Billingham Stars pushed league champions Blackburn Hawks all the way before going down 6-3 in the National League (North) Moralee Conference play-off final.
Blackburn saw off Sheffield Spartans 4-2 in the first semi-final before Billingham beat Solway Sharks 9-6 to join them in the final.
With both sides at full strength for the semi-final, a tight, a low-scoring game was expected and the first period went to script as the two teams sounded each other out.
Solway opened the scoring in the sixth minute through Duncan Speirs and it took Billingham until the 13th minute to equalise, their man-of-the-match Chris Sykes putting the puck away after being set up by Thomas Stuart-Dant.
The Ultimate Windows-sponsored Stars blew their opponents away with a seven-goal haul in the middle stanza, Sykes tapping in his second just 37 seconds into the session.
Straight from the face-off James Moss put Billingham two ahead, but the Sharks came back with two quick goals of their own, Marc Fowley and Pavol Melichercik bringing the Scots back level by the 24th minute mark.
The Stars re-established their lead when Michael Elder scored less than a minute later, then Sykes completed his hat-trick in the 29th minute.
Ben Davison made it 6-3 in the 32nd minute before Speirs put one upstairs in the 34th minute to pull the Sharks back into contention once more.
Two more quality strikes from Moss and Elder in the 36th and 39th minutes looked to have taken the game beyond the reach of Solway.
But Billingham made unnecessarily hard work of the final period as man-of-the-match Speirs netted twice more to narrow the gap.
James Flavell was in imperious form in the Billingham net however, and prevented the host club getting any more.
Solway pulled netminder Gary Russell with less than a minute to play, but the gamble failed and Moss steered the puck into the empty net to wrap up his hat-trick.
STARS: James Moss 3+1; Chris Sykes 3+0; Michael Elder 2+3; Ben Davison 1+0; Richie Thornton 0+3; Scott Ward 0+2; Thomas Stuart-Dant 0+2; Michael Bowman 0+1; Callum Davies 0+1.
SHARKS: Duncan Speirs 4+1; Marc Fowley 1+0; Pavol Melichercik 1+0; Ross Murray 0+2; Alan Crane 0+1; Frazer Goldie 0+1; Steven Moore 0+1; Jens Engelen 0+1.
Favourites Blackburn made their intentions known early on in the final as they put the Stars on the back foot.
Billingham opened the scoring through Elder in the seventh minute but the lead lasted just 53 seconds, with Luke Brittle capitalising on defensive errors to send the teams in level at the break.
Blackburn went ahead in the 26th minute when Aaron Davies was allowed to skate around the net unchallenged and given time to pick his spot past Flavell’s glove.
Both teams fell foul of the officials as the period wore on, with Adam Brittle perhaps fortunate to remain in the game when an illegal challenge on Andy Finn drew blood under the defenceman’s eye as the Hawks finished the session with Brittle in the sin bin with only a two-minute minor for boarding.
The Stars came flying out of the blocks at the start of the final period, scoring two goals through captain Paul Windridge and Elder in the 41st minute to put their noses in front.
That fired up the league champions, who struck three goals in 75 seconds through Davies, Luke Brittle and Tom King to go 5-3 ahead and they extended their lead through Jordan Bannon in the 51st minute.
The Stars could not find a chink in the Hawks’ armour as Blackburn completed their first league and play-off double.
Man-of-the-match for the Stars was Andy Munroe.
HAWKS: Aaron Davies 2+0; Luke Brittle 2+0; Jordan Bannon 1+1; Tom King 1+0; Daniel Mackriel 0+2; Chris Arnone 0+2; Adam Brittle 0+2; Jared Owen 0+1; Jake Nurse 0+1.
STARS: Michael Elder 2+0; Paul Windridge 1+0; Andy Munroe 0+1; Callum Davies 0+1; Tom Keeley 0+1; Thomas Stuart-Dant 0+1.
Billingham director of coaching Terry Ward could not fault his side for effort.
“It was a great performance from the boys,” he said. “We asked them to give 100% and the lads did that.
“We made a couple of mistakes at vital times that cost us the game, and some decisions didn’t quite go our way but I was really pleased with the guys, they put everything they had into it.
“We got two quick goals at the start of the third for 3-2 and we put a lot of pressure on Blackburn and forced their hand a little bit.
“They got a bit more expansive and scored some quick goals themselves.
“Without a doubt Blackburn are a good side and the firepower they’ve got up front - you can’t give them the room to do their business.
“They do what they do week in and week out all season and the two Brittle brothers do take some handling.”
The Stars will start the new season in September.
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