The in-form Blackburn Hawks entered the first leg of their double-header weekend riding a perfect record, eight wins from eight and confidence to match. But this was no routine test to stretch that streak. First up was a trip to Hobbs Moat Road, a rink that has long been as welcoming to Blackburn as a locked drawbridge. The Solihull Barons, top of the NIHL North table and fresh from a thunderous double over the reigning treble-winners Billingham, were soaring. Their 7–1 dismantling of the Stars on Teesside had sent a flare across the division: this was a title charge in earnest. And standing in their way on a bitter Midlands evening were the Hawks, full strength and full of confidence on the road.

If Blackburn came expecting to set the pace, Solihull made sure they never found first gear. The Hawks, so often the ones who ambush opponents early, were ambushed themselves. Barely seventy-five seconds had been played when Edgars Landsbergs drifted into a pocket between the circles, settled a bouncing puck, and rifled in his ninth of the season. The goal sent the home crowd off into cheers, with the decibels barely dipping before Brandon Anderton doubled the lead. Before the Hawks could exhale, it was three. Jake Riley and Dan Mulcahy combined with mechanical precision to tee up Landsbergs again, the Latvian tapping home like he had all the time in the world.
Three goals down inside five minutes was a scoreline Blackburn hadn’t seen from the wrong side in months. What followed was less collapse and more survival instinct kicking back in. The Hawks tightened, steadied, and began to win puck battles that had eluded them in the opening shifts. They even out-shot the home side in the remainder of the period. But while Blackburn pushed, Graham Laverick stood firm between the Solihull pipes, swallowing rebounds and parrying shots without fuss. And just before the break, the Barons twisted the knife: Niklas Ottosson, who has made a habit of ghosting into the right place at the worst moment for visiting teams, pounced to make it 4–0. A first period for Blackburn to forget, and a near-perfect one for Solihull.

If the opening twenty was bruising, the second began with grit and stubborn defiance. The home crowd, packed tight and practically on top of the boards, sensed blood in the water and let the Hawks hear it. Blackburn tried to respond, but a string of minor penalties for tripping, holding, and slashing left them pinned in their own zone and forced to kill off wave after wave of Barons pressure. Yet this was where the tone of the contest subtly shifted. The Hawks didn’t just survive those penalty kills, they looked composed. Sticks in lanes, bodies blocking passing channels, and crucially, no panic. Every successful clearance calmed them further. When Blackburn finally returned to full strength, they carried that momentum into the attacking end. The puck began to live in the Solihull zone for longer stretches. With just under three minutes left in the period, the breakthrough finally arrived. New recruit Jack Brammer, still getting his bearings in Blackburn colours, threaded a pass into space, where Charlie Thompson arrived in perfect stride to sweep the puck past Laverick. This Sheffield-forged link between Thompson and Brammer had given the latter his first point for the Hawks, whilst also getting his team’s first of the night.

Then came a third period for the ages. Blackburn came out not just determined, but daring. They hunted pucks aggressively, forechecked with precision, and forced Solihull into mistakes. When Jake Riley took a careless cross-check penalty two minutes in, the Hawks jumped on the lifeline. The powerplay clicked into place like it had been waiting all evening. Bobby Streetly fed Andy McKinney, who waited and drew a defender. The Captain then slid the puck into the wheelhouse of Adam Barnes, who crushed it home. 4–2. The comeback suddenly had coordinates. Yet just as the Hawks gathered momentum, they handed some of it back. Tom Barry was boxed for interference, and the Barons’ powerplay got its chance to answer. They needed just over a minute to do so, Henry Adams picking his spot and restoring the three-goal gap. This goal was a gut punch – but definitely not a knockout. Seconds later, the puck was back in Solihull’s net. Barnes again, his second of the nigh, powered home another calmly worked feed from McKinney. The Hawks skated back to centre ice with purpose. The Barons shifted from aggressive forecheck to containment, and like any team who suddenly finds itself protecting something valuable, they backed off. A Tyler Nixon trip gave Blackburn another powerplay, and the Hawks pounced. The setup was familiar: quick rotations, puck never static, every touch sharpening the edge. When the puck came to Lee Pollitt atop the circle, he didn’t hesitate. He hammered it home. 5–4. The rink fell tense, anxious, electric.

What followed felt inevitable. Blackburn needed one more, and if there is a man made for that moment, it is Captain Andy McKinney. The king of clutch. Adam Barnes forced a turnover, fed McKinney drifting into space, and the captain buried it with the composure of a player specifically built for late-game heroics. The Hawks bench erupted. The travelling fans roared so loudly it felt like the boards might buckle. 5–5. The comeback was complete…but there was one final twist in the tale. Barely moments after the equaliser, Solihull surged forward with desperation and pride in equal measure. When the puck found Ottosson once more, the outcome felt horribly familiar. He slid the puck into the net like a dagger through all Hawks’ fans hearts as he ensured the 6-5 win for the Barons.

