Solihull Barons – Deeside Dragons

Recap

Zoo Accounting Solihull Barons : 10
Deeside Dragons : 2

The Zoo Accounting Solihull Barons emerged with a comfortable victory on Saturday night over a Deeside Dragons side who kept Solihull honest for the first half of the game before the home side gained the momentum and ran away with the match and the points.

The visiting Dragons showed no signs of bus legs as the puck was dropped for the first period. Less than a minute in, Petr Valusiak found a way past Graham Laverick via a rebound to open the scoring. Niklas Ottosson levelled things up however within a minute, a close range shot defeating Phillip Pearson. The middle phase of the period would see a number of penalties but it would not be until the thirteenth minute that the scoring deadlock was broken, a Phil Mulcahy cross from the bottom of the left hand circle finding Niklas Ottosson square in the slot to give Solihull their second of the night.

Four minutes into the second and Solihull notched up their third goal of the night. A powerplay opportunity saw the Barons cycling the puck before Matt Maurice sent the rubber home. This was reinforced further within the minute as Filip Byfält made the most of his chance and deked the keeper for Solihull’s number 4. Thoughts that the Dragons might lie down were quickly dispelled with Michael Clancy quickly countering to pull the margin back down to two goals. With three minutes to go the Barons had however eked out their margin once more, Matt Maurice stroking the puck home from just outside the crease off of a Richard Crowe feed on the powerplay.

Two minutes into the final period and the Barons eased their margin out to four goals as Pearson failed to scoop a short range Filip Byfält shot from trickling over the red line. The Barons continued to control the game as the short benched Dragons struggled to keep pace. In the 49th minute Dan Mulcahy was spotted coming into space off the bench by Matt Maurice and deftly fired home past Pearson for Solihull’s 7th while the Barons 8th would follow within a minute, Niklas Ottosson with his hat trick. Matt Maurice would add to his personal and the Barons overall tally with a sniped shot from the right hand post with five minutes to go while Richard Slater would push the Barons into double figures with an opportunistic goal in the final minutes.

This  tie was also played as part of the EIHA Pride Week initiative with appropriate helmet stickers and a ceremonial puck drop to show support for the cause. More on this can be found on the EIHA website here.

The Barons are back at home today and hoping for a 4 point weekend as they play host to the Widnes Wild in another mid-table clash. Face-off 5:30pm.

Barons Man of the Match, Matt Maurice

Dragons Man of the Match, Petr Valusiak