Solihull Barons – Blackburn Hawks

Recap

EDG Property Solihull Barons : 5
Blackburn Hawks : 3

 

In front of a near 700 strong crowd, the EDG Property Solihull Barons battled their way to the runner-up spot in the 23-24 Moralee league in a thrilling game ultimately decided by three goals in the final two minutes of the tie.

For the Barons though it would be a slow start. Five minutes into the first and the Hawks were the first to find the net, a breakaway by Jacob Lutwyche putting the visitors into the lead. By nearly ten minutes Blackburn were two ahead as Lee Pollitt and Adam Barnes combined to move Graham Laverick across the crease on the powerplay and give the latter the Hawks second goal. With no further scoring the Barons head to the dressing room with work to do in the second.

The middle period would continue with the sides well matched and despite some powerplays each way the score remained unchanged until the 11th minute as Charlie Webb found the Hawks net from short range to bring the Barons onto the score sheet. Within a minute of the restart the Barons had drawn level as Alex Whyte drew the Barons level once more.

Five minutes into the third and the Barons edged into the lead for the first time as a Jacob Smith shot from the left hand point found Niklas Ottosson and Aaron Moody before squirming into the Blackburn net. The lead would hold until the final two minutes of the game and a Hawks powerplay, Lee Pollitt netting into the top right corner of the Solihull goal for the visitors to draw things level. This however would almost immediately be countered as the Barons Richard Crowe fired home for Solihull’s fourth and this was almost immediately followed by the Barons fifth thanks to a Niklas Ottosson breakaway which fed Alex Whyte to convert beyond Ben Keddie and confirm the Barons as Moralee runners-up.

A big thanks too, to the supporters who came out last night and to those who stayed on for the forum to see how they can contribute to the 24-25 effort – we really appreciate it.

The Barons will now face 7th place Widnes in this weekend’s quarter finals. This will be a two legged affair with the Saturday in Cheshire, while the Barons will hold the deciding leg at Planet Ice Solihull on Sunday 31st March at the later than normal face-off time of 7pm.

Barons Man of the Match, Graham Laverick

Hawks Man of the Match, Ben Keddie

Elsewhere in the League

Saturday 23rd March
Nottingham Lions : 3 – 6 : Whitley Warriors

Sunday 24th March
Billingham Stars : 2 – 5 : Whitley Warriors
Deeside Dragons : 6 – 1 : Widnes Wild
Sheffield Scimitars : 2 – 4 : Hull Jets