(Image permission: Keith & Jenny Davies)
BILLINGHAM, UK – With three teams not playing a league game in Moralee D1 this weekend there have been some movers across the varying statistical categories.
An extremely comfortable victory for Hull Pirates over Nottingham Lions has seen them jump in every statistical area and establish themselves at the top of the tree. Nottingham now sit at the foot of every category.
Special Teams
There were 16 powerplay and four short-handed goals scored in the weekend’s four league fixtures. Hull scored a mammoth seven goals with the man advantage against Nottingham on Sunday evening to propel them from seventh to first in the PP table.
Solihull Barons also jumped going from ninth to fifth with four goals over two games. Blackburn Hawks, Hull, Solihull, Sutton Sting and Whitley Warriors all improved on their PP figures, while Nottingham and Solway Sharks decreased
Hull, Solway and Sutton each improved slightly on their numbers whilst Blackburn, Nottingham, Solihull and Whitley all decreased.
| Powerplay % | Penalty Kill % | Special Teams | |||||
| Hull | 38.46% | Hull | 95.83% | Hull | 134.29 | ||
| Sheffield | 36.38% | Blackburn | 84.00% | Sheffield | 119.71 | ||
| Solway | 31.58% | Sheffield | 83.33% | Telford | 106.42 | ||
| Telford | 23.81% | Telford | 82.61% | Blackburn | 104.83 | ||
| Solihull | 21.05% | Sutton | 79.41% | Solway | 100.81 | ||
| Blackburn | 20.83% | Whitley | 75.00% | Sutton | 100 | ||
| Sutton | 20.59% | Solihull | 71.88% | Whitley | 94.35 | ||
| Billingham | 20.00% | Solway | 69.23% | Solihull | 92.93 | ||
| Whitley | 19.35% | Billingham | 66.67% | Billingham | 86.67 | ||
| Nottingham | 9.09% | Nottingham | 64.86% | Nottingham | 73.95 |
Shot Statistics
Hull boosted their shots on goal statistic with 86 officially registered by the goal judges in their game against Nottingham to from third to first.
Solway, Solihull, Blackburn, Whitley and Nottingham all dropped in that category, with the Lions only mustering 11 shots on Tomas Fucik’s net.
With the exception of the Nottingham versus Hull game, the others were all fairly tight affairs looking by the shot totals with very little movement elsewhere.
| Shots For Per Game | Shots Against Per Game | Shot Differential | |||||
| Hull | 58.6 | Sheffield | 25.25 | Solway | 22.5 | ||
| Solway | 51.25 | Hull | 27.6 | Sheffield | 22.5 | ||
| Sheffield | 47.75 | Solway | 28.75 | Hull | 31 | ||
| Solihull | 47.29 | Telford | 30.5 | Solihull | 11.72 | ||
| Telford | 44.25 | Solihull | 35.57 | Telford | 13.75 | ||
| Sutton | 37.5 | Blackburn | 39.5 | Billingham | -2.75 | ||
| Billingham | 37.25 | Billingham | 40 | Blackburn | -4.25 | ||
| Blackburn | 35.25 | Sutton | 42.67 | Sutton | -5.17 | ||
| Whitley | 31.71 | Whitley | 46.57 | Whitley | -14.86 | ||
| Nottingham | 21.57 | Nottingham | 64.29 | Nottingham | -42.72 |
Even Strength
With a lot of goals scored at uneven strength there wasn’t much change in the world of even strength goal statistics.
Only three teams moved up or down in the even strength differential category with Solihull dropping to fifth place, dropping 1.72 even strength goals per game, while Solway (plus 0.67) and Sheffield Steeldogs (despite not playing a game) overtaking them into third and fourth respectively.
Despite their big defeat, Nottingham actually improved their even strength numbers.
| Even Strength For | Even Strength Against | Even Strength Diff | |||||
| Telford | 7 | Sheffield | 0.75 | Hull | 5.4 | ||
| Hull | 6.4 | Hull | 1 | Telford | 4.75 | ||
| Solway | 5.75 | Billingham | 1.5 | Solway | 4 | ||
| Solihull | 5.14 | Solway | 1.75 | Sheffield | 2.75 | ||
| Sheffield | 3.5 | Telford | 2.25 | Solihull | 2.28 | ||
| Billingham | 3 | Solihull | 2.86 | Billingham | 1.5 | ||
| Whitley | 2.14 | Blackburn | 3 | Blackburn | -1 | ||
| Blackburn | 2 | Sutton | 3.5 | Sutton | -2 | ||
| Sutton | 1.5 | Whitley | 5.29 | Whitley | -3.15 | ||
| Nottingham | 1 | Nottingham | 9.14 | Nottingham | -8.14 |
What does it mean for this weekend?
With six teams in action this weekend there are numerous possibilities.
Nottingham face both Billingham Stars (away) and Solway (home) in what should be another pretty grim weekend for the Midlands outfit.
Bottom of the league, pointless and bottom of every statistical category the season looks longer and tougher with every passing week. It should be a fairly routine two points for each of their opponents, but stranger things have happened.
Whitley also have a double weekend away from home as they travel to face Sheffield on Saturday and Blackburn the following day. Fresh off a win over Sutton at iceSheffield and with a new import ‘D’ man possibly in tow, the Warriors could spring a surprise in one or even both games.
Whilst a win in Sheffield against the stingy Dogs is doubtful, Blackburn could find themselves under pressure following a tough trip to Dumfries in the cup the night before.
