Recap

The Direct Taxis Solihull Barons welcomed back fan favourites Sam Hewitt and Niklas Ottosson on Sunday evening for their first games in 18 months but the squad as a whole had a troublesome evening when they came unstuck against a highly experienced and well organised Sheffield Scimitars.

The first ten minutes of the game were marked by intense high energy play but with neither side being able to pin the opposition back long enough to find an opening. The best chance of this spell was on a Scimitars powerplay when the shorthanded Barons broke away and a neat pass from Callum Bowley saw Niklas Ottosson come close to converting. The Scimitars were however the first to score on 12 minutes as Vladimir Luka dodged a number of Barons on his way up the ice before slotting home beyond Hewitt. A few minutes later and Sheffield doubled their lead as Jamie Hovell and Harry Hopkins got Sam Hewitt and the Barons D moving around to create the space for another goal. The ice continued to slide down towards the Barons end and by the end of the first period Stanislav Lascek got the Scimitars third, taking his time to position a neat shot in on Sam Hewitt from the slot.

Despite starting the second brightly the Barons continued to haemorrhage goals, Hopkins adding Sheffield’s fourth without answer, 5 minutes into the period. With five minutes of the middle period to go the Barons gave up their fifth, a line change exposing space on the far side which the oncoming D were unable to get set-up to cover and Lascek exploited the gaps.

The Barons finally found the goal two minutes into the final period as Tom Soar netted. This would be quickly countered as a soft rebound on a Sheffield powerplay was not shepherded, leading to an easy tap-in for Lascek’s hat-trick. The Scimitars kept adding to their tally with a further goal with 5 minutes to go, Ruskin Hughes going down an open path in the middle of the ice for Sheffield’s seventh before Elliot Knell concluded the visitor’s account a minute later.

So plenty for Callum Bowley and his men to work on ahead of a busy weekend which will see a trip up the M6 to take on the Blackburn Hawks on Saturday, before the Barons play host to reigning Moralee Champions, the Whitley Warriors, on Sunday in what is likely to be a game combining equally high measures of skill and physicality.

Barons Man of the Match – Dan Mulcahy

Scimitars Man of the Match – James Hadfield