Sunderland Ice Hockey Club started pre-season with three tournaments at U12, U14 and U16 levels over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The U12 event was held on Saturday with both U14 and U16 event the following day at Newcastle Telewest Arena.

Eight teams were split into two groups in the U12 tournament which hosts Sunderland entered two teams.

Sunderland Cherokees won the event and they defended a very strong Cardiff Devils side 2-0 in the final to lift the trophy. Grant Sharp put Cherokees ahead on the powerplay at 08.15 and he doubled the lead 20 seconds into the final period when Cherokees were short-handed.

Cheerokees opened the tournament with a 10-1 win over Dundee Tigers. Sharp and Nathan Salem each recording hat-tricks. Callum Davies (2), Jake Shanks and Joshua Lalande netted the others. Blackburn Sparrowhawks held Cherokees to a 1-1 draw before Kingston Rivermen went down 4-3 to Cherokees.

The victory brought Cherokees up against Cardiff for the cup final after both teams had won their respective groups. Cardiff took a 2-0 first period lead and Sharp cut the deficit with a powerplay goal four minutes into the final period. Cardiff held on to take victory.

Next up was a quarter-final tie against Sunderland's second string Mohicans which Cherokees won 2-0. At the semi-final stage Solihull Kings were next opponents for Cherokees and a sharp hat-trick helped them to a 4-1 win and a rematch against Cardiff in the final.

Mohicans were beaten by Solihull (0-3) and Cardiff (0-5) in their groups ties. A brace from Jack Watsins gave them a 2-1 win over Dundee after the loss against Cherokees at the quarter-final stage brought them up against Dundee.

In a quarter match which they won 3-2, that meant a fifth/sixth place play-off game against Blackburn which Sparrowhawks won 3-0.

Final placings: 1 Sunderland Cherokees; 2 Cardiff Devils; 3 Kingston Rivermen; 4 Solihull Kings; 5 Blackburn Sparrowhawks; 6 Sunderland Mohicans; 7 Dundee Tigers; 8 Telford Terrahawks.

Commances: Grant Sharp 9+7; Nathan Salem 7+4; Callum Davies 3+2; Jake Shanks 2+2; Joshuia Lalande 2+0; Daniel Coffey 1+0; Ross Hanlon 0+4; Simon Pickup. Matthew Williamson 0+1.

Mohicans: Jack Watkins 4+1; Jack Connon 1+0; Emma Hall 0+1.

Sunderland Commanches lost 2-1 to Nottingham Tigers in the Sunderland SMG U14 tournament at the Telewest Arena. Three goals in as many minutes settled the match as Nottingham went ahead at 21.04. Callum Pattison equalised at 22.25 and Tigers winning goal came 61 seconds later.

Commanches began the four-team event with a crushing 7-0 win over Dundee Tigers as Daniel Murdy struck a hat-trick. Their next two matches ended in 1-1 draws. Murdy scored against Telford Tigers and Richard Emerson did likewise against Nottingham.

The draw against Nottingham brought a re-match in the final.

Daniel Murdy was tournament top points scorer and netminder Mark Thurman had the best stats. Murdy and defenceman Danny Lamb were named in the all-star team.

Sunderland Arrows finished third of four in the Sunderland SMG U16 tournament at the Telewest Arena. Arrows began well with a 6-0 victory over Dundee Tigers. Jeremy Lundin and Dean Holland both bagged braces plus Liam Pattison and Chris Hayes found the target. This was followed by defeat against Billingham Bears (0-1) and Sheffield Rapiers (0-6).

A third/fourth place play-off match against Dundee again saw an Arrows victory. This time 5-1. Arrows were 3-0 ahead inside nine minutes as Holland, Lundin and Hayes were on target. John Wilson drove home a fourth and Dundee's consolation came at 19.26 and still time for Holland to score his second a minute later.

Sunderland won the fair play trophy and individual awards to netminder Jason Moses and defenceman Jeremy Lundin, both names in the all-star team.

