Hull Seahawks NIHL National bandwagon rolls on at expense of derby rivals Leeds Knights
THE end of a gruelling six games in nine days probably can’t come soon enough for Leeds Knights - but for Hull Seahawks, there will be no desire to stop playing anytime soon.
The Seahawks came into the sixth and final meeting of the regular season with the Knights on Friday buoyed by their 3-2 shoot-out win on home ice against the same derby rivals two nights earlier.
By the time the final buzzer rang at The Castle, they had backed that up with a deserved 4-1 win to square the head-to-head series.
It also stretched the Seahawks’ winning run to seven games and moved them to within two points of third-placed Knights, who have now lost three on the bounce.
Ryan Aldridge’s team will hope to end that sequence when they visit Solway Sharks on Saturday , while the Seahawks - with a genuine chance of finishing runners-up in the regular season given the momentum they now have - take a night off ahead of Sunday’s visit from champions-elect Swindon Wildcats.
The Knights are likely to be without import defenceman Sam Dunn for the trip to Scotland, however, the 27-year-old forced off the ice through injury in the first period and not returning, adding to the long list of injuries the hosts have been peppered by in recent weeks.
Knights goaltender Sam Gospel came up big multiple times in the first period - stealing the puck on a 2-on-1 cross-crease one-timer before, a couple of minutes later, with an athletic ‘spread eagle’ save to deny Jordan Stallard from close range.
After Kieran Brown had been denied by Finnish netminder Aleksanteri Heiskanen on a shorthanded breakaway - Edgars Vengis in the penalty box for tripping - the Seahawks opened the scoring at 16.43 on the same power play.
While some Knights’ players were claiming offside, Emil Svec collected a bobbling puck to fire through Gospel’s legs from six yards out.
Brown’s bag of tricks also included a spin-o-rama back-hand shot and a wraparound attempt, both denied by Heiskanen.
Another penalty for Leeds brought another goal for the Seahawks, Lee Bonner benefitting from Oli Endicott’s tripping infraction when he scored less than three minutes into the second period with a one-timer that beat Gospel nearside.
An increasingly frustrated Brown landed a massive hit in the Knights zone on Seahawks defenceman Josh Hodgkinson, who quickly challenged Brown to drop the gloves. The Knights’ captain duly obliged, landing a series of right hands before both dropped to the floor, Brown geeing up the home fans with a wave as he headed to the box.
Shortly after, Svec caught Sam Cooper up high with the top of his stick, causing Balint Pakozdi to come in and defend his team-mate, who was down on the ice, before being dragged away.
The Seahawks increased the agony for the hosts less than a minute into the third when captain Bobby Chamberlain caught Gospel out on his right-hand post from a tight angle after his initial shot had been blocked by Jordan Griffin.
The younger contingent of Leeds players were getting more time on ice and the trust from head coach Ryan Aldridge was repaid when 17-year-old Vengis got them on the board at 42:06, lifting his rebound over Heiskanen from close range to make it 3-1 and offer the hosts some hope.
But Vengis’ name had barely rang out around the rink before Hull restored their three-goal lead, Ethan Hehir shooting from the top of the offensive zone to beat Gospel through a screen from Alex Kent and complete a solid night’s work from the visitors.