U18: Sutton 3 - Bradford 5

On Sunday 8th December the U18 Bulldogs travelled to Sheffield to face the U18 Sutton Sting on pad 2. The game started strongly with end to end hockey and a number of shots saved by Andy Button. At 6:12 Sutton were the first to get the puck in the net an even handed goal scored by Suttons assistant captain, Harry Bridges. This was shortly followed by an equalizer from the Bulldogs, scored by Ryan Kemp, assisted by Adam Barnes and Hannah Gibson. At 10:04 Sutton’s Captain Lawson Glasby sat two minutes for stick holding, which gave the Bulldogs a chance to score on the power play, unfortunately Sutton held close and Danny Spence also found himself on the penalty bench for slashing at 12:58. Next it was Suttons turn for the penalty as Dominic Clark was sat for hooking, in the last few minutes of the period, a scuffle around the net saw the puck sitting just in front of the line, James Royds managed to neatly tuck it over the line, but the referee called no goal as there were Sutton players in the crease, it ended a 1 all period.Period 2 started, and after less than a minute Liam Kirton was on the penalty bench for ‘clipping’?? The Bulldogs kept the puck out of their net whilst shorthanded, as Liam emerged from the gate he picked up the puck and had a shot on target, but was saved. At 29:05, Sutton scored their second goal, an unassisted goal from Alex Manning, but fifty seconds later at 29:55 Ryan Kemp skilfully tips the puck over the netminders shoulder equalising the game to 2 all; assisted by Adam Barnes and Lewis Baldwin. At 30:55 Suttons Bridges was sent to the penalty bench for boarding Lewis Baldwin in a very aggressive check from behind. At 32:28 Sutton scored their third goal from number 55 George Cranshaw, and at 37:44 Liam sat a further 2 minutes for boarding. The end of period score was 3 – 2 to Sutton, Andy wasn’t very happy with this and gave the players a right good talking to!!In the final period Adam Barnes scored the opening goal, assisted by Ryan at 41:27, this was swiftly followed by an unassisted breakaway goal from Liam Kirton at 41:48; taking the score to 4 : 3 to the Bulldogs. At 44:55, following a handbags scuffle and a tiring Sutton team, they received a 2 minute bench penalty for too many men on the ice, and a ten minute misconduct penalty to Captain Lawson Glasby, the Bulldogs took advantage of this and Adam Barnes receives the puck from Ryan Kemp and tucks it swiftly into the top left hand corner of the net, bringing the score up to 5:3 to the Bulldogs. The team talk from Head Coach Andy had obviously made a difference! At 49:01 Liam receives a further 2 minutes for interference and at 49:55 Sutton’s George Crawshaw receives a 2 minute tripping penalty, Ryan was the next in the penalty bench at 54:05 for high sticks, swiftly followed before the bench was cold by Danny Spence at 56:59 for tripping, and closely followed by Cameron Kushnirenko at 59:44 for holding!! But the mighty Bulldogs held together and kept the score, finishing at 5:3 to the Bradford Bulldogs, well done team. Shots on goal to Andy Button was 18, and the well deserved MVP went to Ryan Kemp. A great game, great score and the much needed two points pushed us higher up the top of the table.