Tigers Tame Seahawks Despite Thrilling Finish
Hull Reckitt Seahawks v Telford Tigers – 02/03/2025
What if Johnny Corneil’s equalising goal had been given by the match officials in Milton Keynes to tie the game up in the first period on Saturday? What if Devon Skoleski hadn’t beaten Dimitri Zimozdra glove side in overtime on Sunday?
It was a weekend of what ifs and what could have been for the Hull Reckitt Seahawks, whose recent good form hit the buffers, after a 6-2 defeat on the road to the top-of-the-table Lightning and a 6-5 overtime loss to the Telford Tigers at home.
Truly, it was a frustrating 48 hours for the Seahawks who were short benched again, with several key players out injured or simply not available for selection.
In his post-match interview, Head Coach Matty Davies praised his side for their fighting spirit after battling back against the Tigers to secure a point that seemed unlikely for large parts of the match at Hull Arena.
“The boys are doing as much as they can right now,” said Davies.
“We are playing so short, at the moment, but the character of the lads is on another level.
“We didn’t play at all well tonight, so to see us fight back in the third period and take the game into overtime, it very much feels like a point gained.”
While the Seahawks ended the game strongly on Sunday, they started poorly and found themselves two-nil down within 13 minutes after conceding two tap-ins, first at 06:25 through Eric Henderson and then again at 12:53 via the stick of Finley Howells.
They did manage to half the deficit, at 15:13, thanks to the returning Jamie Chilcott, who pounced on a loose puck to convert a delayed-penalty finish at the backdoor.
That wasn’t the end of the scoring in the period, as Henderson got his second of the night for the Tigers, at 18:01, with a clinical finish after dancing through the Seahawks defence to make it 3-1.
Then, with 24 second left in the first stanza, Johnny Corneil slammed the puck home to make it 3-2.
In the same way that the third period would belong to the Seahawks, the second was Telford’s, as the Tigers extended their lead to five with two unanswered goals from Skoleski, at 29:41, and David Thomson, at 38:45.
Hull’s comeback started with a Bobby Chamberlain goal, at 51:30, on the powerplay, with the skipper spinning and shooting down low, through the five hole, while Adam Harding sat a two-minute penalty for slashing.
A wrist shot from Emil Svec, at 57:12, set up a grandstand finish before Corneil scored his second of the match, with six seconds left in the game, to tie everything up, as the Seahawks made a relentless 6 on 4 powerplay onslaught pay off.
Disappointingly, they couldn’t claim the second point in overtime, with Skoleski scoring the winning goal, and his second of the night, at 61:17.
Twenty-four hours earlier, a beleaguered Seahawks took just 16 players for the trip down to Buckinghamshire to face the Lightning.
The Seahawks were without injured trio Dave Phillips, James Spurr and Tom Stubley as well as the suspended Lee Bonner and also had several players unavailable for selection, including Tommy Spraggon, Jordan Fisher and Kohen Taylor.
Milton Keynes took the lead, at 12:39, through a powerplay marker from Sean Norris, after Hull were penalised with a two-minute bench penalty for too many players on the ice.
Then followed the moment of controversy, when Corneil netted the equaliser, which was clearly visible via the overhead camera on Lightning TV but wasn’t given by the officials.
Two goals in the second period, scored by Toms Rutkis and another from Norris, extended Milton Keynes’ lead.
Into the third period and Norris completed his hat-trick before Corneil finally got on the scoresheet, at 55:08, with a well taken wrist shot. Bobby
Chamberlain then scored a ricocheted effort at the back door, at 58:59, to bring the match back to within two goals.
With the clock ticking down, the Seahawks decided to pull the netminder for the extra skater, but two empty net goals from Rutkis and Ben Solder guaranteed the points for the Lightning.
Next up, Hull face a tricky away match against the Leeds Knights, on Saturday, before returning home on Sunday to face the Solway Sharks and Davies doesn’t expect an easy run as the regular season draws to a close.
“These are going to be two very tough games. Leeds are fighting for another league title and Solway are fighting for a place in the play-offs.
“Fortunately, we will have Bones [Lee Bonner] back for the weekend and we all know how much he loves playing away at Leeds.
“Hopefully, we will start to see the other lads who have been out injured return to the ice in the coming weeks, which means we will have players coming back at the right time as we head into the post-season.
“We know that we are a very different proposition when we have a healthy team and can role three lines.”
By Mark Bateman
