Last weekend, the four regional NIHL divisions held their respective cup finals: games filled with drama, entertainment and goals galore, played in front of amazing crowds.
In the NIHL 1 North, the Moralee Cup took the accolades for most goals and biggest crowds as Telford Tigers took on Deeside Dragons.
The Tigers were winning the Laidler Cup (NIHL 2 North) this time last year, but have moved up to N1 and have found their form in the higher division, edging out holders Billingham Stars for the second semi-final spot in their group.
Deeside saw off runaway league champions Blackburn Hawks in their semi-final. Leg one in Telford went both ways before the Dragons secured a two-goal margin, winning 9-7 on Saturday.
The return leg at a sold-out Den was equally tense until a Dragons’ empty net goal released the pressure, with a 6-5 result on the night and a 15-12 aggregate success.
Sold-out signs were also up in the Britton Cup (NIHL 1 South) as perennial rivals Slough Jets and Streatham Redhawks locked horns once more.
At The Hangar on Saturday, goals were scarce but drama was high. Streatham missed a second period penalty shot before the deadlock was finally broken by Slough early in the third period. This looked like being the only score, until the Jets added two more inside the final three minutes, taking a 3-0 advantage to the High Road on Sunday.
A full barn in South London saw another epic battle, the Redhawks cutting the deficit late in the first period. A second tally eight minutes from time set up a grandstand finish, but the Jets were able to hold out in a tie of two shutouts and take the honours 3-2 overall.
The Wilkinson Cup (NIHL 2 South) was the stereotypical game of two halves as both teams won their home legs.
On Saturday, Peterborough Phantoms 2 were 7-0 ahead of Guildford Phoenix, before Phoenix scored three late on the reduce arrears at the halfway mark.
In Sunday’s second leg at the Spectrum, Guildford battled but when time ran out, the gap was still one goal, a 6-3 home win but Peterborough still triumphant 10-9 on aggregate to claim the trophy.
Our final tie in the NIHL 2 North saw the Laidler Cup go all the way past 120 minutes, overtime and a shootout before we had a winner between Sutton Sting and Billingham Buccaneers.
Never more than two goals either way across the tie, Billingham were 4-2 up on Saturday before a late double made it all square at 4-4 through 60 minutes.
The Billingham Forum on Sunday was the latest cup final rink to put up the ‘sold-out’ signs, and the assembled masses were not disappointed.
As had been the night before, see-saw scoring had Sutton 5-3 ahead after 40 minutes and looking strong, but the Buccaneers had other thoughts and fought back in the game’s late embers to make it 6-6 on the night, 10-10 on aggregate, and heading to bonus hockey.
Despite powerplays for each side in overtime, there was no golden goal, so it was a shootout for cup glory. Each side bagged their first, Sutton scored their second too but the Buccs were denied on shots two and three, meaning the cup was headed the way of the Sting!
All in all, the weekend saw thousands at rinks up and down the country, and tens of thousands more watching on free webcasts to extend the reach of the games and promote the NIHL regional divisions to new legions of fans.
Congratulations to the four winners: we look forward to an exciting run-in to the end of the season.
Photo credit: Emilia Roberts
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