SIX-SHOOTING Blackburn Hawks recorded a fine victory away to the Whitley Warriors on a mixed weekend of league and cup action for the town's ice-hockey aces.

Following a 4-2 defeat at home to the Scimitars in Saturday's Sheffield Cup, the Hawks bounced back with a stunning 6-1 Sunday success in the league at a venue that has provided little joy in recent years.

As expected, the contest was fast-paced and physical and, initially, it looked as though goals would be hard to find.

However, all that changed on 17 minutes when Rick Bentham played the puck back for Chad Briggs to fire Blackburn in front from a powerplay.

A minute later, the visitors doubled their lead when Dave Meikle's pin-point pass left Michael Brunton with a clear run to goal.

Hawks carried their momentum into the second period, as Bentham found Meikle for the third, before Brunton and Meikle combined to set up Wayne Slater to fire a slap-shot from the blue line for number four.

A spot of tiredness set in during the third period, as the Warriors finally got on the board with just nine minutes remaining, but Hawks sealed the win late on courtesy of Bentham's solo strike and a second of the game from Slater.

Six great goals marked the perfect conclusion to a taxing weekend, which had started with disappointment in the Roses' clash against Sheffield.