Stars shine - but the Arrows celebrate

WHITLEY Arrows hosted local rivals Billingham Stars at Hillheads in English Under-11 North League and celebrated their first points of the season.

They were awarded the match 8-0 as the Teessiders did not have the minimum requirement number of players.

The fixture was played as a challenge match which was 9-1 to the visitors when the scoring was halted.

Billingham went ahead after 75 seconds through Ayan Thomas and he doubled the lead two minutes later.

The Arrows halved the deficit at 04.22 when Max Torre netted.

The two-goal lead was soon restored by Billingham, however, when Leighton Wilkinson struck his first ever goal.

Thomas claimed his hat-trick marker in the 15th minute to put Stars 4-1 ahead at the first break.

The Arrows kept going but in the middle period Thomas (2) , Francis Preston and Zack Taylor increased the Teessiders’ lead to 8-1. Youngsters from Whitley Bay Ice Hockey Club who played for the Northern Conference Under-11s’ side in Sheffield. Left to right: George Cowey, Jack Williams, Ethan Dunn, Ben Wood, Oliver Jardine and Orson Groot.

At 35.28 Thomas’ sixth goal of the game completed the scoring as an eight-goal winning margin had been achieved.

■■WHITLEY Bay Junior Ice Hockey club had six players representing Northern Conference Under-11s when they played a Mini Conference Series against Midlands, South East and South West.

The round-robin event was held at

Ice Sheffield at the weekend and is one of three such tournaments played during the season before the end-of-season Junior InterConference Tournament in Sheffield in May.

Bay’s George Cowey, Ben Wood, Ethan Dunn, Jack Williams, Oliver Jardine and Orson Groot were on duty for the Northern Conference, who finshed fourth after losing to

third- placed South East on a penalty shoot-out after a 2-2 draw.

In the round-robin games North lost to Midlands 4-2, South East 5-2 and South West 2-1.

Against South East Williams struck North’s first goal when they were trailing 4-0.

Jardine was accredited with an assist in the 2-1 defeat against South West when levelling the scores at 1-1.