Junior Round-up

Billingham Wolves got their English U19 North promotion/relegation play-offs off to a winning start by defeating Sheffield Scorpions 17-1. Wolves were at full strength which included Stephen Wallace following his return to the Billingham club after completing a loan spell with Hull Thunder. David Thomas was also in the squad after returning with Great Britain U18 and England U19 squads. Shaun Buckley gave Wolves the lead at 01.01 and Wallace doubled the lead two minutes later. Liam Telfer and Wallace scored before the end of the first period to increase Wolves' lead to 4-0.

The home side had increased their advantage to 7-0 with strikes from Wallace, James McCabe and Craig Hill before Michael Snook in Wolves' net was beaten at 28.02 for Sheffield's lone reply. Buckley hit two more for his hat-trick before the second interval.

Sheffield's heads had dropped slightly in the final period through constant Wolves pressure as they laid siege to Sheffield's half. Billingham scored another eight in the final which included Wallace and Buckley recording their fourth goals of the game.

Wolves: Shaun Buckley 4+3, Stephen Wallace 4+1, Scott Ward 2+4, Andrew Thornton 2+0, Andrew Wells 1+3, Paul Harland 1+2, Craig Hill 1+1, James McCabe and Liam Telfer 1+0, David Fleet 0+3, Gareth Crinnion, David Thomas 0+2, Steven Pritchard, Paul Dean 0+1.

Sunderland Arrows suffered two defeats in the English junior U16 North promotion/relegation play-offs at the weekend. They faced the top two sides from North B League in Blackburn Eagles and Bradford Pirates. Bradford hosted Sunderland on Saturday and only a powerplay goal struck at 25.46 separated the sides. Arrows' chances were few and far between as they went down to a 1-0 defeat.

Blackburn the following day took the lead in the second minute and went 2-0 ahead in the last minute of the first period. The middle period was only three minutes old when Blackburn took a 3-0 advantage. Netminder Mark Lee faced 30 shots in Arrows' net and kept the tally down.

Sunderland Commanches were away in the English Pee-Wee (U14) North promotion/relegation play-off action at Altrincham Tomahawks. In the fourth minute Commanches were ahead thanks to a Callum Hewitt goal.

Nathan Salem increased the visitors lead only for Altrincham to quickly reduce the deficit. David Holland gave Sunderland the two-goal advantage back when he scored at 28.56. A good start for Sunderland as they look to retain their A league position for next season.

Commanches: Callum Hewitt, Nathan Salem, David Holland 1+0, Vicki Wilson 0+1.

Billingham Falcons completed their U14 North A League season by defeating Kingston Aeros 5-2 at the Forum Ice Arena. The victory saw Falcons finish in third place only one point behind Kingston in second.

Falcons had to wait until 14.50 to open their account with a short-handed strike from Michael Farn. He scored his and Falcons' second on the powerplay at 17.17 before a Robert Dowd goal also on the powerplay three second from the end of the first period made it 3-0.

Jamie Kitching extended Billingham's lead further when he fired home four minutes into the final period. Kingston scored twice in four minutes as Falcons took their foot of the pedals. Paul Smith rounded off the scoring with only three seconds to go for Falcons' fifth goal.

Falcons: Michael Farn 2+1; Paul Smith 1+2, Jamie Kitching 1+1, Robert Down 1+0, Adam Smith, Anthony Price 0+1.

Sunderland Scorpions moved to share the leadership of the women's premier league with Guildford Lightning after a 3-2 win over Cardiff Comets at Hillheads. Scorpions went ahead through Lynsey Emmerson after ten minutes and eight minutes later Teresa Lewis put Scorpions 2-0 ahead. Cardiff reduced the deficit with under a minute remaining in the first period. The two-goal lead was restored in the 30th minute through Rachel Hooper. Cardiff scored their second with ten minutes remaining.

Scorpions: Lynsey Emmerson, Teresa Lewis, Rachel Hooper 1+0, Nicky Pattinson, Jane Price 0+1.

Billingham Wildcats were also in the women's premier league action when they visited Slough Phantoms. Wildcats went ahead after nine minutes with a Sarah Clare goal. The second period Slough came to life and hit Billingham with five goals to go into the final period 5-3 ahead. Vanessa Hill and Clare on target for Wildcats in the middle period.

Slough extended their lead to 7-3 before Zoe Bayne scored a fourth for Billingham. Both Slough and Billingham have seven points and Slough move above Wildcats due to their winning margin before better than Wildcats 5-3 on Teesside.

Wildcats: Sarah Clare 2+0, Zoe Bayne 1+1, Vanessa Hill 1+0, Jenny Carter 0+1.

Whitley Tomahawks took part in the U16 hockey UK 2002 Tournament at Kirkcaldy, Fife, over the weekend. They were under-strength and finished fifth and last against strong opposition. Defenceman Rob Wilson was named as best defenceman of the tournament. Kirkcaldy won the event. Whitley were beaten by Telford 0-5, Slough 5-6, Ayr 1-4 and Kirkcaldy 0-9.