Solihull Barons – Blackburn Hawks

Recap

The Direct Taxis Solihull Barons stormed back into form with a fluid and confidence boosting display over the Blackburn Hawks on Sunday evening.

After four minutes the Barons were the first to make a mark on the scoresheet as a shot from Niklas Ottosson some way out but square on net bounced up and over Michael Rogers stick and into the Blackburn net. Within seconds of the restart the Barons has got the second as some behind the net play gave Dan Mulcahy the short range shot on the near post. By seven minutes the Barons had their third, from Dan Mulcahy once more, this time with a ranged shot on the powerplay.

Three minutes into the second period and the visitors slotted the puck into the Solihull net for the first time as Petr Valusiak floated the puck over Graham Laverick’s glove to bring the score to 3-1 in favour of the Barons. The Barons would get their fourth goal mid-period courtesy of some vintage Niklas Ottosson, a pick up in the neutral zone seeing the #91 bluff Rogers into committing before steering the puck round the Hawks goalie and into the net. A minute later and Solihull got their fifth, Jordan Jolly this time and within seconds of the restart the Barons found the net for the sixth goal as Dan Mulcahy notched up his hat-trick.

With 5 minutes of the second period left and having just survived a powerplay unscathed, Solihull had ticked the scoreboard over once more – Niklas Ottosson with the final tap in. The Hawks did offer some push back and shortly after got their second as Valusiak tapped in a rebound off of a James Parsons shot. Niklas Ottosson would however quickly counter – working his way through the Hawks defence before some one-two play with James Smith gave the Swede the chance to deke Bayley Hodkinson for Solihull’s eighth of the evening. The goal tide continued as Andy Whitehouse pushed the lead out further.

The Barons hit double figures less than a minute into the third – Tom Soar taking his turn scoring this time. Eight minutes in and some lovely passing interplay between Ottosson, Smith and Soar gave the latter another Barons goal. Further goals from Niklas Ottosson and James Smith would round off a highly productive evening for the Barons.

This result and Billingham’s loss to Widnes confirms Solihull and Sheffield as filling the 4th and 5th places in the end of season Moralee table – the exact order depending on next weekend’s results. This also means the Barons and Scimitars will face each other in the two-legged play-off quarter finals to be held over the 16th and 17th of April. Keep following our social media to get confirmation of the games as we have them.

The Barons complete their regular season campaign on Sunday at home to the Nottingham Lions. The Lions have come a long way in 2021-22. Having been the leagues perennial whipping boys, they have gradually built up their programme and since December have shown they can take on the best with wins over not only the Barons but also the league leading Warriors and Sharks. A good game is therefore in prospect with both sides determined to ready their squads and get the important momentum heading in to the play-off quarter-finals the following weekend.

Barons Man of the Match : Niklas Ottosson

Hawks Man of the Match : Michael Clancy