Solihull Barons – Nottingham Lions

Recap

EDG Property Solihull Barons : 9
Nottingham Lions : 1

The EDG Property Solihull Barons emerged victorious on Sunday evening in a penalty strewn match against second-bottom side the Nottingham Lions, keeping the Barons in contention for 2nd seed for the play-offs with only two games to go.

Despite an opening spell of penalty interspersed and end to end play it took until the twelfth minute for a score to go on the board, Phil Mulcahy, with a short range bundling of the puck into the Lions net. Matt Maurice added to the Solihull tally three minutes later with another close in shot on the near post off of support from Max Soden The Barons Brandon Anderton added a third within the minute, the number 11 steering in a Filip Byfält feed.

The Barons scoring continued into the second period as Phil Mulcahy again out-foxed Lions goalie Isaac Ballinger from a metre or so out in the first five minutes of the period while Philip Byfält added Solihull’s fifth goal on the half hour mark.

As the third period began, things became increasingly fractious with numerous penalties being handed out. Perhaps the goal of the night would come 5 minutes into the third as Alex Whyte for the Barons fired home from the right hand boards with a shot which cannoned into the Lions net and sent Isaac Ballinger’s water bottle flying. A minute later Niklas Ottosson added to the Solihull score sweeping the puck netwards via an assist from Phil Mulcahy. Niklas would lodge his own ‘best goal of the night’ contender 11 minutes out as a short handed break away saw the Swede switch the puck around Bellinger before slotting home backhanded. The Lions would however get their own goal in the same powerplay, Nicholas Martin finally getting the puck in the net for the visitors. The Barons were quickly back on the scoring trail with their ninth of the evening, Brandon Anderton picking up his second goal..

The Barons will face the Billingham Stars up in Teeside next weekend in a tricky away tie. The Stars lead the league and have been very strong on home ice but a recent surprise cup defeat to Blackburn shows that it should be possible to pick up points. The Barons conclude their regular season back home at Hobs Moat on the 24th March when their opponents will be the Blackburn Hawks in a head to head tie which could decide the, down to the wire, league runners up place.

Barons Man of the Match : Brandon Anderton

Lions Man of the Match : Nicholas Martin

Around the League

Saturday 9th March

Deeside Dragons : 6 – 1 : Blackburn Hawks
Hull Jets : 6 – 5 : Nottingham Lions
Sheffield Scimitars  : 6 – 9 : Billingham Stars

Sunday 10th March

Billingham Stars : 1 – 2 : Hull Jets
Blackburn Hawks : 8 – 1 : Sheffield Scimitars
Deeside Dragons : 7 – 5 : Whitley Warriors