ALTRINCHAM ACES 6-1 WHITLEY WARRIORS 22 DECEMBER 2002

Aces were at full strength for their second match in the Northern Cup.

The Aces started well and were ahead in the fourth minute. A flowing move took the puck over Whitley's blue line. A reverse pass from Greg Allen set up Jason Hewitt on the right for a scoring attempt and Greg was in front to net the rebound from the save. Stephen Hoult was playing well in the Warriors goal and Aces were unable to convert their superiority into further goals until late in the period. Warriors had just wasted their first powerplay of the night and with our first line on the attack, Jason intercepted a clearance, turned and shot home. A breakaway chance from Stephen Elliott forced Hoult to make two saves before we scored the third. Aces' third came at 18.14, Greg's shot hit the bar and Billy Price put in the rebound. Aces had created a lot of space against a Warriors side that had worked hard but not created much.

Aces were quickly on the mark in the second period, Tim Dempsey skating onto the puck in space in front of the net and scoring into the top corner. Aces became less effective as the Warriors more physical style stifled them and the Warriors got away with a lot more than they'd been able to a few weeks ago with the same referee. Phil Verstappen stood his ground to deny Andrew Tindale one on one and then made a sliding save to deny Daniel Good. Good put the Warriors on the scoreboard with a couple of minutes left in the period taking the puck down the ice and beating Phil up high.

With Aces 4-1 up, it was still possible for the Warriors to make a comeback but Tim's second goal stopped any thoughts of that. Tim had the puck behind the net, took it in front but had to reach for it before turning and shooting in. Whitley had a few chances including a Paul Graham chance that hit the post and Phil having to make amends with a scrambling save to avoid getting his second assist of the year (into the wrong net!). Whitley seemed to be on a bit of a damage limitation exercise for the rest of the game to keep the goal difference down and when it looked like we were heading for a 5-1 final score, a late Aces penalty saw a shorthanded clearance from Simon Mills sail down the rink, deceiving Hoult and going in off his pad.

Whitley's game plan had worked later on and there seemed to be some obvious penalties missed. Even so, a good win against the team closest to us in the League.

1-0 03.04 Allen from Hewitt and Mills
2-0 15.22 Hewitt
3-0 18.14 Price from Allen
4-0 20.28 Dempsey from Hewitt and Mills
4-1 37.53 Good from Dunn
5-1 41.24 Dempsey from Allen
6-1 59.04 Mills SHG

ACES

Tim Dempsey 2+0 (MoM), Greg Allen 1+2, Russ Richardson, Phil Keelan, Steve Michie,
Brian Worrall, Nick Crawley, Jason Hewitt 1+2, Simon Mills 1+2, Arran Richardson,
Stephen Elliott, Luke Stretton, Steve Daly, Kevin Cassidy, Billy Price 1+0
Phil Verstappen (26s, 1g, 96.15%), Danny Higgin

SOG 61-26 PIMS 6-15