Goalie heroics keep Warriors¹ from being mauled by Ice Tigers
On Saturday 31st January 2026 our Warriors 1 team welcomed Sheffield Ice Tigers A to Planet Ice for this IHSC Cup fixture.
This was the Warriors second game in their 2025-26 IHSC Cup season, having beaten Sheffield Blazers 1-4 away from home earlier in the month.
The Warriors played the Ice Tigers last season in the same competition and both games were close and highly competitive.
This was sure to be another tough test for the Warriors as they sought to pick up another win.
Dressed players
Joe Quinn (NM), Lewis Pickering (NM), Chris Giles (C), Andy Giles (A), Sam Cromack (A), Ellen Gallimore, Mitch White, Tyler Heming, Dylan Noonan, Sam Cromack, Simon Morrow, Chris Scampton, Callum Greenlagh, Jordan Batty, Will Gibbons, Harvey Galloway, Chris Blaschko and Jake Wagner.
Warriors ready
1st period
The Warriors were looking to get off to a strong start and avoid having to chase the game.
Before the Ice Tigers were properly settled into the game, Mitch White broke free and released a hard wrist-shot into the top corner to make it 1-0 Warriors with 5:47 on the clock.
Mitch White
Opened the scoring at 5:47.
That goal helped settle the team as everyone was taking their first shifts and getting into the pace of the game.
But a powerplay opportunity was presented to the Ice Tigers at 11:14 when the Warriors picked up a 2 minute minor penalty for checking.
Fortunately, the Warriors killed off the penalty, but it was an intense 2 minutes which showcased the offensive threat from the visitors. This was a wake-up call to the team. It wasn’t going to be a walk over.
Ice Tigers on the attack
It was an end-to-end period, with both teams creating good opportunities. Our goalie Joe Quinn had been exposed a number of times already and came up big with some fine saves to keep the Ice Tigers out. More warning signs for the Warriors!
Joe Quinn
Keeping the visitors at bay
We didn’t know how long Quinn would be able to keep bailing the team out, so the onus was on the rest of the team to get some extra goals and create some breathing space in the score-line.
Thankfully, at 14:55, White notched up his second goal of the game (unassisted) giving the team some important breathing room at 2-0.
Mitch White
Doubled the Warriors lead at 14:55
But this daylight was short-lived. A mere 18 seconds later at 15:13 the Ice Tigers roared back into the game with a one-timer that gave our goalie no chance. 2-1 and game on.
Ice Tigers get on the board
Once again the Warriors were battling to get that insurance goal, whilst desperately trying to defend their own zone. At 17:30 the Ice Tigers took a 2 minute minor penalty for tripping, which presented the Warriors with an opportunity - but unfortunately the visitors stood firm.
Only 7 seconds after going back to 5v5, Warriors’ White converted his hat-trick goal to restore the 2 goal advantage (timed at 19:37).
Hat-trick man
White picks up a first period hatty
With only 23 seconds left in the period, he’d bagged a hat-trick inside the opening period to give the team something to hold onto. What a crucial goal for the team as they went into the first interval.
Warriors 3-1 Ice Tigers
2nd period
We’ve said before about the dangers of the two-goal lead and this still rang true for the Warriors, especially in such a close contest against powerful opposition.
That last goal mattered, but the next felt pivotal — the swing between a 4–1 cushion and a 3–2 game is huge.
The Ice Tigers knew they were in with a good chance of winning this game, based on the balance of play. They had enjoyed periods of domination and a large amount of shots on goal.
They gathered around their net during the first interval for a Captain pep talk. They were clearly going to come out swinging in the second period and the Warriors needed to be ready.
The second period seemed to last forever. The clock just wouldn’t tick fast enough for the Warriors as they came under intense pressure from the Ice Tigers.
At 23:45 the Warriors took a 2 minute minor penalty for checking, which gave the Ice Tigers an opportunity to close the gap to one.
This was a crucial period in the game. Despite some desperate defending and some close calls, the Warriors came through this test and maintained their 2 goal lead.
What happened next was game defining. With the visitors still pushing hard for a second goal, they took a 2 minute minor penalty for tripping at 26:38. This gave the Warriors some relief.
But things got even better for the Warriors when the visitors took another penalty at 26:53 for checking. This gave the Warriors a 5-on-3 powerplay for 1 minute and 45 seconds.
They had to make this count as 5-on-3 opportunities can be rare.
After some fine passing and movement within the offensive zone, the puck landed with defenceman Jake Wagner near the hash marks to the right of the goal, and he sauced a pass across the slot to Sam Cromack who finished with a nice wrist-shot. 4-1 Warriors.
That goal, timed at 27:57, was huge.
Jake Wagner
Picked up a fine assist on the 5th goal.
