Metros return to the top of the table against the Barons!

Sunday, 16th October 2011

Trafford Metros 7 Solihull Barons 3

The Metros started this encounter with a result against the Barons already in the bag, but also they hadn’t conceded a goal in over 120 minutes of hockey, and with Tony Hand in the stands watching they wanted to show case their talents and show how much they have improved as a team this year. The Metros had a hand in the form of Ciaran Long who is returning from an injury and this game would be perfect for Ciaran to get some much needed ice time but make no mistake as the Metros have proven whilst Ciaran and Josh Ward haven’t been playing for the Metros they are still getting the results and with back to back shut outs against Blackburn and Telford the Metros had their sights firmly on the Barons.

The Metros came out of the gates flying and played the first period at such a pace some EPL teams might of struggled to keep up with them, their passing was crisp, their skating was fast and they just dominated the Barons from the first drop of the puck. It wasn’t long before the Metros registered their first marker, it came on the power play in the 3rd minute when Jake Nurse found Simon Mills in front of the Barons cage to slot home a shot from close range. This was the start of a 10 minute goal fest for the Metros, the 2nd came 4 minutes later when John Murray found his partner in crime Jake Nurse with a Superb D splitting pass, Jake skated in one on one with the Solihull keeper and took a shot which hit the keeper and went up in the air and somehow managed to trickle in over the line 2-0 Metros. The 3rd goal wasn’t too far behind when Jared Dickinson broke from his own zone and found Joe Greaves on the blue line who carried the puck into the zone and found Ciaran Long in front of the Barons net and in turn he slotted home for his first marker of the game. The 4th again only followed a minute later as well when Jake Nurse took a draw in the Barons end he found John Murray on the wing who dished it to Marc Etherington on the point who released a ‘twisted wrister’ which found the back of the barons cage. The rest of the period saw the metros just totally out skate, out shoot, out work... you get the idea they were just that good that the Barons were beaten in the first period, so to the break we went 4-0 to the Metros.

So now the Metros had gone 140 minutes without their defences being broken some going so far, some NHL teams would be proud of that! So the Second period saw more of the same from the Metros, but this period was dominated by the Metros second line of Ciaran Long, Jared Dickinson and Joe Greaves, who would provided for all of the Metros points in this frame. But it wasn’t till the 31st minute when Jared Dickinson found Ciaran Long on the breakaway, he sold the Solihull keeper a nice head fake move and slotted home the 5th marker for the Metros. Just over two minutes later the Metros put some serious pressure on the Barons in their own zone, whilst shorthanded, and Jared Dickinson took the puck off one of their players sticks with a huge hit behind the goal found Ciaran Long who shot from the high slot the keeper made the save but the puck bounced back off the plexi and fell on Jared’s stick and he slotted home his first of the night, that made it 6-0 to the Metros. Now a moment to be proud of for the Metros although its one they wish could be extended and one they wish they could of kept going, the Solihull Barons scored their first marker of the game at 33.41 which meant the Metros had gone 158:41 minutes without conceding a single goal, when you put this in context the world record is 332 minutes so to have done half of that is an achievement in its self, well done boys that will take some beating this year! Anyway back to the action the Metros were obviously hurt by this and came straight back and with 6 seconds left in the period Jared Dickinson scored his 2nd of the game, with assists going to Andy Dunn and Joe Greaves. So at the break it was 7-1 to the Metros.

The third saw the Metros take their foot off the gas pedal although there was some business to be finished for one of them. But before that could happen the Barons scored twice both times on the power play. So with 30 seconds left on the clock Ciaran Long took out Luke Thomas of the Solihull Barons behind the Metros goal, Luke took exception to this and asked Ciaran if he would like to engage in fisticuffs, and believe me it will be the last time he does as Ciaran accepted the challenge and how did someone I spoke to after the game put it... oh yes I remember now, Ciaran completely filled him in! So yet another Gordy Howe hat trick for Ciaran this season against the Barons, but it was a total team performance yet again that earned the Metros the two points and they showed the new boys to the league again what is needed in this league to step forward, Heart Passion and complete team ethic!

And it got better for the Metros later in the evening as the news broke that the Billingham Stars only Managed a draw against the Telford Tigers, so the Metros return to the Top of ENL north Division 1!

Stats:

Scoring: Jared Dickinson 2+2, Ciaran Long 2+1, Jake Nurse 1+2, Marc Etherington 1+0, Simon Mills 1+0, Joe Greaves 0+2, John Murray 0+2, Andy Dunn 0+1.

PIMs: Metros 18 Solihull 8

Shots: Metros on Solihull 28; Solihull on Metros 24