(Image permission: Duncan Speirs)
BILLINGHAM, UK – This week’s Moralee D1 games, for the most part, went to form this week with just two exceptions.
League leaders Sheffield Steeldogs were given a real run for their money on Saturday by Sutton Sting, with the other ‘Nottinghamshire’ side coming back from 4-1 down with 12 minutes remaining to eventually fall to a 5-4 defeat.
The only other game going slightly against the form guide was Solihull defeating Blackburn, as the Hawks had won four of their last five and the Barons having the polar opposite with four defeats in their last five.
Team Stats
Special teams stayed very much the same this week with only four powerplay goals scored across five games. Blackburn saw mixed fortunes on the powerplay and the penalty kill, with their PP going one for eight and dropping two places to 9th with Billingham Stars and Whitley Warriors the beneficiaries.
The PK fared better however as they conceded one goal on nine kills scoring a short-handed goal in the process moving them above the Warriors into 4th. There was no movement in terms of special team effectiveness.
| Powerplay % | Penalty Kill % | Special Teams | |||||
| Hull | 39.47% | Hull | 91.89% | Hull | 131.36 | ||
| Telford | 39.39% | Sheffield | 88.89% | Telford | 124.39 | ||
| Sheffield | 27.91% | Telford | 85.00% | Sheffield | 116.80 | ||
| Solway | 25.49% | Blackburn | 83.05% | Blackburn | 101.65 | ||
| Solihull | 20.83% | Whitley | 82.14% | Whitley | 101.49 | ||
| Sutton | 20.00% | Sutton | 78.33% | Solway | 100.49 | ||
| Whitley | 19.35% | Solway | 75.00% | Sutton | 98.33 | ||
| Billingham | 18.97% | Billingham | 71.43% | Billingham | 90.40 | ||
| Blackburn | 18.60% | Nottingham | 66.67% | Solihull | 84.76 | ||
| Nottingham | 10.17% | Solihull | 63.93% | Nottingham | 77.38 |
Billingham reaped the rewards of a one-game weekend against basement side Nottingham Lions to make a one place gain in both shots for and against after taking 76 and only allowing 15.
Shooting percentage saw the most movement of any statistical area this week with Billingham moving up two places to 5th, Solihull and Sutton moving up one place each to 3rd and 8th respectively.
On the negative side Sheffield (4th), Solway Sharks (6th), Blackburn (7th) and Nottingham (9th) all dropped a place.
| Shots For Per Game | Shots Against Per Game | Shot % | |||||
| Hull | 63.78 | Hull | 22.33 | Telford | 18.50% | ||
| Solway | 47.45 | Sheffield | 25.42 | Hull | 15.85% | ||
| Telford | 47.44 | Telford | 30.67 | Solihull | 13.40% | ||
| Sheffield | 43.58 | Solway | 30.90 | Sheffield | 13.19% | ||
| Whitley | 39.87 | Billingham | 35.08 | Billingham | 12.03% | ||
| Solihull | 37.80 | Blackburn | 35.45 | Solway | 11.49% | ||
| Blackburn | 36.18 | Whitley | 38.13 | Blackburn | 10.55% | ||
| Billingham | 35.33 | Sutton | 41.00 | Sutton | 9.01% | ||
| Sutton | 31.80 | Solihull | 42.53 | Nottingham | 8.85% | ||
| Nottingham | 20.33 | Nottingham | 68.07 | Whitley | 8.36% |
Even strength scoring again saw the Teessiders making gains and entering into positive even strength differential. The Stars’ 13-goal performance with 12 at even strength saw them leapfrog Whitley, Sutton and Blackburn going from 9th to 6th.
They also jumped the Hawks in even strength goals against after only conceding on the PK. The Hawks also dropped on even strength differential moving back into the negative.
| Even Strength For | Even Strength Against | Even Strength Diff | |||||
| Hull | 7.89 | Hull | 1.11 | Hull | 6.78 | ||
| Telford | 6.78 | Sheffield | 1.50 | Telford | 5.00 | ||
| Sheffield | 4.42 | Telford | 1.78 | Sheffield | 2.92 | ||
| Solway | 3.82 | Solway | 2.36 | Solway | 1.45 | ||
| Solihull | 3.80 | Billingham | 3.00 | Solihull | 0.20 | ||
| Billingham | 3.08 | Blackburn | 3.18 | Billingham | 0.08 | ||
| Blackburn | 2.73 | Solihull | 3.60 | Blackburn | -0.45 | ||
| Sutton | 2.67 | Whitley | 3.73 | Whitley | -1.40 | ||
| Whitley | 2.33 | Sutton | 4.20 | Sutton | -1.53 | ||
| Nottingham | 1.27 | Nottingham | 7.47 | Nottingham | -6.20 |
Individual Stats
Hull player/coach Jason Hewitt remains top of the scoring race after a five-point game against Nottingham. Hewitt is joined by fellow Pirates Matty Davies and Bobby Chamberlain (=3rd) on 32 points and Lee Bonner (=5th) with 30.