Billingham Bears performed very well and due to refurbishment of the Forum ice arena have had no training for two months. The club used the tournament for valuable ice time for the season which gets under way his weekend.

Bears started with a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Sheffield Rapiers and followed this up with a 1-0 win over Sunderland, Liam Telfer scoring the only goal in the eight minute.

Dundee were thrashed 11-0 in the final group match with Telfer and Stephen Pritchard each recording hat-tricks. Bears now in the final were up against Sheffield once more.

A very close affair which had to be decided on penalty shots as normal time and five minutes of overtime failed to provide a goal.

Pritchard scored the first, Sheffield did likewise and Telfer's shot was saved. Rapiers went 2-1 ahead and Robert Dowd had to score to keep the Bears' chances alive. He4 did and Sheffield's third was tucked away and gave the Yorkshire club victory.

Netminder Richard Griffiths was stats netminder of the tournament and Telfer top points scorer. Telfer and Pritchard were named in the all-star team.

Results

Sunderland SMG Under-12 tournament, Newcastle Arena, August 24: Sunderland Cherokees 10, Dundee Tigers 1; Kingston Rivermen 4, Blackburn Sparrowhawks 0; Sunderland Mohicans 0, Solihull Kings 3; Cardiff Devils 4, Telford Terrahawks 0; Cherokees 1, Blackburn 1; Dundee 0, Kingston 4; Mohicans 2, Telford 1; Solihull 1, Cardiff 5; Cherokees 4, Kingston 3; Blackburn 4, Dundee 0; Telford 0, Solihull 4; Mohicans 0, Cardiff 5.

Cup final: Cherokees 1, Cardiff 2.

Quarter-finals: Solihull 4, Dundee 1; Kingston 3, Telford 2 (after pens); Cherokees 2, Mohicans 0; Cardiff 1, Blackburn 0.

Qualifier: Dundee 2, Mohicans 3; Telford 0, Blackburn 2.

Semi-finals: Solihull 1, Cherokees 4; Kingston 3, Cardiff 5.

Place play-offs: 7/8th place: Dundee 4, Telford 2.

5/6th place: Mohicans 0, Blackburn 3; third/fourth place Solihull 1, Kingston 6.

Final: Cherokees 2, Cardiff 0.

Sunderland SMG Under-14 tournament at Newcastle Arena, Sunday, August 25: Sunderland Commanches 7, Dundee Tigers 0; Nottingham Tigers 4, Telford Terrahawks 2; Sunderland 1, Telford 1; Nottingham 6, Dundee 1; Sunderland 1, Nottingham 1; Dundee 1, Telford 3.

Third/fourth place play-off: Telford 2, Dundee 3.

Final: Nottingham 2, Sunderlan d1.

Top points scorer: Daniel Murdy (Sunderland).

Netminder of tournament (stats): Mark Thurman (Sunderland).

All-star team: netminder James Burton (Nottingham); forward Daniel Murdy (Sunderland); forward Robert Lachkowicz (Nottingham) and Josh Sedgley (Telford); defence Danny Lamb (Sunderland) and Joe Graham (Nottingham).

Fair Play Trophy: Telford Terrahawks.

Sunderland SMG Under-16 tournament at Newcastle Arena, Sunday, August 25: Sunderland Arrows 6, Dundee Tigers 0; Sheffield Rapiers 2, Billingham Bears 0; Sunderland 0, Billingham 1; Sheffield 7, Dundee 0; Billingham 11, Dundee 0; Sunderland 0, Sheffield 6.

Third/fourth play-off: Sunderland 5, Dundee 1.

Final: Sheffield 3, Billingham 2 (after pen shots 0-0 after overtime).

Fair Play Trophy: Sunderland Arrows.

Top points scorerL Liam Telfer (Billingham).

Stats netminder of the tournament: Richard Griffiths (Billingham).

All-star team: netminder Jason Moses (Sunderland); forward Greg Wood (Sheffield), Liam Telfer (Billingham) and Nick Manning (Sheffield); defence Stephen Pritchard (Billingham) and Jeremy Lundin (Sunderland).