The Hawks had barely time to absorb the ache of Solihull’s late win before they were lacing up again. Less than twenty-four hours after that Midlands heartbreaker, they returned home to the Hawks Nest to host bottom-of-the-table Sheffield Scimitars. On paper, this fixture looked like balm for bruised wings. A chance to reset, re-centre, and resume winning ways. However, the Scims came across to Lancashire in form. Despite their league position, Sheffield had come within a whisker of upsetting Nottingham Lions the night before. Another negative for the Hawks was their roster. Missing were Captain and equaliser extraordinaire Andy McKinney, as well as the hard-driving offensive spark of James Royds. Harrison Walker, after facing 45 shots in Solihull, was given a night of well-earned rest. In stepped Nik Trapans to take the crease, while the skaters were tasked with finding their identity again.

The start suggested they would. Blackburn came out playing with urgency. They moved the puck crisply, forechecked with bite, and kept Sheffield pinned for long sequences. The Scimitars, to their credit, were disciplined and compact, collapsing well in front of netminder Nick Winters, who saw pucks cleanly through traffic. Still, pressure tells eventually, and at the seven-minute mark, it did. Garry Simpson, Blackburn’s Flying Scotsman, picked his pocket of ice and fired home, giving the home side the early advantage and releasing the first sigh of relief from the stands. However, this was not to be a night of easy breathing. Sheffield struck back through Will Weaver, who buried his first of the season after neat work from Joe Matthewman and Ben Cutts. Where one goal might have been brushed away, the second, scored five minutes later, was a genuine jolt. Matthewman repaid Cutts’ pass with interest, steering home to give the visitors a shock 2–1 lead against the run of play. The Nest grew tense. The Hawks, uncharacteristically ragged in their own zone, looked like they were skating in yesterday’s frustration. Then came the moment the game, and perhaps the building, needed: Jack Brammer. The new signing, freshly recruited and formerly of Sheffield, ghosted in at the back post and tucked away his first Hawks goal for 2–2.

Whatever steadiness Blackburn had hoped to find in the intermission was nowhere to be seen at puck drop. Sheffield continued to counter with bite, and less than two minutes in, Sam Rodgers restored the Scims’ lead, leaving the Hawks were chasing again. Though minutes later, Brammer was there to drag the game back level, arriving late and clean to the backdoor just as he had for his first. This time, Blackburn didn’t wait for Sheffield to answer. Just twenty seconds after the restart, Jacob Lutwyche snatched the puck in stride, walked through the slot unassisted, and lashed it home. 4–3 Blackburn, and the Hawks’ confidence finally clicked back into gear. However, with the rhythm of this game being like a metronome set too fast, the goals would keep coming. Within minutes, Ben Cutts levelled again for the Scims with a composed finish. Then Charlie Thompson, another former Sheffield skater now wearing Hawks colours, made it 5–4 for Blackburn. Cutts struck again, his second of the night, tying the score for an absurd fifth time. But if there was one player intent on ending the back-and-forth, it was Lutwyche. He sliced through the neutral zone, split two defenders, and finished with the delicacy of a stage magician revealing the final card. 6–5. And this time, Blackburn refused to let the scales swing back. Before the period closed, Simpson added his second, flicking home at the buzzer to cap a period that saw nine goals.

If the third period didn’t match the chaos of the second, it had no shortage of narrative. Sheffield, despite the climbing scoreline, refused to fold. Winters in net met an avalanche, more shots in each period than Trapans would see all night. He would face more than seventy in total, however there would be a few more that would slip past before the game concluded. First, James Riddoch converted a Tom Barry feed to stretch the lead to 8–5. Sheffield answered once more through Simon Williams, catching Blackburn high in the zone and countering with precision. This goal gave Sheffield a glimmer of hope in gaining a potential comeback…and then Lutwyche put out the lights. Completing his hat-trick with a final flourish, he sealed the 9–6 win.

So closed the curtain on a weekend of mixed emotions for the Blackburn Hawks. The late heartbreak in Solihull will continue to sting, particularly given how close the side came to extending their unbeaten run. Yet the manner of Sunday’s response spoke volumes. With key players missing and fatigue undoubtedly in the legs, the Hawks showed resilience to produce a thrilling victory in front of the home crowd. Despite recording their first defeat of the season, Blackburn remain in a strong position in the league table. They sit second, now just a single point behind the Solihull Barons, ensuring the title race remains very much alive. Next weekend offers no respite but instead raises the stakes even further. A double-header against local rivals and championship challengers Deeside Dragons awaits. The first leg at home will also mark the Hawks’ Armed Forces Night Celebration, for what is surely going to be a brilliant battle on the ice.

 

 

The Blackburn Hawks will play against the Deeside Dragons @ Blackburn Arena on Saturday November 8th, Face-Off: 6pm

The Blackburn Hawks will also play against the Deeside Dragons @ Deeside Leisure Centre on Sunday November 9th, Face-Off: 5:15pm

 

Article Courtesy of Nathan Dove

FEATURED IMAGES CREDIT: Steve Pollitt