Solihull’s Niklas Ottosson stays in 2nd place after a two assist performance against Blackburn on Sunday and he is joined in the top 10 by the league’s top goalscorer Luke Brittle (=5th).
Whitley’s main man Ben Campbell is the final man in =5th despite the Warriors not playing this weekend.#
Milan Kolena drops to 8th place, while Sheffield teammate Ashley Calvert (pictured) comes into the top 10 at the expense of Doug Clarkson whose Telford Tigers side didn’t play a league game this weekend. Clarkson’s teammate Andrew McKinney held his place at 9th.
The top players from the remaining five teams are Stan Lascek (Sutton =11th), Chris Sykes (Billingham =14th), Ric Bentham (Solway =16th), Adam Barnes (Blackburn =20th) and Ruskin Hughes (Nottingham =25th).
| Name | Team | GP | G | A | P | PPG |
| J Hewitt | Hull | 9 | 19 | 18 | 37 | 4.11 |
| N Ottosson | Solihull | 15 | 7 | 26 | 33 | 2.20 |
| M Davies | Hull | 7 | 6 | 26 | 32 | 4.57 |
| B Chamberlain | Hull | 9 | 15 | 17 | 32 | 3.56 |
| L Bonner | Hull | 9 | 15 | 15 | 30 | 3.33 |
| L Brittle | Solihull | 13 | 20 | 10 | 30 | 2.31 |
| B Campbell | Whitley | 14 | 19 | 11 | 30 | 2.14 |
| M Kolena | Sheffield | 12 | 10 | 19 | 29 | 2.42 |
| A McKinney | Telford | 9 | 6 | 19 | 25 | 2.78 |
| A Calvert | Sheffield | 11 | 16 | 8 | 24 | 2.18 |
Top 5 Netminders
As the season rolls on the number of shots faced required to count towards the top five netminders in the league increases. At this stage the decision has been taken to increase the number from 50 to 100, meaning Josh Nicholls comes off the board.
Fucik keeps his place atop the standings for now until that number creeps above his 133 shots faced. In 2nd place is Tom Hovell who has impressed this season after being brought in to compete with Denis Bell who sits 5th on this list.
Two Sheffield netminders split the Telford pair as Dima Zimozdra and Brandon Stones are 3rd and 4th.
| Name | Team | SAG | GA | SAVE % |
| T Fucik | Hull | 133 | 5 | 96.24% |
| T Hovell | Telford | 106 | 8 | 92.45% |
| D Zimozdra | Sheffield | 153 | 12 | 92.16% |
| B Stones | Sheffield | 147 | 12 | 91.84% |
| D Bell | Telford | 149 | 14 | 90.60% |
| Min 100 shots |
A Final Thought
This was a weekend that was being watched quite closely in respect of the bottom of the table. 10th placed Lions facing 9th placed Stars was a particularly intriguing one. Unfortunately it really showed the gulf in class between Nottingham and the rest of the league.
While the Stars sit 8th in terms of point percentage, they still technically represent the Lions’ closest competition and so you would expect them to give the Stars a good go. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
The Lions’ first shot on goal came after the 10-minute mark and they only mustered 15 to the Stars’ 76! While no-one can question the heart and the tenacity of the Lions, the skill level just isn’t there. When the end of the season rolls around and we start looking ahead to next year maybe something needs to change.
While it is all dependent on other potential moves (Hull to the Elite League has been touted), one potential option could be to include Murayfield Racers.
The SNL club have not done much in this year’s cup competition outside of a couple of close defeats to Hawks and Sharks, but they do have good financial backing and aspirations of top flight hockey down the line.
With a good group behind them it could be feasible for the Lions to drop back to Laidler D2 and Racers come into Moralee in their place.
The unpopular bit of this would be them moving straight into D1 as the Sharks had to spend a year in D2. Food for thought though?
