Seahawks Fall Agonisingly Short in Over-Time Thriller
Hull Reckitt Seahawks v MK Lightning – 02/02/2025
As the NIHL National League enters the business end of the season, every week is presenting new challenges according to Hull Reckitt Seahawks Head Coach Matty Davies.
Speaking on the back of a fiercely contested weekend that saw his side lose on the road to Yorkshire rivals the Sheffield Steeldogs, 6-2, followed by a cruel 6-5 OT defeat to table-topping Milton Keynes Lightning, Davies highlighted that recent fixtures have been bruising for his team, both figuratively and literally, with several players nursing injuries in pursuit of the playoffs and the chance of silverware.
“Last weekend we took four points and were on top of the world,” said Davies in his post-match interview. “This weekend we managed a hard-fought point out of a possible four available and it is back to reality.
“I’ve got to be proud of the team’s effort tonight. We showed great strength of character to dig out a result against a very good team [Milton Keynes].
“It is a big point and, while we can take pride in some aspects of the performance, there is still a little bit of disappointment, because we had chances to win that game.
“However, we played much better than we did last night [against Sheffield Steeldogs], but it wasn’t one of our more consistent games.
“It has been a tough weekend all-round.”
On Saturday, the Seahawks made the short journey to the south of the county to face the Steeldogs at Ice Sheffield.
While Owen Bruton and Tommy Spraggon returned to the fold, the Seahawks were again without Dave Phillips, Kohen Taylor and James Spurr.
The first period ended with Hull two goals down, with the first being scored at 09:07 by Nathan Ripley and the second at 16:04, with Samuel
Tremblay netting a powerplay effort while Seahawks skipper Bobby Chamberlain sat a two-minute penalty for roughing.
Early in the second period, the Steeldogs extended their lead to three, with Tremblay scoring his second of the night, at 23:34, before Chamberlain pulled one back for Hull, at 30:58, assisted by Owen Sobchak.
Sheffield effectively made both the result and the points safe midway through the third period, thanks to Jonathan Kirk scoring on the powerplay, at 49:46, with Emil Svec in the penalty box for two minutes for slashing. Walker Sommer then added the Steeldogs fifth at 52:43.
Alex Kent managed to pull another goal back for the Seahawks, assisted by Declan Jones, at 55:54, but it was all too little, too late and compounded further on 59:28 when Ben Morgan netted Sheffield’s sixth goal with another powerplay marker.
On Sunday, Milton Keynes defied the idiom that lightning never strikes in the same place twice by racing into an early two-goal lead thanks to Patrik Forsberg (01:15) and Milique Martelly (03:25).
The Seahawks halved the deficit, at 12:29, through an Owen Sobchak finish; assisted by Emil Svec and Declan Balmer; but the Lightning restored their two-goal advantage before the first period intermission when Toms Rutkis converted on the powerplay as Lee Haywood sat a two-minute penalty for checking to the head.
However, momentum swung the Seahawks way in the second stanza as they netted two quick-fire goals to tie the game up.
The first was a wrist shot high into the top corner of the goal from Svec, at 36:37, after a neat pass from Sobchak to set the Czech forward up, and the equaliser came a minute later when Sobchak turned finisher after being set up by Josh Hodgkinson and Balmer.
However, before these two goals, the Seahawks had chances to draw level earlier, with Bobby Chamberlain missing a penalty shot and Sobchak clanging a breakaway effort off the ironwork earlier in the period.
Into the final 20 minutes and Hull took the lead for the first time in the contest, at 40:33, through veteran forward Jason Hewitt, assisted by Lee Bonner and Balmer.
The advantage proved to be short lived as the Lightning levelled things up a minute later through Forsberg’s second of the night and they then found themselves back in front at 43:30 thanks to Jordan Cownie.
As the clocked ticked down towards the end of the match, the Seahawks threw everything they had at the Lightning to force over-time, pulling Dimitri Zimozdra for the extra skater and, in the last minute of the game, they would get their reward as Hewitt scored his second of the night with a tap-in at the back post to tie the match at 59:10.
Into over-time, Hull did have chances to secure the win and the extra point but failed to capitalise allowing the Lightning to demonstrate the ruthless composure that has them sitting top-of-the-league, with Mack Stewart scoring the winner on the breakaway, at 62:38.
By Mark Bateman
