Ice Hockey - UK round-up (games played 7th - 11th March)

Billingham Stars remain on course to claim the ENL1 North crown after a 7-3 win at home to Sheffield Spartans. Andy Finn (2), Andy Fletcher (2), Adam Robinson (2) and James Moss grabbed the goals, leaving Stars needing three points from their remaining three games to seal the title.

Blackburn Hawks kept their hopes alive with a 3-0 win at Nottingham Lions – Rick Hughes, Chris Arnone (above) and Jared Owen were on the scoresheet. Telford Titans joined Stars, Hawks and Whitley Warriors in the play-offs after drawing 2-2 at Coventry Blaze and a 6-3 win at Trafford Metros.

SLUMPED

ENL2 North champions Solway Sharks made it 25 wins out of 25 with a 10-0 win over Flintshire Freeze – Nathan Salem (4) and Adam Reynolds (3) led the scoring. Sutton Sting secured second place - and a promotion play-off game against either Coventry or Nottingham – after beating Bradford Bulldogs 4-0.

Flintshire saw their promotion challenge end as they slumped to a 4-2 defeat at home to Hull Stingrays. Sheffield Senators enjoyed a four-point weekend winning 11-4 at Fylde Flyers and 7-2 at Lancashire Raptors.

Romford Raiders edged closer to the ENL1 South title after a 13-2 win at home to Slough Jets. Raiders are two points clear of Chelmsford Chieftains with just three games to go. Chieftains stay in the hunt after a 9-0 win over MK Thunder.

Wightlink Raiders secured the third play-off slot with an 8-5 win at home to Cardiff. The Devils remain fourth after beating Bristol Pitbulls 6-2. Invicta Dynamos' hopes of catching the Devils suffered a blow as they fell 4-3 at Streatham Redskins, but a 4-1 win at home to Wightlink keeps them just two points behind Cardiff.

REVENGE












Guildford Flames lead at the top of the EPL is down to eight points after splitting their weekend series with Slough. Two Doug Sheppard goals helped Jets to a 5-2 win on home ice, but Nathan Rempel's (above) early marker set Flames on their way in the return as they ran out 4-1 winners. Second placed Manchester Phoenix took four points from their double header with Telford Tigers, winning 4-2 at home and 4-3 on the road.

Sheffield Steeldogs are third after a 6-2 midweek win over the Tigers. Adam Carr (2) and Tuomas Tikkanen (2) led the way as MK Lightning beat Bracknell Bees 6-4 and they followed up with a 3-2 shoot-out success at Peterborough Phantoms – Blaz Emersic scored the winner.

Bracknell completed a miserable weekend, losing 6-3 at home to Basingstoke Bison. Aaron Nell celebrated his call up to the GB squad with a pair of goals as Swindon Wildcats won 5-1 at home to Sheffield.

CHANCE



Belfast Giants sill lead the way in the Elite League. They won twice at Edinburgh Capitals – 6-3 & 8-0 – to stay seven points clear of Sheffield. The Steelers missed the chance to close the gap with a 4-3 loss in overtime at Braehead, though they gained their revenge on the Clan with a 6-2 win at home.

Steelers also won 4-0 at home to Cardiff Devils and are seven points behind the Giants with two games in hand. The teams meet twice in Belfast next weekend. Nottingham Panthers slumped to a shock 8-3 loss at Dundee Stars, but stay third after a 4-1 win at home to Hull Stingrays.

(Nathan Rempel image by kind permission of David Steadman)

Ice Hockey - UK round-up (games played 29th February - 4th March)

Billingham Stars edged closer to the ENL1 North title with a 2-2 draw at Whitley Warriors. Adam Robinson and Michael Elder gave Stars an early lead, but goals from Mark Good and Dean Holland helped Warriors snatch a point. Just one point separates the top two but Stars have a game in hand. Warriors could have drawn level with Billingham, but blew a 3-1 lead at Sheffield to draw 3-3 – Joe Millard scored a couple for Spartans.

Blackburn Hawks missed the chance to close the gap at the top after losing 4-3 at home to Telford – Ed Eaton and Chris Jones (above) both scored twice for Titans. Nottingham Lions boosted their survival hopes with a 5-2 win at Trafford Metros – Joe Wightman scored four. Fellow strugglers Coventry Blaze also won – 3-1 at Solihull. The result confirms Barons’ relegation back to ENL2.

STYLE














Solway Sharks kept their 100% record intact in ENL2 North – but only just. Mark Gallagher and Adam Reynolds grabbed the goals as Sharks edged past Hull Stingrays 2-1. Sutton Sting look booked for second after an 8-2 win at Flintshire Freeze – Richie Oliver scored three. Freeze kept their faint promotion hopes alive with a 6-3 win at Sheffield Senators.

