Ice hockey: Five sent off at Fife

Five players were sent off during Saturday's ill-tempered match between Fife Flyers and Humberside Hawks.

The match was barely four minutes old when the referee, Bill Fraser, was forced off the ice with a facial injury, and his two linesmen had to take charge.

During a penalty-strewn and controversial first period, Humberside stormed into a 6-0 lead. But Fife came back strongly and were only 7-5 behind after 40 minutes. Humberside's new signing, Barclay Pearce, celebrated his debut with a goal as Fife narrowly failed to complete a remarkable comeback, losing 8-6.

Humberside's incident-packed weekend continued on Sunday night when their home game with Milton Keynes was abandoned after 20 minutes when oil spilled on to the ice as it was being resurfaced. The teams were level 3-3, although it is unlikely the score will stand.

Nottingham, who had been suffering a run of poor form, came back from 7-6 down at Slough to win 10-8. Nottingham appeared to have the match under control when they took a 4-0 lead, but Slough fought back to 4-4 in the second period.

Slough led 7-6 lead as Joe Stefan completed his hat-trick, but Paul Adey, Nottingham's leading scorer, completed his hat-trick to keep the team's title hopes alive.

Nicky Chinn, who received an automatic three-match ban after Sheffield's controversial clash with Durham three weeks ago, has been told by the BIHA that his suspension will not be extended. Chinn, who was arrested and released on bail after the game, is set to return to action today when the Sheffield travel to Humberside.

Results, Sporting Digest, page 18