Hull Seahawks have renewed hope in NIHL play-off race

Mathematically, Matty Davies’s team remain in the picture to make the post-season, their cause helped by a 4-3 win in overtime at home to Basingstoke Bison, added to the point gained by a 4-3 defeat after a shoot-out at leaders Milton Keynes Lightning.

With results elsewhere over the weekend, it means Hull are 13 points adrift of the eighth and final play-off spot with just 13 games remaining.

Time and, more importantly, games are running out for the Seahawks, who will need a good few results elsewhere to go their way over the next few weeks, allied to a pretty near-damn perfect run-in from themselves.

But they can take plenty of inspiration from the weekend just gone, particularly for their comeback win on home ice against one of the teams they will need to haul in and put extra pressure on in the coming weeks.

Goals from George Norcliffe and Zack Milton put the Bison in control by the first break, but the first blast of hope arrived from Emil Svec when he halved the deficit in the second.

Hallam Wilson restored the visitors’ two-goal lead but Nathan Salem and then a second for Svec ensured the encounter went into overtime, where Finlay Ulrick struck to secure the extra point for Hull.

With Andrej Themar still missing through injury, it has placed extra pressure on fellow import Svec to deliver, something he managed on both nights to finish the weekend with four goals.

He chose the perfect moment for his second goal in Milton Keynes, Hull heading for a regulation defeat until Svec equalised to make it 3-3 with 108 seconds remaining.

He had first struck in the 25th minute to cancel out Sam Talbot’s 14th-minute opener, but Hull found themselves 3-1 down by the end of the second through Mack Stewart and a second Talbot strike.

But James Archer struck just 90 seconds into the third to make it a one-goal game again before Svec’s late heroics earned his team an invaluable point, their hopes of a second scuppered during the subsequent shoot-out in which Lightning prevailed.

Sheffield Steeldogs will be disappointed to have only taken three points from a three-game weekend which had started so brightly with a 3-2 victory at Leeds Knights on Friday.

The following night saw them 3-2 ahead going into the final minute against Raiders IHC at Ice Sheffield, courtesy of two goals from Vladislav Vulkanovs and a second period strike from Lee Bonner.

But Sean Barry levelled for the visitors, who then snatched the extra point in the shoot-out that followed.

The Steeldogs returned from their road trip to Telford Tigers on Sunday with nothing to show for their efforts, however, going down 6-3 to the defending league champions.

A goalless first period preceded gave no indication of the hive of goalscoring activity that was to follow in the second, with no fewer than seven goals arriving.

Alex Graham - back from suspension - put the Steeldogs ahead at 20.52 but it wasn’t long before Lucas Price levelled.

Lee Bonner restored the visitors’ lead at 24.16 on the power play, but less than three more minutes had elapsed before Finley Howells made it all-square again.

Howells was on target for a second time at 35.45, putting the hosts’ ahead with the first of three power play goals inside the last five minutes of the period, Robert Herrmann and former Steeldogs’ forward Vladimir Luka making the most of a four-minute high sticks call on Graham.

Matt Bissonnette gave the Steeldogs hope when he pulled one back at 53.48, but Herrman made the points safe just under three minutes later.

Leeds Knights responded well to their home defeat to Sheffield on Friday by hammering hosts Raiders IHC 9-0 on Sunday night.

It wasn’t all plain sailing as the scoreline in Romford suggests, with the visitors only ahead through a sixth-minute Matt Haywood strike by the time the first intermission came around.

But, just after the halfway stage, centre Haywood had secured himself a hat-trick, while captain Kieran Brown continued his scoring streak by making it 5-0 by the time the hooter for the second intermission sounded.

Raiders had no answer, particularly when Cole Shudra extended the lead just 24 seconds into the third period.

Jake Wikowski, already with four assists to his name, grabbed himself a deserved goal at 46.38, Haywood making it four for the night just under eight minutes later, before Brown made it a hat-trick for himself with just 61 seconds remaining.

It leaves the Knights second, one point behind leaders Milton Keynes with three games in hand.

Peterborough bounced back from a 5-3 home defeat to Telford with a 3-2 win at Bees IHC to ensure they are two points off the Lightning, also having played three more games than Leeds.

Meanwhile, Great Britain won three out of three in the Euro Competition.

Having defeated Japan 3-0 on Friday, Pete Russell’s side beat Poland 4-1 in Coventry on Saturday and then rounded off the victory with a 6-1 win over Romania in Nottingham on Sunday.

Sam Duggan, Cam Critchlow, Davey Phillips and Brett Perlini scored in the win over Poland.

Then last night, South Yorkshireman Liam Kirk scored twice, Sheffield Steelers captain Jonathan Phillips added a second and his club team-mates Robert Dowd and Evan Mosey also scored.