Last Saturday saw the Solent & Gosport Spartans hop across the water to face the Solent Hawks ice hockey team in the Solent Cup.
The first game for the Hawks since Ryde Arena reopened started off well for the hosts, going up by 3 goals inside the first 10 minutes courtesy of Richard Nembhard (2) and Dave Rees.
The visitors pulled one back 11 minutes in but this was soon cancelled out by Ricky Attrill striking from the point to end the period with the Hawks in a commanding position.
The second period started quietly but an interference penalty taken by the Spartans allowed space for Luke Bontoft to score on the power play. The visitors again pulled one back with ex-Hawk Chris Randall scoring, but the home team netted twice more late in the period courtesy of player-coach James Eklund and Nembhard getting his third of the night.
In the final period the Hawks came out fighting scoring twice in two minutes with Eklund and Rees both getting their seconds. The Spartans then sent lots of shots on Hawks’ goalkeeper Matt Woolfenden, but this wasn’t enough and the Spartans only managed one more goal 7 minutes from time courtesy of Randall.
The Hawks are next in action this Saturday (26th March) as they invite the Solent Scorpions to Ryde Arena, 18:00 faceoff. Entry is free.
