Billingham Bears kept up their English U16 North A League title challenge with a 7-1 victory over Whitley Tomahawks at Hillheads. Whitley got off to the better start and went ahead after only 92 seconds through Shaun Kippin.

Returning to the side after a four-match ban, Steven Pritchard equalised for Bears in the sixth minute. Bears went ahead 42 seconds into the middle period through James Udell after being set up by Liam Telfer. Udell repaid the compliment for Telfer to make it 3-1 at 21.34. Three minutes later John Elkins was on hand to strike home the fourth.

Former Whitley forward Ricky Box, now at Billingham, was sent to the penalty box at 28.22 for checking from behind on a 2+10 misconduct.

Tomahawks fell further behind when Udell 36.44 and a short-handed effort at 38.58 from Paul Smith gave Bears a 6-1 advantage.

Bears' Ricky Box and Tomahawks' Andrew Wile renewed acquaintances and both received match penalties for fighting with 14 seconds remaining in the match. Seven second later the scoring was wrapped up with Telfer's second goal of the game.

Tomahawks: Shaun Kippin 1+0, Peter Zajac, Philip Atherton 0+1.

Bears: Liam Telfer 2+2, James Udell 2+1, Steven Pritchard, John Elkins, Paul Smith 1+0, Anthony Price 0+1.

Sunderland Arrows went to the top of the English U16 North B League following a 9-0 victory at Blackburn Fire Hawks. Arrows, having dropped only one point from a 1-1 draw at Solihull Sabres, went ahead at 07.07 through Dean Holland. Jamie Smithson doubled the lead before the end of the first period.

Daniel Murdy, Smithson and Jeremy Lundin scored in the space of two minutes to extend Arrows' lead to 5-0 at 20.43. James Davies on the powerplay six minutes later gave the Wearsiders a 6-0 lead.

Ben Connon struck Arrows' seventh six minutes into the final period. The scoring was wrapped up in the final two minutes as Lundin and Callum Hewitt found the net.

Arrows had 74 shots on the Fire Hawks net while Richard Lawson and Mark Lee shared a seven-shot shut-out in Sunderland's net.

Arrows: Jamie Smithson 2+3, Jeremy Lundin 2+1, Dean Holland 1+1, Daniel Murdy, James Davies, Ben Connon, Callum Hewitt 1+0, Shane Hewitt 0+2, Richard Westgarth 0+1.

Sunderland Apaches won for the first time this season in the English U10 North/Midlands League with an 8-4 win at Coventry Blaze. Apaches went ahead at 01.11 through Alex Lawson, Jack Watkins and Michael Elder were on target before the break to give Apaches a 3-0 lead.

Mark Watson was Apaches netminder in the opening period and he faced 28 shots and kept a clean sheet. Jarred McCann came on for Watson in the final period and he faced 16 shots.

Coventry scored twice early in the period only for Watkins (2) and Lawson to score to give Apaches a 6-23 lead. Blaze netted their third before Lawson's hat-trick marker and Dale Sharp put their side 8-3 ahead. Coventry rounded off the scoring at 34.34.

Apaches: Alex Lawson 3+2, Jack Watkins 3+0, Michael Elder 1+2, Dale Sharp 1+0.

Sunderland Scorpions played a Great Britain ladies squad at the Telewest Arena. Scorpions lie in second place behind Guildford Lightning and went ahead at 08.01 through Teresa Lewis.

GB were on level terms after 15 minutes and could not find a way through a resilient Scorpions defence until 43.10 to put them ahead.

Scorpions had two players in the penalty box on two occasions and each time GB scored for 4-1 in the final minute striking a fifth when short-handed.

Scorpions: Teresa Lewis 1+0, Lynsey Emmerson 0+1.

English National Hockey League North

Billingham Bombers went down to a 5-2 defeat at Blackburn Hawks. Bombers handed a debut to netminder Ricky Ashton who found himself without a club after the demise of Superleague club Manchester Storm.

Bombers: Scott Ward, Paul Windridge 1+0, Andrew Fletcher 0+1, Martin Lewis 0+2.

Whitley Warriors came close to handing out to Sheffield Scimitars their first defeat of the season at Hillheads. But Scimitars, with 12 wins out of 12, cam from behind to win 6-5. Warriors: Lee Baxter 1+2, Andrew Carter, Paul Graham, Paul McGinnety, Paul Matthews and Darren Taylor 0+1.

Whitley Warriors moved up to third place in the table following a 9-2 win over neighbours Sunderland Chiefs at the Telewest Arena.Chiefs: Chris Taylor 2+0, Kevin Musther, Shaun Black 0+2.

Warriors: Ian Emerson, D J Good 2+1, Darren Taylor, Stephen Winn 1+2, Paul McGinnety 1+1, Kevin Bucas, Paul Graham 1+0, Andrew Carter 0+2, Robert Wilson, Robert Cairns, Lee Baxter, Andrew Robinson 0+1.

Fixtures: Sat, Dec 21 - Findus British National League - Guildford Flames v Newcastle KBS Vipers (6pm).

English National Hockey League North - Billingham Bombers v Sheffield Scimitars (6.30pm); Kingston Jets v Sunderland Chiefs (5.45pm).

England U19 North A League

Whitley Braves v Blackburn Thunderhawks (4.30pm).

English U16 North B League

Sheffield Sabres v Sunderland Arrows (5pm)

English U14 North A League

Kingston Aeros v Sunderland Commanches (12.15pm)

Sunday, Dec 22

Findus British National League

Newcastle KBS Vipers v Edinburgh Capitals (6pm)

English U19 North A League

Sunderland Tomahawks v Nottingham Leopards (1.30pm)

English U14 North A League

Whitley Mohawks v Sheffield Stormers (12.15pm).

English U12 North B League

Billingham Pumas v Solihull Kings (6pm)

Women's Premier League

Cardiff Comets v Sunderland Scorpions (5pm).