Blackburn Hawks' hopes of reaching the finals of the English Cup have been thrown into doubt despite victory in their final game.

The local ice hockey aces bagged a 5-3 home win over Kingston Jets to finish second in their group, but the format of the competition may alter to thwart the Hawks.

Although the Hawks were led to believe that the top two in the group qualified for a semi-finals weekend, it may now just be group winners who go forward.

While this could spell the end of the competition for his side, general manager Graham Lomax was not too downhearted.

Lomax said: "Of course it would be a shame if we missed out now, but we are still more than happy with what we have achieved this term.

"In the past, just the top team has qualified, but last year it was the top two. This time we just don't know who will qualify.

"We played reasonably well on Sunday so it would be unfortunate to lose out on a place now."

Hawks missed out on fourth place in the English National Ice Hockey League on the final day of the season.

Despite finishing on the same points total as the eventual fourth-placed finishers, the final standings went down to games played against each other so Hawks slipped in to fifth spot.