The Buccaneers faced off against the Halton Huskies over back-to-back weekends in the Summer Classic and on both occassions, the Widnes team came out on top. Read on for both match reports.
The Key & Eagle Digital-sponsored Blackburn Buccaneers headed over to Planet Ice Widnes to take on the Halton Huskies in the Summer Classic.
Unfortunately, the game sheet for the match did not contain any goal timings and our ‘reporters’ memory is not what it used to be so we’re going to be a bit light on detail on this one!
The Huskies came out of the blocks firing and took a commanding 3 goal lead with goals from Kohler, Berry and Trickett. Just before the end of the first period, Alex Frewin pulled one back for the Buccs which was just reward for never giving up on the play.
Trickett and Kohler were on the board again for the home side in the second period and that saw Halton take a 5-1 lead into the into the final twenty minutes.
It was the Huskies again who continued the scoring with Berry and Hewitt rounding out the game. Final score was 7-1 to the Huskies.
Buccaneers MVP went to Dan Frewin.
After suffering a defeat in the away fixture at Widnes last week, the Buccaneers welcomed the Halton Huskies to Blackburn Arena with a view to making amends.
The game couldn’t have started any worse for the Buccs as Jake Berry gave the Huskies the lead on the first shift of the game. And despite some decent play in the Huskies zone, the Buccs would go into the first period break 3-0 down after goals from Kohler and Ridding.
The second period started in the same vein and just 16 seconds in, Kohler grabbed his second of the game. Despite the scoreline, the Buccs were still in the game and creating chances but just lacking that cutting edge in front of goal. That was until the 22 minute mark when Jon Bowen broke down the right wing into the Huskies zone. He saw James Longworth busting into the slot and he played a perfect pass for Longworth to finish with a one-time shot.
The game was end-to-end throughout and chances were wasted by both teams as well as the two netminders making a number of fine saves. On 37.55, Berry restored the Huskies 4 goal lead but then just 37 seconds later, Bowen and Longworth combined again for a carbon copy of the first goal to give the Buccs an outside chance heading into the final period.
The home side were nothing if not consistent in their opening shifts of each period and only two minutes had passed before Buckell made it 6-2 for the Huskies which would be the final scoring action of the game.
MVP for the Buccaneers went to Adam Duxbury for one of his trademark all-action performances.
There is no rest again for the Buccaneers as we head into our fourth game in four consecutive weekends next week against the Riverside Raiders.