Leeds Knights secured their second Planet Ice NIHL National Division league title in as many seasons on Sunday night after a 6-3 victory at home to Bees IHC.
The Knights missed the opportunity to secure the title away at nearest challengers MK Lightning on Saturday, but they would make no mistake second time round as they wrapped things up convincingly with four games still to play.
They hold a nine-point cushion to Milton Keynes, who beat Sheffield Steeldogs 6-2 on Sunday to complete a perfect weekend.
Another of the division’s front-runners, Swindon Wildcats, won home and away against Sheffield over the course of the weekend but failed to go 3/3 on Sunday as Hull Seahawks beat them 6-4 in Yorkshire.
That formed one half of a perfect weekend for the Seahawks, who were commanding 12-6 victors at Bristol Pitbulls on Friday night.
Telford Tigers all-but-confirmed their play-off spot with victory at Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday, before an overtime triumph at home to Solway Sharks rounded off their weekend.
In the play-off fight, there is still very little to separate Raiders IHC, Bees IHC and Solway Sharks as the two fight it out for what appears to be two finals spots.
Raiders went 2/3 over the weekend to move onto 47 points, while Bees IHC are now two points behind their rivals after a weekend which started with a 4-2 win at home to the Raiders on Friday before losing successive matches on the road.
Solway Sharks collected three points from a possible four, leaving them well-placed to capitalise on any potential slip-ups.
Aside from the NIHL National Division, we’d like to congratulate Billingham Stars (NIHL North 1) and Guildford Phoenix (NIHL South 2) on being crowned league champions in their respective divisions.
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.
Fri 15th Mar Bees IHC 4-2 Raiders IHC L
Fri 15th Mar Bristol Pitbulls 6-12 Hull Seahawks L
Fri 15th Mar Sheffield Steeldogs 4-7 Swindon Wildcats L
Sat 16th Mar Milton Keynes Lightning 7-4 Leeds Knights L
Sat 16th Mar Peterborough Phantoms 2-3 Telford Tigers L
Sat 16th Mar Raiders IHC 10-4 Bristol Pitbulls L
Sat 16th Mar Solway Sharks 5-2 Bees IHC L
Sat 16th Mar Swindon Wildcats 7-3 Sheffield Steeldogs L
Sun 17th Mar Hull Seahawks 6-4 Swindon Wildcats L
Sun 17th Mar Leeds Knights 6-3 Bees IHC L
Sun 17th Mar Raiders IHC 5-1 Peterborough Phantoms L
Sun 17th Mar Sheffield Steeldogs 2-6 Milton Keynes Lightning L
Sun 17th Mar Telford Tigers 4-3 (OT) Solway Sharks L
Sat 16th Mar Hull Jets 0-3 Billingham Stars L
Sat 16th Mar Sheffield Scimitars 3-9 Blackburn Hawks L
Sun 17th Mar Billingham Stars 2-3 Solihull Barons L
Sun 17th Mar Blackburn Hawks 7-1 Nottingham Lions L
Sun 17th Mar Whitley Warriors 6-1 Hull Jets L
Sun 17th Mar Widnes Wild 4-5 Deeside Dragons L
Sat 16th Mar Slough Jets 3-1 Oxford City Stars BC
Sun 17th Mar Chelmsford Chieftains 3-4 Streatham Redhawks BC
Sun 17th Mar Milton Keynes Thunder 3-9 Invicta Dynamos L
Sun 17th Mar Oxford City Stars 4-3 Romford Buccaneers L
Sat 16th Mar Altrincham Aces 3-2 Nottingham Lions NIHL 2 L
Sat 16th Mar Kingston Sharks 4-6 Billingham Buccaneers L
Sat 16th Mar Sheffield Titans 4-5 (OT) Coventry NIHL Blaze L
Sun 17th Mar Bradford Bulldogs 5-8 Telford Tigers NIHL 2 L
Sun 17th Mar Nottingham Lions NIHL 2 4-5 (SO) Kingston Sharks L
Sun 17th Mar Sutton Sting 4-1 Altrincham Aces L
Sat 16th Mar Chelmsford Warriors 1-6 Basingstoke Buffalo L
Sat 16th Mar Guildford Phoenix 14-0 Lee Valley Lions L
Sat 16th Mar Invicta Mustangs 3-4 (OT) Cardiff Fire L
Sat 16th Mar Solent Junior Devils 2-4 Peterborough Phantoms NIHL 2 L
Photo credit: Jacob Lowe
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