ENL North round-up week 17

BLACKBURN, UK – Billingham Stars have moved nine points clear at the top of ENL1 North after a 4-2 home win over Nottingham Lions. Michael Rose gave Nottingham an early first period lead, but Cal Davies tied things up midway through the game. Simon Hehir put Stars in front after 47 minutes and Andy Fletcher made it 3-1 in the 51^st minute. Lions refused to lie down and Marcus Maynard’s strike four minutes from time set up a nervy finish, but a stunning James Moss goal sealed a hard fought victory. Whitley Warriors stay second despite losing at third placed Trafford Metros on Sunday. Ill discipline once again cost Warriors dearly as the home team ran out 6-2 winners – Jake Nurse grabbed a hat-trick. Metros

suffered a setback to their play-off hopes the previous night, as goals from Rikki Bryniarski, Mike Steventon and Connor Hubbuck gave Coventry Blaze a deserved 3-0 win. Telford Titans joined Trafford and Blackburn Hawks on 20 points after a pair of emphatic victories. On Saturday they faced the Hawks in Telford and ran out impressive 11-3 winners – new signing Chris Jones scored four. They travelled to relegation threatened Solihull Barons on Sunday and hit double figures again – winning 10-3. The Hawks bounced back on Sunday by beating Coventry 3-1. Tom King opened the scoring after seven minutes but Josh Nicklin’s 18^th minute powerplay goal levelled things up. After a scoreless second period, Hawks upped the tempo in the third and King bagged his second of the night after 46 minutes. Chris Arnone’s thunderbolt in the 50^th minute secured a vital two points for Jared Owen’s men. Solway Sharks moved a step closer to their first silverware of the season by beating Billingham Stars in the Northern Cup. Paul Windridge gave Stars an early lead but goals from Bob Chalmers, Adam Reynolds, Struan Tonnar and Nathan Salem rounded off an excellent night’s work for the Dumfries outfit. With Solway also looking certain to claim the ENL2 title, the race to finish runners-up is hotting up. Flintshire Freeze are currently second and Saturday’s 6-2 win at Sheffield Senators looked to have set them up for a four-point weekend, but they failed to capitalise as Hull Stingrays held them to a 2-2 draw on Sunday at Deeside Ice Arena. Third placed Sutton Sting took full advantage winning 6-5 at Fylde Flyers before beating the same opponents 7-3 on home ice the following day. The result leaves Sting one point behind with a game in hand. This weekend’s fixtures sees Billingham face a tricky trip to Blackburn to face the Hawks, while Trafford travel across the Pennines to play Sheffield Spartans. Contact the author at: michael.black@prohockeynews.com