Murrayfield Racers end round-robin phase on high after taking down Whitley Warriors

Callum Boyd bagged a hat-trick for Murrayfield Racers. Pic: Ian Coyle

In front of their biggest crowd of the season, Murrayfield Racers ended the round robin phase of the National Ice Hockey League North Cup on a high with a fine 7-4 win over Whitley Warriors last night.

Spearheaded by a hat-trick from man-of-the-match Callum Boyd, a Joel Gautschi double and markers from Archie Holmes and Sean Donaldson, Racers trailed 2-1 after two periods of frantic action, and fired six goals in a great final 20-minutes, in which a physical Warriors team lost their discipline late on.

The win, alongside a point on the road in Saturday’s 6-5 penalty shot defeat at Billingham Stars, will fill Racers with confidence as they face-off against Solway Sharks in the semi-final of the competition in the new year.

Thoughts, echoed by a delighted Boyd, who said: “This season our aim was to do better in the NIHL Cup. Each game we’ve been progressing and getting better so to take a point on Saturday, going down to Billingham with just 12-men was great, and tonight we showed again we can compete with these English teams and getting the win was just unbelievable.

“I don’t think the English teams will be looking at us as a team they can run over now, they’ll be seeing us as real competition, especially after this weekend, they won’t be taking us lightly.”

Racers struggled with Warriors’ physical style in the game’s opening stages, especially as referee Emmerson was keen to let the game flow and did not call the game’s first penalty until the 30-minute mark.

However, as the game went on Racers refused to be intimidated, and Boyd continued: “Hands up for the boys there. We don’t have that much of a physical team. We have a few guys who’ll go out and throw a hit, but playing against Whitley Warriors you don’t have that option of whether to be physical or not.

“Seeing all the boys stepping up, taking and giving hits was great and just shows the character we’ve got.

“This will give us a lot of confidence going in to the semi-final against Solway, but until then we have a month to focus on the Scottish National League, where we need to keep working hard and keep progressing.”