Our Bradford Bulldogs NIHL team got their NIHL Division Two North campaign off to a flier at Bradford Ice Arena yesterday, beating Nottingham Lions 8-0.

The hosts got off to the perfect start when Josh Reynolds fired home with just eight seconds on the clock and were 4-0 ahead after the first 20 through further strikes from Liam Salt (2) and Josh Stockton.

Andy Brown’s team were able to maintain the momentum in the second when Reynolds added his second at 20.28, with Connor Medley getting on the scoresheet just over seven minutes later.Matt Barlow then got in on the act at 33.14 with a shorthanded effort before doubling his tally just over two minutes later.

No further goals came in the third, but the hard work had already been done in a dominating display. Matt Viney weighed in with three assists, with other helpers coming from Stockton (2), Penn (2) and Ben Derbyshire, Abi Culshaw, Reynolds, Medley, Dean Boothroyd, Barlow and Chris Butler.

Elsewhere, the only other Division Two game of the opening day of the season saw Sheffield Titans win 4-2 at Coventry Blaze.

Not surprisingly, head coach Brown declared himself pleased with his players’ efforts, particularly after being away so long from competitive hockey.

“As starts to the season go that was really good,” he said. “We’d had a good couple of workouts in the warm-up games against Altrincham the weekend before but nothing beats having something on the line.

“It was great to get back to proper, full-on competitive hockey. There were some good performances out there for us and, so far, it looks good for the season ahead.”