TC Cars Solihull Barons – Blackburn Hawks

Recap

TC Cars Solihull Barons : 13
Blackburn Hawks : 5
EIHA Midlands Cup

The TC Cars Solihull Barons continued their impressive early season form with a convincing Midlands Cup win over the Blackburn Hawks on Sunday in a high scoring game which flowed both ways at times but with the tide always with the Barons.

The Barons got off to a quick start as Andy Whitehouse fed the puck to Ruskin Hughes three minutes after the puck drop, the Solihull #97 slotting the puck between the pads of a butterflying Niks Trapans. Solihull doubled their advantage after twelve minutes thanks to a powerplay opportunity, Dave Rogers finding Adie Brittle skating in on the left hand side for the Barons second. As the period wore on however the Hawks began to exert their own pressure, keeping Sam Hewitt in the Solihull net busy and pinning back the Barons offence. The score however would remain unchanged and Solihull headed to the dressing at the end of the first twenty minutes, two goals to the good.

By contrast to the Blackburn pressure play at the end of the first period the second began with a flurry of Solihull goals, the home side finding the net no less than four times in two minutes. The first of these was a Daniel Mulcahy effort which was juggled over Trapans, for the Barons third. Within seconds of the restart Adam Brittle had poked the puck round a prone Trapans for number four and Matt Maurice added number five on a breakaway. The final goal of the quartet was perhaps the sweetest as Niklas Ottosson simultaneously bluffed his way through two Blackburn D-men before passing to Tom Soar for the finish.

This flurry of unanswered scoring forced the Blackburn bench into calling a timeout which did the trick, not only stemming the Barons goal flood but sparking a revival for the Lancashire side. On 23 minutes a Barons defensive lapse allowed Hawk James Royds in on goal and a minute later team mate Petr Valusiak was gifted the time and space to slot the puck over Sam Hewitt’s blocker. Two more Blackburn goals courtesy of Jared Dickinson and James Riddoch would follow before the half hour mark to see Solihull’s once convincing six goal buffer cut to two. With five minutes to go the Barons eased out once more, Daniel Harrison with a short handed breakaway, managing to find the net despite carrying a Blackburn d-man piggy-back for much of the attack. By period end the Barons were back to four goals to the good as Matt Maurice converted for Solihull’s eighth of the evening.

The Barons started the final period racking up a series of back to back two minute minor penalties. The Hawks taking the chance with one of these to add to their tally – Royds doing the scoring. The Barons however had their measure even short-handed, 17 year old debutante Henry Adams breaking away before passing to Tom Soar to push out the Solihull cushion to four goals once more.

The Barons would move into double figures with eight minutes left as a Tom Soar shot from the point took a deflection en route to the Blackburn net. This would signal another bundle of Barons goals as the Hawks seemed unable to respond – Tom Soar, Ruskin Hughes and Daniel Mulcahy all making sure of personal multi-goal nights.

The Barons are back at Hobs Moat Road this Sunday for another Midlands Cup tie. This time they will face off against the Sheffield based Sutton Sting. With the two sides still undefeated in the Cup and yet to meet in the league, the game will be an important one not only for Cup seeding but also for league psychology. Face off 5:30pm, Sunday 10th November.

Barons Man of the Match, Tom Soar

Hawks Man of the Match, James Royds