Sam Cromack
Worked hard all night and deserved that goal.
But given that the game wasn’t even half-way done and with the good form of the Ice Tigers, it didn’t feel like the W was secure. There was still a lot of hard work ahead to turn this advantage into a victory.
The visitors continued to probe and unleash shots on the Warriors goal. Quinn pulling out stop after stop to frustrate them.
It was against the run of play when Andy Giles fed the puck up to Chris Blaschko on the point where he hit a wrist shot towards goal which ultimately fell to the stick of Dylan Noonan who duly scored the Warriors 5th goal. With the time at 32:22 it was now 5-1 Warriors.
Dylan Noonan
The player-coach with goal number 5.
Looking at the score-line you’d be forgiven for thinking victory was now a foregone conclusion, but I don’t think anyone on either team saw it that way. Things can change quickly in hockey and everyone knew it. Some Warriors goals had come during bouts of Ice Tigers domination so even a 4 goal lead felt precarious with still almost half the game remaining.
With the clock at 33:31 the referee saw an infringement that no-one else saw. Whilst there were no protests from the Ice Tigers side, the referee adjudged our Harvey Galloway to have ‘sucker punched’ an Ice Tigers player and therefore, he received a 5 + game penalty. This meant that, despite protests of innocence, Harvey was ejected from the game and the team had to kill a penalty for 5 minutes.
Harvey Galloway
Received 5 minutes plus ejection from the game.
Killing such a long penalty was a big ask for the team and despite killing off 3:37 of the 5 minutes, they succumbed to the Ice Tigers power-play.
With 37:08 on the clock it was now 5-2 Warriors and the eventful second period drew to a frantic close with no further goals.
Warriors 5-2 Ice Tigers
View from the bench
3rd period
Again, the Warriors needed to be mindful of recent third-period collapses, especially as the visitors still felt they had plenty of time to swing momentum in their favour.
After a 2nd period that felt like two periods, such was the intensity, it was now a question of whether the Warriors could hold on defensively and maybe pick off the odd goal as the Ice Tigers commit themselves offensively and potentially take a gamble.
What followed was all out desperation on the part of the Warriors. There was a lot of panicky defending in the Warriors camp as they struggled to regain composure. The Ice Tigers could smell blood and continued to push hard - but again, netminder Joe Quinn pulled off some game-defining saves to frustrate the Ice Tigers.
Whilst the Warriors had a 3 goal cushion, it felt like it needed just one goal from the Ice Tigers to trigger a collapse. So the team were defending like it was a one-goal game.
Offensive ambitions were limited as defence took priority. Thankfully the Warriors weathered the storm and caused the period to end in a 0-0 stalemate. Incredibly frustrating for the Ice Tigers who played brilliantly throughout, but from a Warriors perspective, whilst it wasn’t pretty, the team did what they needed to do and took the 2 points.
Final score:
Warriors 5-2 Ice Tigers
Handshakes and congratulations
Points scorers :
Mitch White 3+0
Dylan Noonan 1+0
Sam Cromack 1+0
Andy Giles 0+1
Chris Blaschko 0+1
Jake Wagner 0+1
Joe Quinn
Player of the game
Jake Wagner
Captain’s POTG
It wasn’t a major surprise when the Ice Tigers Captain selected our goalie, Joe Quinn as his Player of the Game. Joe was phenomenal all game! And the Captain’s helmet went to young Jake Wagner who was a real stand-out performer who picked up a superb assist for Sam Cromack’s goal in the second period. Well played lads!
This was a seriously tough game for the Warriors. Had it not been for Quinn’s heroics in goal and a hat-trick from our talisman Mitch White, we could have easily lost that game. The Ice Tigers had us on the back-foot for long periods and will probably count themselves unlucky to have come up against a goalie who was on fire all night.
This sets up the return game in Sheffield nicely. It really could go either way! And based on how the previous game went against the Blazers this season’s IHSC Cup could shape up to be a very closely contested competition.
Thanks to the Ice Tigers for making the trip up to Leeds. We’ll see you at Ice Sheffield on Saturday 14th March.
Thanks to those who came down to support and help the team - Matthew Gatenby, Howard Barwick, Rich Guttridge, Josh Moss, Phil Bradley, Corey Clough-Howard, Adam Szabo and as ever - Lisa Speed!.
Also, photography credits go to Robert Halls Photography. Thanks for the amazing pictures Robert. If you want to check out Robert’s portfolio of work, check out his website.
The next game for Warriors 1 is a challenge game away from home. See the details below:
Challenge game
Friday 13th February 2026
Nottingham North Stars v Warriors 1
@ National Ice Centre
Face-off : 9:30pm
All Warriors 1 fixtures can be found here : Fixtures and Results
