Ice Hockey: NIHL North Round Up 26th & 27th October

Blackburn Hawks title hopes suffered a further setback as they emerged pointless from their two games this weekend.

Without the services of Captain Chris Arnone - who had been handed a 2 week suspension by the EIHA as punishment for inappropriate comments that he made on a social network, the Hawks lost 2-1 away at league leaders Billingham Stars last night (photo left) but the bigger shock came 24 hours earlier when they lost 6-3 at home to Sutton Sting who, prior to that game, had only won once all season.

Sting then went on to cement a successful two days with a 5-5 draw against 2^nd placed Whitley Warriors on Sunday evening

In the other Moralee Conference (North 1) game of the weekend, Manchester Minotaurs extended their unbeaten run to 4 games in a row with 3 wins out of the last 3 with a 6-5 win over Sheffield Spartans.

In the Laidler Conference (North 2), the league's newest team Widnes Wild finally played their first game at home, although the long-hoped for spectator seating still wasn't in place for their 5-1 victory over bottom team Blackburn Eagles.

Notable in this match was the fact that the Eagles actually "won" the third period 0-1 and Eagle Adam Lutkevitch managed to pick up a 5+5+10+10 penalty at the end of the second period.  

Slightly further west, league leaders Deeside Dragons reinforced their position at the top of the table with an 8-2 win over struggling Sheffield Senators.

On Saturday evening, Coventry Blaze had moved up into second place with a 7-3 away at Hull Stingrays. 

More information from:  www.blackburnhawks.com  www.eiha.co.uk   www.bluelinerhockey.com