Monday 16 December 2013

Ice Hockey: NIHL North Round Up - Weekend on 14th & 15th December 2013

In the Moralee Conference (North 1) Blackburn Hawks turned the formbook on its head to notch up a sensational 7-1 victory over 2nd place Billingham Stars (see photo, left)..

That win lifts the Hawks one place up the table into 5th, overtaking Sheffield Spartans who didn't have league game this weekend. Stars remain in second place - 6 points behind league leaders Solway Sharks who also didn't play this weekend.

Sutton Sting continued their recent run of good form by beating 3rd place Whitley Warriors.  That win sees Sting move into the top half of the table for the first time this season.  They are in 4th place - one point behind Whitley and 1 pint ahead of Hawks - with all thee having played the same number of games.

In the other Moralee Conference match of the weekend, second from bottom Manchester Minotaurs picked up a 13-4 win away at troubled bottom team Telford Titans.

In the Laidler Conference (North 2), the title race has been blown wide open by Solihull Barons' sensation 6-3 win away at league leaders Deeside Dragons.  Second placed Barons have beaten the Welsh side twice in the last 2 games and are now just 1 point behind them with a game in hand.

The other form team in Laidler at present are the Sheffield Senators who pick up two wins this weekend - 5-2 at home to Coventry Blaze on Saturday and 3-1 away at Widnes Wild on Sunday. They now move up into 6ht place in the table, leapfrogging Wild who drop into 7th.

Coventry Blaze had bad weekend all round, losing again on Sunday night - 4-5 at home to Hull Stingrays and then seeing Nottingham Lions knock them off 3rd place by virtue of their own 5-1 win over bottom team Blackburn Eagles.

Photo by John Milton www.togger.co.uk