Brave Hawks enjoy a mixed weekend

12:01pm Wednesday 20th February 2008

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Netminder Danny Brittle performed heroics but could not prevent Blackburn Hawks sliding to defeat in a crunch ice hockey play-off clash with Sheffield Spartans at the Arena.

But the Hawks, beaten 4-2 and now out of contention, roared back from the Saturday night disappointment to hammer Whitley Braves 24 hours later.

The local heroes went into the game against the Spartans in the knowledge that a victory would seal the final berth in the end-of-season play-offs.

Already trailing 1-0, two disastrous minutes early in the second period culminated in the tie being put well beyond Blackburn's reach, as two further powerplay strikes gave the Spartans a 3-0 lead.

The third period saw the home team finally show a fighting spirit, and they were duly rewarded with nine minutes remaining, as Aaron Special' Davies found acres of space on the left, moved in towards goal, and shot past the unsighted keeper. This seemed to fire up the Hawks, and an unlikely comeback seemed distinctly possible, until a fourth goal by the Spartans restored their three-goal advantage.

The Hawks refused to give up, and a further strike, a slapshot by Rick Bentham, in the final minute, reduced the arrears. However, it was too little, too late, and it was Sheffield who advanced to the playoffs.

Hawks made up for the disappointment by recording a convincing win against the Whitley Braves on Sunday.

Anthony Kinder opened the scoring and Sam Dunford made it 2-0 before Kinder added a third.

The one-sided affair continued in period two with Hawks simply cruising. Michael Brunton made a lightning fast appearance to bag himself a goal, but Whitley replied with a goal of their own, finally managing to scramble the puck past netminder Ian Thirkettle.

Ian McDade did some twisting and turning to find Harry Hall at the right post ready to deflect the puck making it 5-1. Hawks then made effective use of a powerplay situation with Same Dunford and David Meikle creating space for Aaron Davies to score.

A slap shot from Wayne Slater completed the scoring in this very unequal contest.