(Image permission: Charlotte Flanigan)
LANCASHIRE, UK – Sheffield Steeldogs maintained their 100% record in Moralee D1 with a 6-2 home victory over Whitley Warriors – Nathan Salem (2) topped their scoring.
The Warriors bounced back in style with a 4-2 success at Blackburn Hawks – Ben Campbell weighed in with a couple of goals.
Nottingham Lions had another tough weekend, losing 8-4 at Billingham Stars and 6-3 at home to Solway Sharks.
In the NIHL North Cup, Sheffield won 4-2 at home to Billingham while Blackburn fell 5-3 at Solway.
Telford lost 6-2 at Basingstoke Bison in the Autumn Cup, but they gained their revenge back on home ice with a 4-3 victory.
Hull Pirates were beaten twice by Peterborough Phantoms, losing 2-1 after overtime away from home and 6-5 in the reverse fixture.
Coventry Blaze NIHL secured a four-point weekend in Laidler D2, winning 5-2 on home ice against Bradford Bulldogs and 2-1 at Deeside Dragons.
Gowan Beddoes (2) and Harry Bridges (2) grabbed the goals for Hull Jets as they ran out 4-2 winners at home to Widnes Wild.
Michal Novak (5) and Jakub Hajek (4) led the scoring as Widnes bounced back with a 22-2 home victory over Blackburn Hawks 2.
Jakub Pavlicek bagged two goals in Altrincham Aces’ 5-2 home success against Deeside.
PHN’s top two talking points
Clarkson return a big boost for Telford
Doug Clarkson’s return for Telford Tigers has been eagerly anticipated by the club’s fans and he made an immediate impact during his first games back in Britain.
Clarkson bagged four goals against Basingstoke over the weekend, including the winner in Sunday’s match.
The forward was prolific two seasons ago in the EPL for the Tigers and he is likely to terrorise NIHL defences over the coming months.
Coventry make a statement
Defender Adz Andrews told PHN in last week’s preview that he would be disappointed if Coventry Blaze didn’t push for a play-off spot in D2 this season and his team backed up those words in style over the weekend.
Blaze collected four points from two tricky looking fixtures against Bradford and Deeside to show that they can compete with the better sides in the division.
Nine of the 10 teams in D2 look capable of challenging for a top four place, but in this sort of form Coventry could be a tough nut to crack this term.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Moralee D1
Billingham Stars 8-4 Nottingham Lions
Blackburn Hawks 2-4 Whitley Warriors
Nottingham Lions 3-6 Solway Sharks
Sheffield Steeldogs 6-2 Whitley Warriors
Laidler D2
Altrincham Aces 5-2 Deeside Dragons
Coventry Blaze NIHL 5-2 Bradford Bulldogs
Hull Jets 4-2 Widnes Wild
Deeside Dragons 1-2 Coventry Blaze NIHL
Widnes Wild 22-2 Blackburn Hawks 2
NIHL North Cup
Sheffield Steeldogs 4-2 Billingham Stars
Solway Sharks 5-3 Blackburn Hawks
NIHL Autumn Cup
Basingstoke Bison 6-2 Telford Tigers
Hull Pirates 5-6 Peterborough Phantoms
Peterborough Phantoms 2-1 Hull Pirates (OT)
Telford Tigers 4-3 Basingstoke Bison
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