BARONS have yet to drop a point in the Laidler Conference and they comfortably dispatched Bradford Bulldogs who had yet to pick up one in what proved to be a one-sided affair.
The first half of the opening period was tighter than many had expected but after ten minutes the deadlock was broken and the home side raced to a thumping 17-1 victory.
The hosts struggled to find that all important final touch but once the breakthrough came courtesy of Jake Larkin the floodgates opened.
The lead was doubled shortly thereafter when Tom Soar fired a rocket of a slapshot from the left-hand half boards for goal number two.
A spell of 5 on 3 powerplay gave the Bulldogs some hope of staying in the game, however the Yorkshire side failed to capitalise and it was Soar who rounded of the first period’s scoring with his second and the Barons’ third goal just before the period end.
The second period continued in a similar manner with the Barons in the ascendency and the half was played almost entirely in the Bradford end.
But to their credit the Bulldogs put up a solid defensive performance. Goals would come and by the end of the second 20 minutes the Barons were eight goals to the good thanks to strikes from Ed Eaton, Erik Bakalar, Rich Slater, Joe Henry and Niklas Ottosson, who found the net on his return to the Solihull squad following a spell in the Elite league.
The final period saw the two lines of Bradford players tire while the Barons would get into full scoring flow.
Of particular note was the Ottosson, Eaton, Soar forward line, responsible for four goals in the final period and which became visibly stronger as the game went on as they became reacquainted following the return of Ottosson.
In addition to this line the Bradford net was also found by Erik Bakalar, Andy Whitehouse, Josh Bruce, Simon Harrison and Rob Eley with a cheeky backhand tap in from just outside the Bradford goal crease. Bradford would get a consolation goal courtesy of Corey Stones to leave the score 17-1.
The Barons have a busy weekend coming up as they face the short trip to Telford on Saturday to take on the Tigers in what is likely to be the trickiest tie of the season so far.
And on Sunday they are back on home ice for a big A45 derby as the squad welcomes local rivals the Coventry NL Blaze to Solihull for the Barons’ last game before the seasonal break.
