Blackburn Hawks got off to an excellent start to the new English National Ice Hockey League season with a 4-3 victory at Kingston Jets.

Hawks managed to collect maximum points in their first game of the new term despite trailing with just five minutes remaining.

General manager Graham Lomax was delighted with both the result and the performance.

He said: "We were very impressive," enthused Lomax.

"We dominated the game and certainly deserved the win.

"There is a great belief within the squad and it was exciting to see the team perform so well together so early in the season.

"Even when we were down with five minutes to go, the lads never gave up and turned the game around.

"We went up with a very short bench and a young team so all credit to them."

Hawks took the lead through David Mikel on nine minutes, but found themselves behind after 47 minutes.

Bobby Haig nicked the equaliser two minutes later before Kingston regained their lead.

But Hawks' perseverance eventually paid off with Lance Derbyshire and Michael Brunton scoring late on to secure the victory.

A new zero tolerance' regulation, where referees will clamp down on any misconduct, has been enforced for the campaign and the general manager added that he hoped the new rule will not disturb the flow of games in a negative way.

Hawks will be looking for more of the same this weekend as they face Grimsby on Saturday and their first home game against Nottingham on Sunday. Face-off is 6pm.