Seahawks Soar into 2025 with Four-Point Weekend
Hull Reckitt Seahawks v Telford Tigers – 05/01/2025
A New Year has brought with it a renewed sense of hope and optimism for the Hull Reckitt Seahawks as they secured maximum points, after victory on the road to the Leeds Knights (2-1) and a 7-4 win over the Telford Tigers.
The results mean back-to-back four-point weekends for the Seahawks, after they rounded out 2024 with two 5-4 comebacks against the Sheffield Steeldogs.
More importantly, the recent form has moved Hull back into the top four in the NIHL standings and has reignited the team’s pursuit of Leeds, the Swindon Wildcats, and table-topping Milton Keynes Lightning, with the Seahawks set to face the latter of the three this weekend.
Following Saturday and Sunday’s results, Seahawks Head Coach Matty Davies was in a confident mood and was ruling nothing out in terms of what his team can achieve between now and the end of the season.
“It certainly isn’t a two or three horse race,” said Davies.
“This team has been put together to go the distance. We have a lot of experience in our locker room and results like those we had this weekend show what we can do, as a team, when everyone is bought in.
“The league is by no means done and we shall see what comes of things at the end of the season.”
Davies’ aspirations will certainly be shared by many of the fans who braved the appalling weather conditions over the weekend to witness two more strong performances from the Seahawks.
Firstly, Hull made the short trip across the M62 to dispatch the Knights in a scrappy affair at Planet Ice Leeds.
Leeds took the lead in the first period through Matthew Barron, on the powerplay, as Emil Svec sat a two-minute roughing penalty. However, the Seahawks would tie things up before the intermission thanks to their own powerplay goal, expertly dispatched by Johnny Corneil and assisted by Owen Sobchak and Emil Svec.
A goalless second period set up a grandstand finish, with everything to play for in the final 20 minutes, and it would be the Seahawks who would clinch the win and the points, on 47:50, thanks to Josh Hodgkinson’s marker, assisted by Bobby Chamberlain and Declan Balmer.
Despite weather warnings for large swathes of the country, the Telford Tigers successfully navigated their way through the snow, rain and ice to East Yorkshire for Sunday’s fixture.
The Tigers were minus a few key figures, most notably being Head Coach Tom Watkins and, with team manager, veteran forward and former Hull Stingray Jason Silverthorn icing for Telford, it meant the unusual sight of Seahawks Bench Coach Chris Wilcox managing things for the Tigers.
The first period started well for both teams, with Jordan McLaughlin, in the Hull net, and Brad Day, for the Tigers, getting called into early action to keep the match goalless.
Hull thought they had broken the deadlock in the ninth minute when Tommy Spraggon picked the puck up in the Seahawks defensive zone and linked up with Sobchak. His pass across the face of the net was turned in by Chamberlain, but the officials ruled it out as the Seahawks captain had been adjudged to have kicked the puck in.
However, the momentum was with Hull and there would be no questions over the legitimacy of the next effort on the Tigers goal, with Calum McGill laying the puck off to Balmer whose shot from the blue line took not just one, but two deflections on its way into the Telford net, firstly via Chamberlain and then Svec.
At 15:57, the Seahawks doubled their advantage on the powerplay through Svec’s second of the night, as James Smith sat a two-minute interference penalty.
Two became three, at 17:47, when Jason Hewitt tapped in a third, assisted by Corneil and Lee Bonner, and eight seconds later it was four thanks to Chamberlain, assisted by Svec, to take the Seahawks into the first period intermission with a comfortable 4-0 lead.
Hull were cruising at the start of the second period when Corneil netted the team’s fifth of the night, assisted by Tom Stubley and Spraggon, but the Tigers mounted a comeback with three unanswered goals from Smith, Finley Howells and Scott McKennzie.
An air of unease descended on a packed Hull Arena as the second period ticked down, but that unease wasn’t shared by Sobchak and Svec as they combined clinically to score the Seahawks’ sixth at 39:05. Sobchak glided around the back of the Telford net, spun, and played a well-timed pass across the face of goal for Svec to finish back door for his hat-trick.
The Tigers would net a fourth on the powerplay in the third period, through Harry Ferguson, as Lee Haywood sat a two-minute tripping penalty, but it would prove to be nothing more than a statistic when Bonner confirmed victory and the points for the Seahawks, at 52:33, as he twisted and turned his way towards the Telford goal to finish at close range and end the match 7-4 to Hull.
“Whenever you win twice, it is always a great feeling,” said Davies in his post-match interview.
“Last night [against Leeds Knights] took its toll, but, overall, it was the best we’ve played this season. It was a solid performance.
“Tonight [against Telford Tigers], we knew we would have a lot of the puck and take plenty of shots, but sometimes those are the games where things can go awry. You can’t afford to be complacent, and I was proud that the lads got the job done and we are very satisfied with another four-point weekend.”
By Mark Bateman
