Ice Hockey: Heroux hat-trick helps sink Knights

AYR SCOTTISH EAGLES piled on the misery for the Superleague leaders London Knights with a 6-3 victory at the Centrum Arena on Sunday night.

Knights, still reeling from the previous weekend's dramatic Benson and Hedges Cup final penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester Storm, simply had no answer to the Ayr attack, who stretched their unbeaten run to seven games with their fifth successive win.

Yves Heroux scored a hat-trick with Tony Hand, Scott Young and Eric Murano also on the scoresheet as Ayr gained revenge for their 7-0 home drubbing by the Knights in the quarter-finals of the Benson and Hedges Cup in October.

The Ayr captain, Rob Kenny, broke London's shut-out midway through the second session and goals from John Byce and Ryan Duthie hauled them back into the game. But Heroux's third goal eight seconds from time put the result beyond doubt.

Bracknell Bees capitalised on the Knights' slip-up by cutting their lead to two points with a 6-3 victory over Nottingham Panthers at Amen Corner. Following their second successive defeat to Newcastle Riverkings 24 hours earlier, Bracknell, with just one win in their last five Superleague games, seemed to be heading for more misery when Panthers, fresh from a 7-6 win over Storm, took a first-period lead. However, five unanswered strikes killed off Alex Dampier's side and settled the Bees' nerves.

Sheffield Steelers joined the Bees in joint second place after a fabulous fightback earned them a 5-4 overtime win over their rivals, the Cardiff Devils.