BLACKBURN, UK – Persistence has been the name of the game for Blackburn Hawks in the past couple of weeks as they tried to boost their firepower. Despite boasting a healthy squad, their lack of a cutting edge looked like it would continue to haunt them as the season progressed.
Hawks finally got their man last week with the signing of Finnish forward Sami Narkia from EHC Red Devils, Helsinki. Narkia had a baptism of fire on Saturday as his new team faced Whitley Warriors in the Northern Cup. The Finn showed flashes of quality throughout the game, leaving Warriors resorting to vain attempts to rough him up. An Aaron Davies thunderbolt set Hawks on their way and Ric Ravey doubled the lead before the end of the first.
Narkia celebrates for Hawks (photo: Steve McKelvey)
Whitley coach Garry Dowd appeared unhappy with the officials and made his feelings known to them and his mood wasn’t helped when Davies added a sixth in the 47th minute. Warriors finally started to play some hockey and were rewarded when Dean Holland, Jamie Tinsley and Watson scored in quick succession. Pattison was handed a misconduct penalty which put him out of the game and the Hawks comfortably saw out the last few minutes to seal a 6-4 win.
The following day Blackburn travelled to the Midlands to face lowly Solihull in the league. The Barons have endured a tough start to life in ENL1 and found the Hawks in uncompromising mood. Before the first puck had been dropped Solihull’s Martin O’Brien checked Hawks’ Tom King to the head in a carry-over of their recent clash at Blackburn Arena. King retaliated to take the honours again, but both men were thrown out of the game.
Once the action got under way, goals from Jared Owen and Rick Hughes quickly put the visitors in control. Hughes added another early in the second before Davies made it 4-0. Erik Bakalar pulled one back but Narkia restored the four goal cushion before the end of the period. Craig Rogers made it six before a Phil Lee slapshot reduced the deficit, but Matt Viney and Narkia’s second of the night saw Hawks run out deserving 8-2 winners.
Billingham Stars kept their unbeaten league record intact with a 7-1 win at Nottingham Lions. Alex Lawson scored twice in the first before Andy Finn and Mick Elder doubled the lead in the second. Paul Windridge made it 5-0 early in the third with Gareth O’Flaherty grabbing Lions’ consolation soon after. Further strikes from Simon Hehir and Andy Fletcher completed a successful night’s work for Terry Ward’s men.
Warriors%27 DJ Good (photo: John Knowles)
Sheffield Spartans have been in decent form of late, but surprisingly lost at home to Nottingham. Will Barron and Jon Woolhouse gave them an early lead but O’Flaherty and Joe Wightman levelled things up by the end of the first. Shaun Wild and Nathan Britton put Spartans back in front but Mark Corfield, Ben Wood, Ciaran Quinn and Danny Rose hit four unanswered goals in the third to seal a remarkable 6-4 win for the Lions.
Solway Sharks made it 12 out of 12 in ENL2 after disposing of Hull Stingrays 8-1. Top scorer Adam Reynolds opened the scoring for Sharks after just 19 seconds and further goals from Struan Tonnar, Calum Henderson and Aidan Fulton made it 4-0 before the end of the first. Reynolds grabbed another midway through the second, but Jordan Fisher pulled one back for Hull early in the third. Sharks soon stepped back up a gear with Connor McCallum and Alan Gibson making it 7-1 before Reynolds completed his hat-trick to round off an excellent performance.
Sutton Sting moved into second place after demolishing Lancashire Raptors 15-0. Ben Lowe (5) and Shaun Ashton (4) led the scoring for Sting who are six points behind Sharks with a game in hand. Hull Stingrays are up to fourth after a 6-3 win over Fylde Flyers while the Raptors are yet to pick up a point after losing 5-0 at Bradford Bulldogs.
This week’s highlights see Billingham and Whitley face-off in the North-East derby while Blackburn entertain Nottingham.
Contact the author at: michael.black@prohockeynews.com
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