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| The victorious Cobras team after their win over Whitley (Photo by Adka Feckova) |
Saturday 17th May 2025 – Summer Classic Cup: Connah’s Quay Cobras 4 – Whitley Bay Islanders 3
The Connah’s Quay Cobras scored a dramatic late goal to snatch a 4-3 victory over the Whitley Bay Islanders in their Summer Classic Cup game at Deeside Leisure Centre on Saturday.
This was a really exciting game, played between two very closely matched teams, with only ever one goal between them throughout.
Connah’s Quay took the lead with a goal from Chris Keating in the 5th minute but Whitley struck back 10 minutes later and the score remained 1-1 at the first period break.
The Islanders were quickest off the mark in the second period and edged themselves into the lead with a goal just 55 seconds from the restart. Connah’s Quay struck back, however with a goal from Simon Soltes on 25 minutes and they had the chance to go back in front with a penalty shot just 36 seconds after that, but it was saved by the Whitley netminder.
Whitley took the lead again on 35 minutes but this was countered by a goal from Cobras team captain Sam Plant with just 20 seconds to go in the period and the score stood at a finely balanced 3-3 with 20 minutes left to play.
With the game being so close, tensions were high and there were lots of niggly skirmishes throughout the game – leading to an overall penalty count of 22 minutes to Connah’s Quay and 30 to Whitley.
The third period saw end to end hockey as both teams tried to fire themselves back in front but it was really was too close to call. The game entered its final 2 minutes with the scores remaining stubbornly locked at 3-3 and it looked as if it would have to go to penalty shots to decide an overall winner.
However with just 1.14 left on the clock, Tomas Mitrik fired in an excellent solo effort to put the Cobras back into the lead.
The Islanders laid siege to the Connah’s Quay net in order to try and force a late equaliser and removed their netminder for the last 30 seconds in favour of an extra attacker, but it was to no avail and the Cobras held out for an important win.
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| Cobras MVP Martin Stolicny (Photo by Paul Breeze) |
The Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards were presented by Charlotte McAdam and went to Mark Gibson for Whitley and Martin Stolicny for Connah’s Quay.
The Cobras are back in Summer Classic Cup action this Sunday 25th May when they take on Leeds Lightning at Deeside Leisure Centre, face off is at 8.30pm and admission is free for all spectators.
