THEY say that all good things must come to an end.

That’s the case with the Deeside Dragons, whose lengthy unbeaten run in Ice Hockey’s North Division One has come to a halt.

On the back of eight triumphs in a row, the Dragons were beaten 9-3 during their trip to Blackburn Hawks.

A post on the club’s Facebook page said: “Not the night we wanted, but the Dragons want to thank all the travelling fans who made the rainy journey up to Blackburn this evening!

“Have a safe journey home, folks, and the Dragons will be back in action next weekend.”

Dragons’ assistant head coach Matt Compton admitted: “We didn’t play great, but we were never going to go on and win every game.

“The good thing is we have got a game on Saturday, so we can reset then.

“There was no lack of effort.

“Blackburn won it instead of we sort of lost it.

“Things like bounces didn’t go our way.

“It was a tough one to take.

“We conceded in the first 30 seconds and that put us on the back foot.

“We never really recovered from there.”

Dragons were always playing catch-up after they fell behind early in the first quarter.

That opening period ended with the Hawks flying high courtesy of a 3-0 advantage, but the Deeside side had something to celebrate when Ross Kennedy opened the scoring in the second quarter.

Jakub Hajek grabbed a debut goal for the Dragons, but Blackburn ended the second quarter still boasting a healthy 5-2 advantage.

One further goal would come for the visitors in the final period and it went to Andy McKinney.

Despite this loss, the Dragons are still well in the mix in the upper reaches of the standings - and it remains so close in the battle for honours.

Just five points separate the top-six at this point of the season and Dragons find themselves in fifth position, just four points off the pace being set by front-runners Billingham Stars.

Hull Jets took on Whitley Warriors twice over the course of the weekend and both matches ended in thrilling 4-3 victories for the Warriors.

Solihull Barons eased to a 6-1 success in their meeting with Nottingham Lions.

Following the tragic death of Nottingham Panthers forward Adam Johnson, Erin Rose of ER Sports Therapy decided it was time to set up a network of therapists and medics for UK hockey teams that don’t have trained medics.

Deeside Dragons are proud to welcome the first of these medics, known as Adam’s Angels, in the shape of Robyn Crebbin.

Crebbin is the owner and head rehabilitator of SportCare Mobile Sports Injury Specialists and brings a wealth of experience to the Dragons’ bench

Crebbin told the club’s website: “I’m really happy to come on board and help Mike (Clancy) and the team to stay as fit and healthy as possible.

“I decided to get involved after a colleague, Erin Rose, started the campaign ‘Adam’s Angels’ after the tragic events of a couple of weekends ago.

“I’m no stranger to Deeside, as I once played for the Flintshire Freeze and I have either played with, coached or played against many of the current Dragons players.

“I also work with coach Mike with the Great Britain women’s team so I believe I will gel with the team.”