Solihull Barons – Blackburn Hawks

Recap

Zoo Accounting Solihull Barons : 4
Blackburn Hawks : 3

The Solihull Barons got an important win on Sunday evening following a closely fought battle with the Blackburn Hawks in a game which went right down to the final whistle.

The Barons got the first score of the evening, Dan Mulcahy tapping in his own rebound off of a Richard Crowe feed on the powerplay with the clock 5 minutes in. This lead would double 7 and a half minutes in as Filip Byfält took a sweet shot in from the right hand circle. The Hawks would counter and peg the Barons back during a spell of 4 on 4 play after 12 and a half minutes as Matthew Cross and Jacob Lutwyche broke away to slot the puck beyond Graham Laverick in the Solihull net. As the period went on the tempo and physicality heated up as but there was no further scoring.

Four minutes into the second the Hawks got their second, Tate Shudra firing home on the powerplay. The Barons would quickly restore their lead with a Richard Slater effort a minute later on a delayed penalty. By the back end of the period the Barons ran into penalty trouble putting them on the backfoot and despite some chances for both sides late on, the scores remained separated by the single goal going into the third.

Five minutes into the final period and the Barons got their fourth and eased out their margin through a superb Richard Crowe slapshot from the blue line square in front of goal. The Hawks came back however as with a little over six minutes to go Damarni James slid the puck beneath Laverick to bring the score to 4-3. By the end of the period penalties went to both sides to leave a tense final few minutes but with the Barons managing to do just enough to bring home the win.

The Barons have a busy couple of weekends coming up. Next weekend they make the trip North to take on the Solway Sharks on Saturday before once more meeting the Blackburn Hawks on Sunday at the Lancashire side’s rink. The following weekend sees an away tie on the Saturday against the in-form Deeside before a return to Hobs Moat for an encounter with the Billingham Stars on Sunday 12th March. See you there !!!! #COYB

Barons Man of the Match, Filip Byfält

Hawks Man of the Match, Jacob Lutwyche