Warriors dazzled by the North Stars
On Friday 19th December 2025 our Warriors 1 team welcomed the Nottingham North Stars to Leeds for a pre-season challenge game.
This match-up was a long time coming, as it was the first meeting between the two teams at Planet Ice, Leeds.
Our Warriors 1 have only played Nottingham North Stars once before and that was away from home on Sunday 21st July 2024 - that was the Warriors final game of the 2023-24 season and the North Stars took the W in a 10-3 victory.
There have been lots of personnel changes in the Warriors team since then. The Warriors were keen to invite the North Stars for a game as it had been such a a tough game previously and it’s exactly the challenge the team needs before their first IHSC Cup game on 3rd January 2026.
Going into the game, the Warriors had some plus points - home ice - and a numerical advantage. The team could ice 4 x forward lines and 3 x D lines, whereas the North Stars were short-benched.
Dressed players
Lewis Pickering (NM), Andrew Hughes (NM), Chris Giles (C), Andy Giles (A), Sam Cromack (A), Adam Gibbons, Ellen Gallimore, Mitch White, Will Gibbons, Niks Kamaldins, Tyler Heming, Matthew Gatenby, Dylan Noonan, Dzintars Jonuss, Simon Morrow, Chris Scampton, Harvey Galloway, Alex Jones, Jordan Batty and Chris Blaschko.
1st period
The Warriors started the period with intent, wanting to assert dominance early in the game.
With only 2:11 on the clock, this paid off as Andy Giles entered the zone, feeding the puck to Harvey Galloway who was able to put it in the path of Dylan Noonan who managed to release the shot into the bottom left corner. 1-0 Warriors.
The team were now brimming with confidence and hoping to extend their lead in the period.
But the North Stars had other ideas. They also have a number of extremely rapid players who were seizing on the Warriors defensive mistakes and finding themselves on breakaways.
Consequently, Warriors’ netminder Andrew Hughes was called into action on multiple occasions and made some crucial saves to keep the Warriors ahead.
The Warriors were now seeing the quality of the visitors and realised this wasn’t going to be easy, despite the visitors’ short bench.
Against the run of play, the Warriors launched an attack which appeared to result in Noonan scoring - the puck looked to be over the goal line. But after the goalie scooped the puck away, the referee waved ‘play on’. Despite protests from the players on the ice, the referees ignored this.
Goal?
This still image from the game video appears to prove the puck was over the line.
But with the North Stars now peppering the Warriors goal, the inevitable happened - they equalised. With 14:19 on the clock it was all square at 1-1.
The visitors equaliser came soon after the Warriors were denied that second goal, which added to the feeling of injustice - but, the Warriors tried to shrug this off and kept battling. The period drew to a close with the score tied at 1-1.
Warriors 1-1 North Stars
2nd period
The first period had been a wake-up call for the Warriors and they started the second period with renewed determination for the fight.
The second period started as a real end-to-end affair with both teams threatening to get the go-ahead goal - but for over half the period they were locked in a stalemate.
At the halfway mark, netminder Andrew Hughes made way for Lewis Pickering.
There had been no penalties in the game up until 32:11 when the Warriors took a tripping minor penalty. Unfortunately the extra skater paid off for the North Stars as they converted a tipped slap-shot at 33:08 to go ahead at 1-2.
Undeterred, the Warriors fought on and at 38:11 Noonan bagged his second of the night with assists from Mitch White and Jordan Batty. 2-2. Game on!
As the Warriors second goal came just before the second interval, it meant the team could go into the final period all-square.
Warriors 2-2 North Stars
3rd period
With the game even, the Warriors knew they just needed to win the period. They needed a big 20 minutes of effort.
This is where they hoped the numerical advantage may come into play as the NNS were short benched.
But sadly, it didn’t pan out this way. The North Stars were getting through on 2 on 0 and even sometimes 3 on 0 breakaways multiple times as they cut through the Warriors defence like a hot knife through butter.
The Warriors looked more like the short benched team at this point.
A five minute period changed the whole complexion of the game. the North Stars went ahead at 2-3 on 44:54, then the Warriors took a minor penalty upon which the North Stars capitalised on their power-play to make it 2-4 at 46:15. North Stars all but guaranteed victory with their 5th at 49:48, making it a brutal and game defining five minutes.
At 2-5 and with only ten minutes remaining, the Warriors now faced an uphill task to get back into the game.
At 52:19 the visitors took a minor penalty but the Warrriors were unable to take advantage.
With frustration setting in for the home side, they picked up a checking minor while the visitors took a misconduct penalty (54:30).
Time was running out for the Warriors but at 58:56, on his return to the club, Alex Jones rifled a shot in the right corner to make it 3-5. The assist coming from Mitch White.
With only just over a minute remaining in the game, the Warriors bench decided to pull the goalie for the extra skater.
Unfortunately, this proved fruitless as the North Stars scored on the empty net. This brought the scoring to a close as the game ended 3-6 to the visitors.
Final score:
Warriors 3-6 North Stars
Points scorers :
Dylan Noonan 2+0
Mitch White 0+2
Alex Jones 1+0
Andy Giles 0+1
Harvey Galloway 0+1
Jordan Batty 0+1
Alex Jones
Player of the game
Tyler Heming
Captain’s POTG
The Player of the Game for the Warriors, as selected by the Cobras, went to Alex Jones who also scored on his return game for the club - and the Captain’s helmet went to Tyler Heming. Well played lads.
This was a very tough and frustrating night for the Warriors. Similarly to the Cobras game, the team collapsed somewhat in the third period and this was when the game was lost. But the team are aware of this and can also take away many positives from the game.
Thanks to the North Stars for making the long trip late on a Friday night and for suffering the poor changing room situation! We appreciate it’s not ideal. Hopefully see you in Nottingham in 2026 for the return fixture.
That’s ’pre-season’ complete - the next game for Warriors 1 is in the IHSC Cup (Ice Hockey Summer Classic). See the details below:
Saturday 3rd January 2025
Sheffield Blazers v Warriors 1
@ Ice Sheffield
Face-off : 10:20pm
All Warriors 1 fixtures can be found here : Fixtures and Results
