ENL North round-up week 28

BLACKBURN, UK – ENL1 North champions Billingham Stars capped a memorable season with victory in their final league game at home to Blackburn Hawks.

The two teams met in Blackburn on Saturday in a meaningless ENL Cup game with Hawks running out 4-0 winners, but Stars gained revenge the following night at a packed TFM Ice Arena. Anthony Price and James Udell put the home team 2-0 up by the end of the first but Hawks’ Aaron Davies halved the deficit midway through the game. Udell added his second of the night in the 39th minute before Ollie Lomax made it 3-2 early in the third. Hawks pushed for an equaliser but Andy Fletcher’s final minute empty-netter gave Stars the win. Billingham now face Telford Titans in the play-offs and the Shropshire outfit head into the game full of confidence after a thumping 15-3 success over relegated Solihull. The Barons salvaged some pride in their final ENL1 outing by beating Whitley Warriors 3-2 – Erik Bakalar, Rob Eley and Richard Slater got the goals. Trafford Metros completed a miserable end to their season falling 3-2 at home to Coventry – Rhys Gillat (2) and Kieran Papps scored for Blaze. Fylde Flyers have found their first season in ENL2 a tough one, but they gained their best result so far with a 7-4 win at home over promotion hopefuls Sutton Sting. The only other fixture saw Sheffield Senators comfortably dispose of Lancashire Raptors 10-1. This weekend sees the first of the play-off semi-finals take place, with Blackburn facing Whitley. Hawks have a number of injury concerns ahead of the game, with defenders Scott Glover, Bobby Streetly and Chad Briggs all facing a fitness battle. Warriors have minor worries over Dean Holland (shoulder) and Shaun Kippin (concussion) but are expected to be at full strength. The second semi-final between Billingham and Telford takes place the weekend of 7th and 8th April. Contact the author at: Michael.Black@prohockeynews.com