Lee Valley Lions started their new National Ice Hockey League South 2 campaign with a 9-2 loss against new side Streatham Hawks.

Jordan Ho scored twice for the Lions, making the scores 2-1 and 5-2, while the Hawks were relentless in their attacking play.

Eight players made their debuts for the side, while five of those on show were born in 2001, giving Lions a very youthful look.

Streatham started well and put Lions under pressure from the off, but found netminder James Andrew in good form to keep them out in the early stages, while several penalties disrupted the hosts’ overall flow.

However, it was the Hawks who took the lead midway through the first period when Ryan Burgess scored on a four-on-three powerplay, and that was followed up six minutes later when Kamil Kinkor slotted neatly past Andrew.

Lions were unable to find a breakthrough before the end of the first period but came out with renewed confidence in the second, halving the deficit when Ho scored a powerplay goal to make the most of his side’s persistence.

Kinkor punished more defensive lapses though, and made it 3-1 by the end of the second period.

The Czech forward then made the most of a sluggish start to the third period by Lions, scoring twice in quick succession to extend Streatham’s lead further and effectively put them out of sight.

Lions didn’t let their heads drop and they pulled a further goal back through Ho when he was set up by Ben Margerison, but a severe dip in concentration at the end finished them off.

Firstly, Alec Goldstone gave Streatham a four-goal cushion with a good finish, and Leo Saoncella soon added to that to make it seven.

Two more goals arrived late on for the visitors as Harry Sage and former Lion Gus Zimmerman added one each to complete the rout.

Overall it was a disappointing result for the East London side, but they more than held their own in the first 40 minutes of the game and were saved from further embarrassment by debutant Ho’s brace.

The result leaves Lions bottom of the table though only after one game, but will want to get points on the board as quickly as possible if they are to avoid a repeat of last season where they finished at the foot of the league.

They have a free weekend this time around but return to action with a double header on the weekend of September 28 and 29, firstly travelling to Bracknell Wasps before entertaining Haringey Huskies.