ENL North round-up week 18

BLACKBURN, UK – Blackburn Hawks enjoyed their best weekend of the season with wins over Solway Sharks and Billingham Stars. On Saturday they travelled to Dumfries Ice Bowl to face the Sharks in a Northern Cup tie. The ENL2 leaders had lost just once all season and started well, with Nathan Salem putting them ahead midway through the first. The Hawks replied in style in the second as Jordan Bannon’s powerplay effort tied things up. Ten minutes later Bannon made it 2-1 when he latched onto a poor Adam Reynolds pass on the Sharks blueline, beat two players and fired into the roof of the net.

Hawks started the third period on the front foot and Bannon completed his hat-trick after 43 minutes with a classy finish. Reynolds’ 47^th minute strike made it 3-2 and with six minutes left Solway looked to have been handed a lifeline when they were awarded a penalty shot, but Reynolds was denied by netminder Danny Brittle. Sharks poured forward in search of an equaliser but Hawks held firm to secure a fine win. Jared Owen’s men returned to league action on Sunday as they faced ENL 1 leaders Billingham Stars at Blackburn Arena. The North-East outfit went into the clash nine points clear at the top of the table but found the home team in sparkling form. Rick Hughes put Hawks ahead after six minutes, and Tom King doubled the lead in the 15^th minute following fine work by Chris Arnone. Owen made it 3-0 moments later to the delight of a sizeable home crowd. Stars regrouped at the break and started brightly in the second, but the period was marred by poor officiating from Andy Miller. Hawks spent much of the period killing penalties, with the official seemingly overawed by the occasion, as both teams suffered from a number of bizarre decisions. Despite this, the Hawks net remained intact. The third period began with a 5-on-3 for Stars but they found Brittle in inspired form. Anthony Price eventually found a way through on 52 minutes, ironically a shorthanded goal, to set up a tense finish. With just over two minutes left, Hawks’ Tom King was sent to the bin and Billingham pulled their netminder but Hawks penalty killing unit ran down the clock to crown an excellent weekend. Owen was delighted with the two wins saying, “I’m really proud of the team that turned up this weekend. I hope I see those boys next weekend too, as that’s the team we wanted to build. I was pleased with the work ethic and attitude this weekend. If we play like that every week, we’ll get the results we want.” Second placed Whitley Warriors took full advantage of Billingham’s slip to record a pair a wins. On Saturday they recovered from 3-1 at Coventry Blaze to win 4-3 – Dean Holland grabbed the winner six minutes from time. The following day they faced struggling Solihull Barons at Hillheads and ran out comfortable 7-3 winners – Holland, Jamie Tinsley and Shaun Kippin all scored twice. Telford Titans have started 2012 in fine form to move into play-off contention and enjoyed another four-point weekend. They beat Sheffield Spartans 7-1 on home ice and followed up with a hard fought 6-3 win at Nottingham Lions – Chris Jones bagged a hat-trick for Titans. Trafford Metros stay in the play-off mix but dropped a valuable point at home to Solihull. Metros raced into a 3-0 lead but goals from Andy Ayers, Richard Slater and Dale White gave Barons a valuable point. Sheffield are slipping toward the relegation places and lost again – 6-4 at home to Trafford. Promotion chasing Sutton Sting moved up to second in ENL2 with a nervy 4-2 win at Sheffield Senators. Andrew Clark and Wayne Whitby both scored two as lowly Fylde Flyers beat Bradford Bulldogs 6-4. This weekend sees top two Billingham and Whitley do battle, while Solihull will look to ease their relegation fears at home to Trafford. Contact the author at: michael.black@prohockeynews.com