ICE HOCKEY: SOLIHULL Barons concluded a successful weekend on Sunday by claiming two points against Billingham Stars.
Boosted by Tom Soar’s overtime winner on Saturday night, which saw Barons fight back from three goals down to earn a hard-fought win, the Solihull skaters tackled their northern rivals once more on Sunday.
Barons opened the scoring on ten minutes when Stephen Heape’s wraparound the boards was picked up by Soar who ducked around Stars’ defence to fire Barons into the lead.
Solihull’s second came four minutes later when Niklas Ottosson trailed the puck into Billingham’s net from a few feet out.
Stars countered mid-period when a shot came back off the boards to leave a tap-in for Deniss Baškatovs past the out of position Nicholls in the Solihull net.
The goal granted Stars a boost as the game started to look evenly balanced.
Clinical finishing proved to be decisive in the outcome of this tie though as Billingham failed to add to their tally despite a number of scoring opportunities.
Barons eased the margin back to two goals with a minute left in the second period during four-on-four hockey as Josh Bruce lit the lamp.
Luke Brittle added a fourth Barons goal just 30 seconds later when his brother Adam provided the assist.
The game was put beyond Stars’ reach in the third period when James Flavell struck after Heape cut through Stars’ defence.
This weekend sees Barons face Whitley away from home before returning to the borough to face Hull Pirates.
