Hawks up for a gr-eight weekend (From This Is Lancashire)

Hawks up for a gr-eight weekend

8:59am Wednesday 16th December 2009 in

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Blackburn Hawks soared to the top of the English Cup table with back-to-back wins at the weekend.

The local ice-hockey aces fired eight goals past both Sheffield Spartans and Flintshire Freeze to make it four wins on the spin.

Rick Bentham was the hero in front of his home fans on Saturday, scoring five goals in the 8-5 victory over Sheffield.

And on Sunday Rick Hughes, Aaron Davies and Karl Downey all bagged braces in the 8-4 success away to Flintshire.

Hawks are now level on points with Sheffield at the top of the North Cup chart, with just two games left to play.

Coach Gary Buckman said: “The lads played well on both occasions and the points were well earned. I just wish the wins were in the league.

“If we can win our last two games at home, there’s no reason why we can’t win this cup competition.

“Rick Bentham was the difference on Saturday.

“When he stands up and starts to play, everyone around him shows their worth. For some reason, if he has a bad game, so does everybody else.

“We didn’t get going until the third period in both games, which was slightly disappointing. I was happy with the results, but I would prefer to start games in the first period, instead of coming to life in the last.

“But the more wins we can get, the more confidence the lads will have and hopefully we can take that into our league campaign.”

After a goalless first period against Sheffield, the visitors took the lead on 27 minutes from a powerplay.

Goals from Bentham and Dave Meikle then put the Hawks ahead, only for Sheffield to hit back with two more of their own before the break.

Hawks fell further behind at the start of the final period, before scoring five goals without reply. Bentham completed his hat-trick, before adding another two, with a Hughes goal sandwiched in between.

Sheffield pulled one back to bring the score to 7-5, before Meikle added his second to secure the points.

The following day, Hawks again started slowly, conceding a goal whilst short-handed with only three minutes on the clock.

Hawks hit back through former Flintshire forward Hughes and then Davies, before the Freeze levelled things up at the interval.