Junior Roundup: Whitley Bay Islanders and Cleveland Comets were in local derby action at Hillheads on Sunday for a recreational ice hockey encounter. Islanders' winning ways continued with a 7-2 victory over Comets.

Islanders had the better of the early exchanges and went ahead at 06.58 through Kurt Elgie. This was 30 seconds into a powerplay after Comets were penalised for having too many players on the ice. The lead was doubled five minutes later when a Steven Stocks shot found its way into the Comets' net. By the end of the opening period the lead had been increased to 3-0 following a slapshot from captain Mark Brown.

The middle period saw Whitley increase their advantage. Stocks completed a hat-trick with a brace of goals in the 29th minute, the first being driven home on the powerplay at 28.22 and the other following just 32 seconds later giving Islanders a 5-0 lead.

A sixth goal from Andy Ormond extended the advantage in the 31st minute. The first of two disallowed Whitley goals came in the middle session. This was because there was an Islands' player in the goal crease when the puck entered the net. Comets broke their deadlock in the 39th minute through a Sean Robinson strike to cut the deficit to 6-1. A gritty middle period with plenty of stoppages caused the period to take 50 minutes to complete. The first two periods were played over two 20 minutes stop clock, but with time being of the essence the final period was of 15 minutes running clock.

Comets were on target with a second goal after 48 minutes from Graeme Harrison. The five-goal margin was restored on the 53rd minute mark through Joe Robinson.

Islanders welcomed back Anik Sachdeva, Derek Mitchell, Kurt Elgie and Kevin Foster to the side from the 10-6 win over Nottingham Shoguns two weeks ago. Steve Armstrong, Stu Davis, Tom Glazzard, Doug Ramsey and David Farren were all unavailable.

Islanders are next in action on July 18 when Kingston Cobras visit Hillheads, face off 12.30pm.

Islanders: Steven Stocks 3+2, Kurt Elgie, Andy Ormond, Mark Brown, Joe Robinson 1+1, Tom Coulson, Graham Leslie, Terry Wilkinson 0+1, David Cowey 0+3.

Comets: Sean Robinson 1+1, Graeme Harrison 1+0, Hadyn Hunter, Paul Anthony 0+1.

English National Ice Hockey League

Whitley Warriors have announced the signings of seven players as they embark on another season in this Northern Conference. Stephen Hoult, Raymond Haslam, Ian Emerson, David Barrett, Andrew Robinson and Bryan Dunn have all re-signed for another season while Scott Taylor has signed after a season out due to work commitments.

Warriors had been hoping to step into the English National Premier Ice Hockey League Cup for this coming season. However, their application was turned down and the club submitted an appeal to the English Ice Hockey Association from which the club received no reply.

The club knew of them not being accept into the cup competition when fixtures were on the website on July 1.

The five-team North Cup group includes both Blackburn Hawks and Sheffield Scimitars who are also in the English National Ice Hockey League North.

There are now only nine teams in the ENIML North Conference following Grimsby Buffaloes' withdrawal. Billingham Bombers, Blackburn Hawks, Bradford Bulldogs, Flintshire Freeze, Kingston Jets, Nottingham Lions, Sheffield Scimitars, Sunderland Chiefs and Whitley Warriors are the nine.