Chelmsford Chieftains missed the chance to draw level with Romford Raiders at the top of ENL2 South after crashing to defeat at Wightlink. Two goals from Alex Murray helped the islanders to a 6-2 success. Chieftains bounced back in style with a 15-3 win over Bracknell Hornets – Danny Hammond and Jakub Klima (above) both hit hat-tricks.

Romford beat Streatham Redskins 5-2 – Anthony Leone scored two – while Invicta Dynamos crushed Slough Jets 24-2 – Ryan Ellis (8) and Justin Noble (7) led the scoring. Cardiff Devils stay fourth after an 8-0 win at home to Streatham – Jamie Hayes scored three.

BOOSTED

















Guildford Flames are ten points clear at the top of the EPL. They won 5-3 at Peterborough Phantoms and followed up with a 3-2 win at home in the reverse fixture. Manchester Phoenix stay second after splitting a double header with Swindon. Two goals from Aaron Nell helped the Widcats to a 6-3 success on home ice, but Luke Boothroyd’s overtime winner gave Phoenix a 6-5 victory in the return.

Third placed Sheffield Steeldogs won two out of three, beating Basingstoke Bison 2-1 and MK Lightning 3-1 but they fell by the same scoreline to Lightning. Slough Jets remain fourth after a pair of wins over Basingstoke. Aaron Connolly scored three as Jets won 8-3 on the road, while Joe Greener and Doug Sheppard (above) both bagged a couple in Jets’ 4-3 win at home. Bracknell Bees boosted their play-off hopes with two wins over Telford Tigers – 4-3 & 11-1.

HUNT

Belfast Giants look favourites to claim the Elite League crown after a 3-2 shoot-out success at Sheffield Steelers. Giants followed up with a 6-1 win at Braehead Clan and are eight points clear of the Steelers. Sheffield stayed in the hunt with a narrow 2-1 win at Hull Stingrays, while third placed Nottingham Panthers beat Fife Flyers 4-3 and Coventry Blaze 5-3.

(Image permissions: Chris Jones - Matt Giles; Jakub Klima - Ian Snoding; Doug Sheppard - Chris Turner)

Block 12 Backcheck

Five games to go and just three points covering the top three. ENL1 North's in for a rousing finish.

With Billingham wobbling a bit in the last few weeks, both Whitley and the Hawks have hit form at just the right time - Warriors are now unbeaten in eight, while Hawks haven't lost in eleven.

All three have tricky looking run-ins and with Warriors and Stars still to meet, it's difficult to predict a winner - but let's have a go. Whitley. No. Billingham. No. Blackburn. See - difficult.

Hawks can lay claim to being February's form team with six wins out of six. If there was a Manager of the Month award it'd be going to Jared Owen. But there isn't - so it won't.

An impressive win at Telford was followed by home successes over Solihull and Sheffield, but it's the last three games which have impressed the most.

Sheffield, Coventry and Solihull are never the easiest places to go, but Hawks won all three and managed a shut-out in eight periods out of nine - brilliant stuff.

Now it's just a matter of keeping it going for five more games and hoping a couple of results elsewhere fall the right way. Failing that let's settle for winning the play-offs.

Whatever happens, we can finally say the Hawks are heading in the right direction. It's only taken two decades but we'll gloss over that.

So good luck to all three teams down the stretch - may the best team win. As long as they're from Blackburn.

Ice Hockey - UK round-up (from Blackburn Hawks match programme 4/03/12)

The race to be crowned ENL1 North champions is set to go down to the wire, with three points separating the top three teams. Billingham Stars still lead the way, but Whitley Warriors’ 5-2 win over Trafford Metros puts them just two points behind.

Blackburn Hawks kept up the pressure with a 5-3 win at Coventry Blaze - Sami Narkia (3) and Rick Hughes (2) got the goals – and a 3-0 success at Solihull Barons – Jordan Bannon (above) scored twice. Sheffield Spartans eased their relegation worries, drawing 4-4 at Trafford and winning 5-3 at Nottingham Lions.



FAVOURITES

Sutton Sting look strong favourites to claim the ENL2 promotion play-off place after crushing Lancashire Raptors 22-1. Rivals Flintshire Freeze slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Hull and now find themselves under pressure for third with the Stingrays also beating the Raptors (9-2).

