Period Scores: 1-1, 2-1, 2-0
Penalties In Minutes: Deeside 6 - Blackpool 28
Deeside Dragons U16 finished off their North 2 campaign with a 5-2 win over Blackpool Seagulls. The victory was just their 3rd in the league all season and came after a run of 5 straight defeats. The Dragons end the campaign in 7th place with 7 points from their 14 games - 2 points ahead of bottom side Sutton In Ashfield.
The Seagulls are chasing second place in their first season of competition and needed the win to close their 3 point gap behind Solihull to just a single point. They had won their home fixture against the Dragons 10-3 back in September and were hoping to make it three wins in a row after back to back victories over Sutton in recent weeks.
The Seagulls had the upper hand in the opening stages and took the lead with just 3.55 on the clock. Deeside looked wobbly at this point and, had they conceded again, it might have gone the way of the first meeting but instead they hit back on 10.08 and spent the remainder of the period threatening the Blackpool net.
There was more of the same at the start of the 2nd period and Deeside took the lead just a minute in - holding it until Seagulls' Nathan Frankel tied up the score again with a well worked solo effort. Following this, the Dragons upped their game and another period of intense pressure saw them retake the lead on 27.59.
Deeside extended their lead shortly after the restart and began enforcing their superiority in all departments. The last period saw numerous scrappy penalties and at one point the Dragons had to survive a 3 on 5 Blackpool powerplay. As the game slipped away from them, the Seagulls also got into penalty trouble and, with 4 minutes to play, actually had more players in the penalty box than on the ice.
In the ensuing 5 on 3 powerplay, the Dragons scored their 5th and final goal and the final buzzer brought scenes of joy to the Deeside bench and disappointment to the Seagulls.
The post-match awards went to Sophie Sinclair-Reeks (Deeside) and James Hargreaves -Doherty (Blackpool)
The Blackpool Seagulls have two games left to play. They are away at Grimsby on Sunday 10th May and then entertain the same opposition at a date and venue still to be confirmed.
Match Scoring:
03.55: 0-1 Seagulls - Alexander Porter (assist: Corey Swift & Harry Kaye)
10.08: 1-1 Dragons - Charlie Spridgeon (unassisted)
16.03: 2-1 Dragons - Libor Krempaskey (unassisted)
22.15: 2-2 Seagulls - Nathan Frankel (Lewis Bennett & Jacob Charles)
27.59: 3-2 Dragons - Seb Middleton (Liam Davies)
31.48: 4-2 Dragons - Charlie Spridgeon (unassisted)
42.46: 5-2 Dragons - Josh Humphreys (Charlie Spridgeon)
Photo by Marina Frankel - all rights reserved to Blackpool Seagulls Junior Ice Hockey Club
You can find out more about the various Deeside Dragons junior teams HERE
and the Blackpool Seagulls HERE
