusiak would get his second goal to ensure the Dragons would emerge for the final period a goal to the good.

The final period would see the sides trading goals a pair for Brodie Jesson of the Dragons balanced by goals from Sam Chandler and Phil Mulcahy for the Barons before Niklas Ottosson brought the sides level with 5 minutes to go. Hopes of a Barons win – or at least pushing things into overtime – were unfortunately extinguished quickly as Andrew McKinney quickly found a winner for the Dragons.

In a quirk of scheduling, the Barons played their two away ties to Deeside within a single month, early in the season and will not now face the Dragons again until the end of January, this time at Hobs Moat before a second visit of Deeside just a fortnight later. Before then however there is a lot of hockey to play. The next two weekends sees the Barons on the road as they make trips to Blackburn this Sunday before heading to Widnes on the 11th of November. The Barons return to Hobs Moat, and to Sunday games, on the 19th of November when the play host to the Nottingham Lions – face-off 5.30pm.

Barons Man of the Match, Niklas Ottosson

Dragons Man of the Match, Brodie Jesson