Seahawks Secure Four Point Weekend to Convincingly Return to Form
Hull Reckitt Seahawks v Romford Raiders – 07/12/2024
There is an old proverb that says you should never let success go to your head, and never let failure go to your heart.
As well as being motivational, those words could be fittingly applied to the Hull Reckitt Seahawks when considering their season to date, especially in relation to what the coaching staff and players have had to do over the past few weeks to overcome a prolonged slump in form that was threatening to derail their campaign.
However, a four-point weekend has helped transform the team’s fortunes ahead of what will be a challenging Christmas and New Year run-in.
Following last weekend’s 6-3 win over the Berkshire Bees, which ended a three-game losing streak on home ice as well as a longer stretch of defeats going back as far as early November, the Seahawks recorded an 8-1 victory over the Romford Raiders, on Saturday, and a 6-5 overtime win on the road against the Telford Tigers on Sunday.
The game against Romford saw Hull take the lead early, on 01:45, with Emil Svec scoring off a rebound, after excellent passing play by Owen Sobchak and an initial shot on goal from Bobby Chamberlain.
That goal saw an avalanche of stuffed toys descend onto the ice as part of the Seahawks ‘Air the Bear’ game, with over 250 teddy bears collected to be donated to charity.
The Seahawks then doubled their lead, on 07:01, through Johnny Corneil, thanks to nice link up play between Jason Hewitt and Lee Bonner.
Just before the end of the first period, Harvey Briggs did net what would end up being the Raiders only goal of the game, at 17:54, assisted by Zach Yokoyama and Marco Pascale.
Having gone into the first period intermission 2-1 up, the Seahawks would extend their lead further in the second period thanks to Sobchak, at 28:09, assisted by Chamberlain and Svec, a goal which saw the Raiders pull Ethan James and replace him between the pipes with Owen Rider.
However, the change of netminder did nothing to improve the game for Romford as Owen Bruton slotted home a rebound for Hull’s fourth goal, assisted by Calum McGill and James Spurr.
Having taken to the ice for the third period, the Seahawks set about immediately making the points safe.
On 41:23, Sobchak netted his second of the night, assisted by Svec and Declan Jones.
At 50:01, tempers boiled over and saw Seahawks assistant coach, Dave Phillips, and Raiders defenceman, Jack Cooper, given five-minute penalties for fighting.
A sustained period of pressure from the Seahawks then saw Bonner add his name to the score sheet, assisted by Corneil, on 50:36, and just over a minute later, Sobchak bagged his hat-trick, at 52:18, assisted by line mates Chamberlain and Svec.
The final goal of the contest came at 54:22 from an unlikely source as defenceman McGill scored thanks to the assistance of Alex Kent and Josh Hodgkingson.
Full time was greeted with joyous celebrations around Hull Arena, with fans convinced that the team had finally turned the page and ended what has been a torrid chapter in this season.
“The last couple of weeks have been difficult for us,” said Coach Matty Davies in his post-match interview.
“To win the way we did tonight, in such a consistent and convincing manner, is a massive relief.
“We have a good group. They are good lads and good players. Sometimes you can have dips in form, but tonight we got back to playing how I envisaged we should play at the start of the season.”
Looking ahead to the game against Telford, on the Sunday, Davies explained that his team would not be getting carried away.
“We can’t go there overconfident, as it has always been a notoriously difficult place for us to go in the past. We need to play our game, like we did tonight, with energy and enthusiasm.”
Having made the trip down to Shropshire, the energy and enthusiasm seemed to be in short supply – at least for the first period – as the home side raced into a 5-1 lead through goals by Finley Howell, James Smith, Vladimir Luka, Jason Silverthorn and Harry Fergusson.
Declan Jones’ shorthanded goal for the Seahawks was the only memorable moment in an otherwise forgettable first 20 minutes.
However, Telford’s poor discipline in the second period allowed Hull to mount a comeback, with Chamberlain netting a hat-trick of powerplay goals at 24:33, 28:26 and 33:15 to take the game back to within a single goal at the second period intermission, 5-4.
Chamberlain scored his fourth of the night, and the game’s equalising goal, at the start of the third period, at 41:12, and, with no further goals, the match went into overtime when Bonner netted the winner for the Seahawks, at 62:26.
The four points has not only helped Hull turn a corner, form-wise, it has also put them back into the mix with those teams in the middle of the NIHL standings, including the Sheffield Steeldogs, the Peterborough Phantoms and this weekend’s opponents the Swindon Wildcats (away on Saturday 14 December) before a return to home ice on Sunday (15 December) against the Bristol Pitbulls.
By Mark Bateman
