Junior round-up: Billingham Wolves went out to Swindon Cougars 8-7 on aggregate in the English U19 championship play-off semi-finals.

Wolves suffered a narrow 4-3 defeat in the first leg on Teesside three weeks ago and were confident of being able to pull back the deficit.

Wolves got off to a good start when Stephen Wallace converted a powerplay in the fifth minute. Five minutes later when Billingham were short-handed, Liam Telfer doubled the lead.

Cougars pulled a goal back in the final minutes of the first period on the powerplay and at 21.40 scores were level. Wallace restored Wolves' advantage 71 seconds later only for Swindon to tie the scores again after 31 minutes.

In the 37th minute Swindon took the lead in the match for the first time which gave them an 8-6 aggregate lead. Billingham kept plugging away and five minutes into the final period the score on the night was back all square at 4-4.

The visitors could not find a way through to force overtime despite calling a time out in the final minute. Wolves gave their best but on the day not quite good enough. However, an enjoyable season where they won the U19 North A League title ahead of Nottingham Leopards on the same number of points, but having the better goal difference on results between this two.

Wolves: Stephen Wallace, Liam Telfer 2+0, Scott Ward 0+2, Steven Pritchard 0+1.

Sunderland Tomahawks came from behind to defeat Telford Trojans 4-3 in the English U19 North promotion/relegation play-offs. Tomahawks trailed 0-3 and there was only 67 seconds remaining when Jamie Smithson fired home Tomahawks' winner.

Following a goalless opening period Telford went ahead at 21.43 and two further goals in as many minutes led 3-0 after 26 minutes.

Tomahawks' first reply came 30 seconds into the final period through Michael Allinson. Pressure on Telford net brought success in the 56th minute with Dean Holland and Jonny Heslop scoring 12 seconds apart to tie the scores.

Time was almost running out and a draw the outcome until Smithson's timely goal to get Sunderland's play-offs off to a winning start.

Tomahawks visited Hillheads in midweek for a challenge match against Whitley Braves. Sunderland borrowed four Braves players to boost their squad and one of them, Peter Zajac, scored Tomahawks' only goal in a 7-1 Whitley victory.

Tomahawks (v Telford): Dean Holland, Jonny Heslip 1+2, Michael Allinson, Jamie Smithson 1+0, Richard Westgate 0+1.

(v Whitley Bay): Peter Zajac 1+0.

Braves: Ryan Sample 2+2, Ben Campbell 2+0, Robert Cairns 1+1, Simon Day, Shaun Kippin 10+1.

Sunderland Arrows were also in play-off action when they travelled to Sheffield Greyhounds in the English U16 North promotion/relegation play-offs. Arrows went ahead inside the opening two minutes from a Jamie Smithson goal. Dean Holland doubled the lead in the eighth minute and hit the third on the powerplay at 13.28.

Holland had to wait until 16 seconds into the final for a straight hat-trick and increase Arrows' lead to 4-0. Ben Connon struck a fifth two minutes later and Chris Hayes rounded off the scoring at 44.04. Both Connon and Hayes strikes came on the powerplay. Netminder Mark Lee faced 19 shots for his shut-out

Arrows: Dean Holland 3+0, Ben Connon, Jamie Smithson, Chris Hayes 1+0, Callum Hewitt 0+1.

Sunderland Cherokees visited Blackburn Sparrowhawks in an U12 challenge. A keenly fought contest had to be decided in overtime with a Callum Davies goal for Sunderland in a 3-2 win.

There were no goals in the first two periods and Grant Sharp put Cherokees ahead at 31.26. He added a second at 38.40 after Blackburn equalised.

The home side tied the scores for the second in the final minutes to take the match into overtime. Davies' winner came 82 seconds into overtime.

Cherokees: Grant Sharp 2+1, Callum Davies 1+0.

The very best of junior ice hockey in Britain will be taking part in the annual junior Inter-Conference tournament at Hull Ice Arena over three days this weekend. Three age groups, U11, U13 and U15 from North Midlands, South East, South West and Scotland Conference squads converge on Hull for a great weekend of hockey.

Players from Billingham, Sunderland and Whitley Bay are included in the North squads at all age groups. On Sunday there will be an U17 international between England and Scotland with face-off at approximately 8.15pm.