SWINDON TopCats are the Eng-lish Ice Hockey Association Women's League One Trophy winners, writes DAVE EATON.

In the final they followed up their 7-1 semi-final win over Billingham by defeating the northern section winners Nottingham Vipers 3-1 to lift their second piece of silverware in 24 hours.

They had been presented with the South 1 League trophy the previous day in Sheffield.

There was a change of personnel for the final as TopCats had to play without the influential Amy Hadden, but had Line Voss available, and playmaker Ruth Leopold enjoyed a couple of shifts before her ankle injury forced her out of the game.

The first period was a tight affair with both defences dominating and each netminder, TopCats' Dee Taylor and Nottingham's Allison Carter, making important saves.

The second period was again proving difficult for forwards, but the deadlock was finally broken late in the session.

After a strong run down the right, Vicki Benson set Lizzie Archer through on goal. Although her shot was well saved, the puck fell straight into the path of the TopCats defender Benson who blasted it into the net.

The final period saw Swindon on top and they took advantage of a powerplay with top scorer Emma Hindmarch netting at 35.54 with a neat backhand flick.

At 37.40 Archer won the puck on the goal line to set up Hindmarch to bang home a slapshot from close range and put TopCats into a 3-0 lead.

This effectively sealed the game as Swindon closed things down and kept matters extremely tight.

To their credit, Vipers never gave up, and fully deserved their consolation goal at 41.53 from Megan Rathbone.

A jubilant captain Vanda Tanner accepted the League 1 trophy for the first time.

TopCats scorers: Hindmarch 2goals+0assist; Benson 1+0; Lizzy Archer 0+2.

Period Scores: 0-0; 1-0; 2-1.

Shots on goal: TopCats 22; Vipers 22.

Penalty mins: TopCats 8; Vipers 6.

  • TOPCATS comfortably took the honours in their trophy semi-final, defeating northern runners-up Billingham Wildcats 7-1.

Amy Hadden was the star, scoring four times to lead Swindon to a well deserved place in the final.

TopCats led 3-0 after the first period and never looked back.

At the end of this game Swindon were presented with the trophy and medals for winning League 1 South.

TopCats scorers: Hadden 4+0; Hindmarch 1+4; Davies 1+1; L Taylor 1+0; Lizzy Archer 0+1.

Period Scores: 3-0; 2-1; 2-0.

Penalty mins: TopCats 12; Wildcats 12.

Shots on Goal: TopCats 37; Wildcats 9.