Home comforts help Telford Tigers hit straight back

They bounced back from a chastening 10-4 defeat at Swindon Wildcats on Saturday by overcoming Hull Seahawks 7-5 at Telford Ice Rink.

Adam Harding (two), Fin Howells (two), Scott McKenzie, Vladimir Luka and Zachary Yokoyama got the goals for the Tigers to vastly improve the mood of head coach Tom Watkins.

“That was a big win for us to top off a tough weekend of three games in three days,” said Watkins. “We saw a big difference in performance and attitude.

“We got a fast start, taking a three-goal lead, but also scored timely goals and kept our two-goal advantage until we were under some heavy pressure toward the end of the game.

“It was good to bounce back after a poor display against Swindon and to take four points from three tough fixtures is a positive.”

Telford had also received bad news relating to two injuries to players, with Noah Kaariainen ruled our for at least eight weeks and Devon Skoleski out for an indefinite period.

Tigers welcomed back Danny Rose and, with Skoleski out, were able to ice coach Jason Silverthorn.

Their performance in the first period was probably their best of the season so far as they dominated and took a three-goal lead.

After four minutes the puck broke to Yokoyama in the Hull defensive zone. Yokoyama looked like he had overskated the puck, but spun round and shot past Hull netminder Dimitri Zimozdra to open the scoring.

The lead was doubled when a delayed penalty was called on Hull, but as Tigers had possession the game continued. Howells cycled the puck to Luka, who smashed it past Zimozdra.

The final goal of the period was scored by Telford when Harry Ferguson sent a perfectly-timed pass to allow McKenzie to hammer home a powerful wrist shot from the slot.

Hull hit back in the second period, and scored two goals in a minute.

Lee Bonner hit a low shot past Brad Day and then Hull scored again when Day’s initial save fell kindly to Owen Sobchak to follow up and score.

But Telford restored their two-goal lead when Yokoyama passed from behind the goal to allow Howells to hit a first-time shot past Zimozdra to put Tigers 4-2 ahead.

Hull cut the lead in half with a power play goal from Bobby Chamberlain at the start of the third period. Day once again made a great save, but was unable to prevent the rebound from going into the goal.

Telford hit back with another goal from Howells after some poor defending by Hull allowed him to score from close range.

However, Hull kept the pressure on the home side when Lee Haywood’s long-range shot cut the lead again.

Telford scored a sixth with 10 minutes of the game left. Yokoyama was once again the provider, sending a pass to the unmarked Harding, who shot in off Zimozdra’s pads.

But once again Hull hit back straight away with another goal for Chamberlain, who picked up a rebound and turned it past Day to set up a frantic finale.

With Hull chasing the equaliser, they pulled Zimozdra from goal to add an extra attacker.

But the puck broke to Harding at centre ice and he immediately sent a shot into the empty net, scoring his second of the game to seal two hard-fought points for the Tigers.