Romford Raiders lost 3-2 at Cardiff Devils but still lead ENL1 South by two points from Chelmsford Chieftains. Wightlink forward Joe Rand bagged a hat-trick in a 4-4 draw at Bristol Pitbulls and followed up with two as the Raiders strengthened their grip on third with a 7-4 win at Streatham Redskins. Cardiff drew 5-5 at Bristol and are now only two points ahead of Invicta Dynamos having played a game more.

ALIVE















Guildford Flames’ Jozef Kohut (above) grabbed a hat-trick as the EPL leaders beat Sheffield Steeldogs 4-1. Flames are eight points clear of Manchester Phoenix who beat Bracknell Bees twice (5-3 & 3-2). Sheffield leapfrogged Slough into third after a 5-3 win over the Jets.

Slough picked up a couple of points with a 5-1 win over Bracknell – Mindaugas Keiras scored three – but crashed 4-0 at MK Lightning – Adam Carr hit three. Lightning also won 9-3 at Peterborough, but Phantoms kept their play-off hopes alive with an 8-5 win at Basingstoke Bison. Jonas Hoog scored three as Swindon Wildcats beat Telford Tigers 7-2.

Guildford will play Sheffield in the EPL Cup Final. Flames beat Manchester 3-2 on home ice to complete a 5-4 aggregate success.

PERFECT



Belfast Giants enjoyed a perfect road trip to stay clear at the top of the Elite League. They won 8-0 at Hull Stingrays and 5-0 at Coventry Blaze and are now seven points ahead of Sheffield.

The Steelers beat Fife Flyers twice (5-3 & 5-1) and Edinburgh Capitals (7-0) but missed the chance to close the gap further, losing 2-1 at Braehead Clan. Nottingham Panthers stay third after beating Cardiff Devils 6-3 and Fife 4-3.

(Jozef Kohut image by kind permission of David Steadman)

Ice Hockey - UK round-up (games played 15th, 18th & 19th February)

Whitley Warriors have closed the gap on Billingham Stars at the top of ENL1 North. Shaun Kippin and Callum Watson both scored twice as Warriors beat Solihull Barons 8-4. They now trail Stars by four points with a game in hand with the teams set to meet at Hillheads on March 4th. Blackburn Hawks are three points further back in third after winning 5-0 at Sheffield Spartans.

Telford Titans are in the final play-off place after drawing 1-1 at Billingham. Coventry Blaze boosted their hopes of avoiding the drop with a 6-3 win over Solihull – Josh Nicklin (3) & Rikki Bryniarski (above - 2) led the scoring.

BOOSTED

Solway Sharks have won the ENL2 North title after being awarded a default win over Bradford Bulldogs. Sutton Sting remain in the promotion play-off position after an 8-1 win at Lancashire Raptors. Flintshire Freeze beat Bradford 6-1 to stay third. Fylde Flyers were surprisingly held 3-3 at home to the Raptors, but won 5-2 at Sheffield Senators to move out of the bottom two.

Romford Raiders still lead ENL1 South after a 5-2 win at home to Invicta Dynamos. Danny Hammond scored twice as second placed Chelmsford Chieftains beat Streatham Redskins 8-1. Wightlink Raiders strengthened their grip on third with a 5-2 win at MK Thunder. Egidijus Bauba grabbed a hat-trick as Bristol Pitbulls won 6-3 at Invicta.

FINAL













EPL leaders Guildford Flames kept their title push on track with a pair of wins. They beat Basingstoke Bison 3-0 and followed up with a 9-1 demolition of Swindon Wildcats – Nathan Rempel scored three. Manchester Phoenix are second after beating MK Lightning 5-2, while third placed Slough Jets recovered from a 5-3 loss at Swindon to record wins over Peterborough Phantoms – 5-4 after overtime – and Telford Tigers 5-1.

Stuart Brittle’s overtime winner sealed a 3-2 win for Sheffield Steeldogs at Bracknell Bees. Basingstoke are up to fifth after a 3-1 win over the Bees and a 7-6 shoot-out success at Peterborough – Steve Moria (above) scored the winner. Tuomas Tikkanen and Grant McPherson both scored two as Lightning beat the Wildcats 6-3.

Sheffield secured a place in the final of the EPL with a 1-0 aggregate success over MK Lightning. They will meet the winners of Manchester and Guildford who drew their first leg 2-2.

CHANCE

Belfast Giants keep their nine point lead at the top of the Elite League after two home wins. They eased past Hull Stingrays 6-1 and followed up with a 7-1 win over Fife Flyers. Sheffield Steelers stay second after beating Dundee Stars 5-4 and Nottingham 4-2, but missed the chance to close the gap with a 5-1 loss to the Panthers.

(Image permissions: Rikki Bryniarski - Scott Wiggins; Steve Moria - David Steadman)