Altrincham 4 Lancashire Hawks 8 ; Lancashire Hawks 10 GB Under 20s 4

LANCASHIRE Hawks got their hands on some silverware and turned over the cream of the nation's ice hockey starlets. Some weekend!

Don't for one single second try telling Jimmy Pennycook and his troops that it was all a "pointless" exercise. Back-to-back wins, whether they affect league standings or not, can only serve to represent a massive double boost.

Even allowing for the pressure of normal match play being turned down to a simmer, these two much needed successes were gleefully greeted by the management.

Hawks took the Challenge Cup by making no mistakes in the return clash away to Altrincham Aces on Saturday, taking the two-way tie 16-6 on aggregate.

And then last night Adrian Lomonaco saw to it that the Great Britain Under 20s squad second out second best at the Arena.

Canadian favourite Lomonaco scored three goals and was clearly a force with which the youngsters just couldn't cope in the final preparation game before they slide across to Estonia for the World Championships.

Hawks took the opportunity to give a trial to the experienced Patrick O'Connor, a forward once for Sheffield Steelers and more recently of Telford and Solihull. But it was Lomonaco, not for the first time, who stole the show with Hawks extra power and strength telling in a one-sided second period when the kids just seemed to lose their way.

It had all been fairly even early on but in Lomonaco Hawks had the matchwinner. A crowd of close on 1,000 enjoyed a free-flowing contest and the vast majority were relieved to see their local heroes getting back to some sort of collective form.

Period scores: 3-1, 4-2, 3-1.

Scoresheet: Bobby Haig 1+3, Adrian Lomonaco 3+1, Wayne Whitby 1+0, Patrick O'Connor 1+1, Alan Hough 1+1, Lee Cowmeadow 1+0, Tim Dempsey 0+5, Jeff Daniels 1+3, Teemu Jelkanen 1+0, Anthony Melbourne 0+1.

On Saturday Hawks made the short trip to Altrincham already holding an 8-2 advantage from the first leg at the Arena way back in late September.

They promptly raced into a 4-0 lead and although the Aces rallied the result was never in doubt.

Lomonaco was rested as the contest allowed only one import to be involved, Jeff Daniels given the honour.

Alan Hough, Billy Price and Daniels shared the scoring honours with a brace apiece with Lee Cowmeadow and Jim Pennycook doing the rest of the damage.

Period scores: 0-3, 2-2, 2-3.

Scoresheet: Jim Pennycook 1+2, Jeff Daniels 2+1, Tim Dempsey 0+1. Simon Mills 0+1, Alan Hough 2+1, Bobby Haig 0+2, Billy Price 2+1, Lee Cowmeadow 1+1.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.