ENL North round-up week 32

BLACKBURN, UK – The first leg of the ENL1 North play-off final between Blackburn Hawks and Billingham Stars lived up to its billing, as both teams served up a night of quality hockey.

In front of almost 1300 people at Blackburn Arena, Billingham dominated early proceedings but couldn’t find a way past Hawks’ netminder Danny Brittle. Stars’ stopper James Flavell was also in good form as the first period ended scoreless. Hawks came out firing in the second and took the lead on 22 minutes when Jordan Bannon slotted home. Jared Owen’s men continued to press, but the visitors silenced the home fans in the 34th minute when captain Paul Windridge levelled things up after some sloppy Hawks defending. Blackburn restored their advantage two minutes later, as Rick Hughes and Dave Meikle combined to set up Chris Arnone, who rounded Flavell to make it 2-1 at the second break. Stars looked content to sit back in the third as the home team poured forward, with Tom King and Bobby Streetly having efforts superbly saved by Flavell. Tempers flared midway through the period, after a melee around the Stars net saw Hawks’ Arnone and Craig Rogers sent to the bin along with Stars’ James Moss and Simon Hehir. Roared on by the home crowd, Hawks spent the final two minutes on the powerplay after Richie Thornton was called for delaying the game. Arnone had the best chance of the 5-on-4 with a thundering shot from the blue line well saved by Flavell and Stars held firm to leave the tie on a knife edge. The second leg takes place on Sunday 29th April at Billingham Ice Arena (face-off 6.30 pm). Contact the author at: Michael.Black@prohockeynews.com