Ice hockey

Wolves travelled without Jamie Pattison and Andrew Thornton took the lead in the final minute of the first period through Liam Telfer and two minutes into the middle period Ricky Box doubled the lead.

Michael Snook in Wolves' goal made some good saves to keep Nottingham at bay while his opposite number, Geoff Woolhouse, too reduced Billingham's goal tally. Telfer's second goal of the game on the powerplay six minutes into the final period clinched Wolves' victory who now go to the national semi-finals played over two legs. Swindon Cougars, Cardiff Satans or Slough Comets will be their opponents.

Wolves: Liam Telfer 2+0, Ricky Box 1+0, Scott Ward, David Thomas 0+1.

In midweek Wolves ran out comfortable 7-1 winners over Sunderland Tomahawks at the Telewest Arena. Three goals in as many minutes through Stuart Gibbon, Ward and Andrew Thornton put Wolves 3-0 up at 33.56 only for Michael Allinson to strike Tomahawks' lone reply in the final minute of the second period.

Four without reply in the third from James Udell, Robert Dowd, Steven Pritchard and Gibbson wrapped up the victory.

Tomahawks: Michael Allinson 1+0, Keith Baker, Paul Shanks 0+1.

Sunderland ended the season in the bottom two on six points alongside Altrincham Tigers and in the promotion/relegation play-offs Tomahawks' third win of the season, the second over Altrincham was on Saturday at the Telewest Arena in a 9-3 victory.

Tomahawks: Allinson 4+0, Paul Shanks, Darren Shanks 2+0, Richard Dunn 1+1, Keith Barker 0+2, Dean Hamilton, Jeremy Lundin, Mark Lee, Jonathan Heslop 0+1.

Whitley Braves also had six points and they had to defeat Altrincham on their ice to avoid the play-offs. This they did winning 2-1. Altrincham went ahead after 12 minutes and it was not until 37.53 on the powerplay that Ben Campbell equalised.

The all important winning goal came also on the powerplay with only 02.27 from John Shreeve. It gave Warriors eight points and keep their place in the North A League.

Braves: Ben Campbell, John Shreeve 1+0, Daniel Good 0+2.

Sunderland Arrows were held to a 3-3 draw by Flinshire Flames in the English U16 North B League at the Telewest Arena. Flames snatched a point by scoring with just 12 seconds to go.

Ben Connon and Adam Kelly scored in the 14th minute to put Arrows 2-1 ahead after trailing 0-1 at 06.27. Flintshire were back on level terms in the 23rd minute and six minutes later Richard Westgarth restored Arrows' advantage. It looked to be a victory for Sunderland until Flintshire's late show.

Arrows: Ben Connon, Adam Kelly, Richard Westgarth 1+0, Daniel Murdy, Shane Hewitt 0+1.

Sunderland Arrows hosted Northern Conference U15s in a friendly going down 0-6. Richard Westgarth, playing for the Conference side, registered three assists.

Billingham's Paul Smith, Robert Dowd, Michael Farn and James Flavell plus Whitley Bay's Gareth Hughes were in the Conference side from North-East clubs.

Sunderland Scorpions only gained a point from their women's premier league match against Guildford Lightning, drawing 4-4.

Scorpions: Teresa Lewis 2+1, Sarah Clare, Claire Oldfield 1+0, Jayne McClelland, Jane Price 0+1.

Billingham Pumas defeated Coventry Blaze 7-1 in the English U12 North B League at the Forum ice arena.

Pumas: Andy Finn 3+0, robert Heale 2+2, Scott Cooper, Brian Thompson 1+0, Jonathan Galloway 0+2, Stephen Simcox 0+1.

Sunderland Apaches were 12-0 victors over Coventry Blaze in the English U10 North/Midlands League. The following day Apaches hosted Sheffield Samurai which turned out to be a challenge as Apaches did not have sufficient players. Sheffield won 13-1 and Adam Perrie was Apaches' lone scorer.

Apaches (v Coventry): Jack Watkins 4+2, Alex Lawson 3+3, Michael Elder 1+3, Mark Watson, Lee Gill, Dale Sharp, Adam Perrie 1+0, Luke Shanks 0+1.

(v Sheffield): Perrie 1+0, Shanks 0+1.

Billingham Coyotes defeated Whitley Bay Mischiefs 10-2 in an U10 challenge at Hillheads. Joe Watson (2), Daniel Spedding (2) and josh Goodrick gave Coyotes a 5-0 lead inside the first ten minutes. Jack Davies and Callum Clark made it 7-0 at 14.41.

Andrew Terrance pulled a goal back before Watson (2) - to complete his hat-trick and Goodrick made it 10-1. Andrew Cook added a late second for Mischiefs.

Mischiefs: Andrew Terrance, Andrew Cook 1+0, Josh Maddock 0+1.

Coyotes: Joe Watson 4+0, Daniel Spedding 2+2, Josh Goodrick 2+1, Callum Clark 1+2, Jack Davies 1+0, Jack Chapman 0+1.

Whitley Mohawks had a 6-2 win at Billingham Falcons in an U14 challenge. Mohawks led 5-0 before Steven Charlton and Alistair McGill cut the deficit. Bobby Mole scored a sixth for Mohawks in the final minute.

Falcons: Steven Charlton 1+1, Alistair McGill 1+0, David Marsden, Robert Coxon, Stephanie Box 0+1.

Mohawks: Kurt Waller 2+0, Bobby Mole 1+1, Craig Lydall, Charles Ross-Smith, Alexander Simon 1+0, Andrew Wood 0+1.

English National Hockey League North play-offs

Whitley Warriors suffered two defeats at the weekend and are without a point from four outings in the play-offs. Warriors, without many senior players, sent a young squad to face Kingston Jets. They began well with Bryan Dunn putting them ahead and Daniel Good making it 2-1 at 19.12.

Kingston led 5-3 after two periods and a further four in the third gave Jets a 9-3 victory.

During the match Whitley received 105 penalty points for the season due to the fact that coach Peter Winn picked up a three-match suspension.

The next night Warriors iced just nine skaters when entertaining Altrincham Aces went down 4-1 at Hillheads. This was due to Whitley Braves' important U19 league tie at Altrincham.

Good gave Warriors the lead at 09.59 and Aces were level three minutes later.

Bryan Dunn and Garry Dowd each received match penalties and Dunn also had a gross misconduct handed out too.

Kingston head the group after a surprise 3-0 victory at Sheffield on Sunday.

P W L T F A Pts

Kingston 3 3 0 0 19 6 6

Altrincham 4 3 1 0 27 20 6

Sheffield 3 1 2 0 15 15 2

Whitley 4 0 4 0 11 30 0