Solihull Barons – Widnes Wild

Recap

EDG Property Solihull Barons : 6 (after overtime)
Widnes Wild : 5

The EDG Property Solihull Barons continued their winning ways on home ice on Sunday evening after a highly entertaining Moralee tie against the Widnes Wild in which the momentum see-sawed all night before the sides were split by a Barons overtime winner.

It took 10 minutes of end to end play for a goal to be registered as Bailey Challans in the bottom left corner found Filip Byfält directly in front of goal for the Barons opener. The Barons perhaps held the balance of play for most of the remainder of the first period, their best chances coming from open play with the Wild’s scoring opportunities centred around short range scrambles in the Solihull goal crease. With 30 seconds of the first 20 remaining on the clock, Dan Mulcahy picked up a poorly chosen Wild clearance before slotting it through Wild goale Luca Tessadri’s legs for the Barons second of the night.

Early in the second the Wild pulled a goal back as a tight angled shot from Will Harper slipped through Graham Laverick’s grasp and into the Barons net. Solihull eased out their lead once more within 5 minutes, as Dan Mulcahy converted on a delayed penalty. The two goal cushion was short lived as the home side were once more pegged back via a Mattie Barlow effort. With five minutes to go however a booming Richard Crowe slapshot from the left hand circle on the powerplay once more eased out the Barons 2 goal margin. This margin would see-saw once more within minutes as Rhys Edwards pounced on an insecure Laverick save for a tap-in and Widnes third. Yet again the see-saw pivoted via Phil Mulcahy and Niklas Ottosson in a play which saw the Swede ferry the puck up the ice before making the pass to Mulcahy to score.

Seven and a half minutes into the third and the Wild cut the margin once more, Matty Barlow breaking up the ice to slot the puck between Laverick’s legs for their fourth and within minutes Rhys Edwards for the Wild added to their tally to draw the sides level. The remainder of the period would be increasingly nail-biting as the sides traded penalties and the clock ticked down but there would be no further scoring and overtime was called.

Overtime ran to two minutes with each side having opportunities before Brandon Anderton found the space for Solihull’s sixth and winning goal off of a Jordan Stokes

The Barons and Wild do not have long before they will meet again with the two sides squaring up on Sunday but this time in Widnes. The Barons are back at Hobs Moat on January 20th for our final regular season Saturday game when we play host to the Deeside Dragons, currently just sitting behind the Barons, in third place in the league – face-off 7.00pm.

Barons Man of the Match : Brandon Anderton

Wild Man of the Match : Will Harper

 

WEEKEND ROUNDUP

Saturday 6th January
Blackburn Hawks : 5 – 7 : Deeside Dragons
Hull Jets : 6 – 3 : Widnes Wild
Sheffield Scimitars : 2 – 6 : Billingham Stars

Sunday 7th January
Deeside Dragons : 6 – 3 : Blackburn Hawks
Nottingham Lions : 3 – 4 (OT) : Hull Jets
Whitley Warriors : 5 – 2 : Sheffield Scimitars