It was a busy weekend across the NIHL, with the Planet Ice NIHL National Division group stages commencing and the regional leagues concluding their season with  play-off final weekends at iceSheffield and Alexandra Palace.

In Group A , Leeds Knights and Peterborough Phantoms enjoyed fine starts to their play-off campaigns by securing back-to-back victories over Hull Seahawks and Bees IHC respectively.

It was a particularly sweet moment for regular season champions Leeds, who won 8-3 and 6-3 against a Seahawks side that dumped them out of the National Cup semi-finals at the start of February.

The Phantoms also went 2/2, winning 5-3 on their travels on Saturday before securing a 4-1 home win against the Bees the following day.

In Group B, Telford Tigers picked up a maximum four points with successive victories over Raiders IHC by an aggregate scoreline of 10-7.

Swindon Wildcats were the big winners of the weekend, securing a pair of wins against an MK Lightning side that finished the regular season 13 points better off in the standings.

The first of those games was a closely-fought affair, with the Wildcats requiring overtime to secure a 3-2 victory on Saturday.

Below the NIHL National Division, the north/south divisions enjoyed their play-off final weekends.

Just one of the four regular season title-winners made it to their respective final in Billingham Stars (NIHL North 1), but they were edged out by Blackburn Hawks after a nervy shoot-out to decide who would be crowned champions.

Chelmsford Chieftains were crowned NIHL South 1 champions with a commanding 6-1 victory over Solent Devils, while Billingham Buccaneers and Basingstoke Buffalo – both of whom finished the regular season fourth in their respective divisions – got their hands on silverware in the NIHL North 2 and South 2.

Full results for the weekend can be found below. Thanks to our friends at NIHL Stats, you can also check out the latest results from the WNIHL and junior leagues.

NIHL National Division –

Fri 5th Apr Leeds Knights 8-3 Hull Seahawks PO
Sat 6th Apr Bees IHC 3-5 Peterborough Phantoms PO
Sat 6th Apr Raiders IHC 5-7 Telford Tigers PO
Sat 6th Apr Swindon Wildcats 3-2 (OT) Milton Keynes Lightning PO
Sun 7th Apr Hull Seahawks 3-6 Leeds Knights PO
Sun 7th Apr Milton Keynes Lightning 2-3 Swindon Wildcats PO
Sun 7th Apr Peterborough Phantoms 4-1 Bees IHC PO
Sun 7th Apr Telford Tigers 3-2 Raiders IHC PO

NIHL North 1 (Moralee) –

Sat 6th Apr Billingham Stars 3-1 Whitley Warriors PO SF
Sat 6th Apr Solihull Barons 4-5 Blackburn Hawks PO SF
Sun 7th Apr Billingham Stars 3-4 (SO) Blackburn Hawks PO F

NIHL South 1 (Britton) –

Sat 6th Apr Streatham Redhawks 2-4 Solent Devils PO SF
Sat 6th Apr Chelmsford Chieftains 9-2 Slough Jets PO SF
Sun 7th Apr Solent Devils 1-6 Chelmsford Chieftains PO F

NIHL North 2 (Laidler) –

Sat 6th Apr Telford Tigers NIHL 2 1-2 Billingham Buccaneers PO SF
Sat 6th Apr Sutton Sting 6-4 Coventry NIHL Blaze PO SF
Sun 7th Apr Billingham Buccaneers 4-3 (SO) Sutton Sting PO F

NIHL South 2 (Wilkinson) –

Sat 6th Apr Guildford Phoenix 2-5 Basingstoke Buffalo PO SF
Sat 6th Apr Haringey Huskies 2-1 Peterborough Phantoms NIHL 2 PO SF
Sun 7th Apr Basingstoke Buffalo 3-2 Haringey Huskies PO F

Photo credit: KLM Photography

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