Blackburn Hawks picked themselves up with a comfortable victory over rivals Flintshire Freeze to help erase memories of narrowly missing out on the English National Ice Hockey League title.

The 7-3 fine win at the Arena in the M65 Cup was the perfect tonic for Hawks on Saturday, but there was frustration 24 hours later when an English Cup tie at Whitley Warriors was called off at the last minute due to "bad ice".

Assistant manager Graham Lomax was disappointed about the cancellation: "It was a real shame as everyone had travelled up there, including the supporters. However, the safety of the players is our main priority so we had to cancel the game. The ice was in shocking condition and it would have been dangerous to go ahead.

"Whitley have been awarded a 5-0 victory for now, but that could be overturned if it is agreed that the ice was unfit to play on."

On a positive note, Lomax was very pleased with Hawks' victory over Flintshire.

"It was good to get the win," said Lomax. "We now take a four-goal advantage up to Flintshire for the second leg. There were some poor individual performances, but on the other hand there were some impressive showings too."

Hawks top scorer Bobby Haig was the hat-trick hero, opening with his first after 10 minutes. Adam Fuller, Ollie Lomax, Aaron Davies and Czech Jakub Hejtmanek put the icing on the cake.

Hawks now need just one point from their two remaining English Cup game to finish in the top two of the group.