Junior round-up

Billingham Wolves were 5-3 winners over Sunderland Tomahawks in the English Under-19 Northern championship play-offs at the Forum Arena. Wolves, without several players due to Eagles calls, went ahead in the first minute through Stephen Wallace. A powerplay reply from James Hutchinson gave Tomahawks the equaliser at 13.02. In under two minutes Wolves were back in front with DJ Flett finding the target. Sunderland had more of the middle period and found Michael Snook in the Wolves net in form. Only one goal came in the period, Hutchinson striking his second on 32.19. Adam Carr put Sunderland ahead for the only time in the game at 41.35. Billingham hit back with two goals in three minutes. Tomahawks were level once more when Carr tucked away his second goal of the match at 55.17. The winning strike came in the 56th minute from Flett.

Tomahawks: Adam Carr 2+1, James Hutchinson 2+0, Michael Allinson, David Thomas, Andrew Matheson 0+1.

Wolves: Stephen Wallace 3+1, D J Flett 2+2, Philip Pritchard, Paul Dean, Andrew Wells 0+1.

The Billingham due of Tom Griffiths and Stephen Wallace and Sunderland's James Hutchinson fly out to Lithuania on Monday with Great Britain's Under-18 squad for the World Junior championships. GB will play Estonia, France and Lithuania in the group stage before going into the medal round.

Whitley Tomahawks have qualified for the National Junior (U-6) finals following a 5-1 (U-16) North A League. With one match away to Nottingham Cougars they cannot be caught. Joe Stamp put Whitley ahead after 33 seconds and struck again at 2.33 on the powerplay. Ryan Sample increased the lead two minutes later. Kingston cut the deficit in the 14th minute.

Richard Dunn and Ian Emerson added to the tally with goals inn the second and third periods respectively for the victory.

Tomahawks' netminder Rory Dunn was dismissed at 9.36 on a game misconduct for roughing. Stephen Hoult took over between the pipes.

Tomahawks: Joe Stamp 2+0, Ian Emerson 1+2, Ryan Sample, Richar Dunn 1+0, Dale Howey 0+2, Rob Wilson, Robbie Cairns, Claire Oldfield, Simon Day 0+1.

The previous day, Whitley entertained league winners Sheffield Rapiers at Hillheads. The first period ended goalless with Sheffield's netminder in top form to deny Whitley. Sheffield gained the upper hand in the second as they went 3-0 ahead before D J Good hit Whitley's first reply. Sean Croft scored a second as Sheffield ended the second period 6-2 ahead. Good added a third before Sheffield wrapped up the win in a 7-3 victory.

Whitley: D J Good 2+0, Sean Croft 1+1, Richard Dunn 0+2, Ryan Sample, Dale Howey 0+2.

Six North-East players left yesterday with the England U-16 squad for a tournament in Tilburg, Holland, Whitley's trio of D J Good, Dale Howey and Joe Stamp, Billingham's Andrew Thornton and Michael Snook and Sunderland's John Westgarth are the 20-man squad. Last year Great won the tournament.

Sunderland Commanches completed their English Pee-Wee (U-14) North A league fixtures last weekend against Kingston Aeros at the Telewest Arena. Aeros went ahead in 31 seconds before James Moutrey equalised for Commanches at 3.44. Kingston were well on top at 5-1 at the end of the first period. They added another goal by the time Liam Telfer struck Sunderland's second in the 37th minute. Two further Aeros' goals brought them an 8-2 victory.

Commanches: James Moutrey, Liam Telfer 1+0, Martyn Davies, John Wilson, Richard Westgarth 0+1.

Sheffield Stormers, unbeaten winners of the U-14 North A League, had a 14-1 win at Hillheads against Whitley Mohawks. They led 5-0 at the interval and 8-0 when Peter Zajac scored Mohawks consolation goal on the powerplay at 25.26.

Mohawks: Peter Zajac 1+0, Sarah Christie, Ricky Box 0+1.

In the English U-10 North league two of the North-East sides were in action at the weekend but neither gained a victory.

Billingham Coyotes suffered a 10-0 defeat at Altrincham Colts.

Sunderland Apaches did slightly better when they entertained leaders Kingston River Rats at the Telewest Arean, beaten 10-2.

Apaches: Jack Watkins, Grant Sharp 1+0, Callum Davies, Ross Hanlen, Joshua Lalande 0+1.