(Image permission: Keith & Jenny Davies)
LANCASHIRE, UK – Hull Pirates are five points behind Moralee D1 leaders Sheffield Steeldogs with a game in hand after recording two victories over the weekend.
Matty Davies hit a hat-trick in their 6-3 win at Solway Sharks and he followed up with another four goals as Hull demolished Deeside Dragons 20-3 back on home ice.
James Spurr (2) topped the scoring for Sheffield in their 5-2 home success against Whitley Warriors.
Telford picked up four points, winning 11-1 at home to Deeside and 9-0 at Nottingham Lions.
Niklas Ottosson (3) led the way for Solihull Barons in their 6-2 home victory over Blackburn Hawks.
Billingham Stars are out of the NIHL National Cup. The Stars won 6-5 at Blackburn, but their 7-3 defeat at home to Solway ended their interest in the competition.
Widnes Wild closed the gap on Laidler D2 leaders Altrincham Aces to just one point courtesy of an 11-6 victory at home to Deeside Dragons 2. The North Wales side had better luck the previous day as they ran out 12-3 winners at home to Blackburn Hawks 2.
Dominic Martin (2), Brady Doxey (2) and Scott Morris were on target for Sutton Sting in their 5-0 home win against Altrincham.
Hull Jets enjoyed a four point weekend, winning 8-1 at home to Coventry Blaze NIHL and 16-0 at Blackburn 2.
Coventry bounced back with a 4-3 home success against Sheffield Senators, while Telford Tigers 2 won 4-2 at home to Bradford Bulldogs.
PHN’s top two talking points
Hull’s duty is to their own fans
Hull Pirates’ top line forwards came in for criticism for helping themselves to 24 points in their side’s demolition of Deeside Dragons on Sunday.
The dreaded “development league” tag raised its head once again, with suggestions that those players should reduce their ice time to give others lower down the roster more playing time.
When clubs are charging fans around £10 to watch a game they have a duty to put on the best performance they can. That’s what Hull did. Deeside’s current struggles are none of their concern.
While we’re discussing Deeside
Deeside’s D1 team are having a miserable time right now, but you can guarantee that the players currently pulling on the shirt are doing all they can to turn things around.
Their newly-formed D2 team have also found things tough on their debut season in the league, but there were certainly signs of improvement over the weekend.
They followed up a home victory over Blackburn with a strong showing against promotion-chasing Widnes and should take plenty of confidence from those two performances.
WEEKEND RESULTS
Moralee D1
Hull Pirates 20-3 Deeside Dragons
Nottingham Lions 0-9 Telford Tigers
Sheffield Steeldogs 5-2 Whitley Warriors
Solihull Barons 6-2 Blackburn Hawks
Solway Sharks 3-6 Hull Pirates
Telford Tigers 11-1 Deeside Dragons
Laidler D2
Blackburn Hawks 2 0-16 Hull Jets Andrew
Coventry Blaze NIHL 4-3 Sheffield Senators
Deeside Dragons 2 12-3 Blackburn Hawks 2
Hull Jets 8-1 Coventry Blaze NIHL
Sutton Sting 5-0 Altrincham Aces
Telford Tigers 2 4-2 Bradford Bulldogs
Widnes Wild 11-6 Deeside Dragons 2
NIHL National Cup
Blackburn Hawks 5-6 Billingham Stars
Billingham Stars 3-7 Solway Sharks
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