Wild ground Jets in epic
WIDNES WILD .....................................7 HULL JETS ............................................5
THE RTL-sponsored Widnes Wild had cause to celebrate at the weekend as they secured s second place in the Laidler Confere ence table and also beat a highlyo organised Hull Jets team 7-5 in their fi first game at home at Silver Blades W Widnes in over a month.
The Wild needed just one point fr from their final three games to be su sure of securing the runners-up positi tion in the league but, as things tu turned out, they achieved that positi tion without having to hit a puck in a anger after play-off contenders Altrincham Aces did them a favour by beating third-place Sheffield Senators earlier in the day, meaning that th the Yorkshire outfit could no longer c catch Widnes for second place.
But there was still a game to won a and the Wild team went about it in th their usual professional manner.
As it turned out, it was Hull who s scored the first goal of the game – with just over a minute on the clock – as the league’s top scorer Richard Hagger beat Wild netminder Greg Ruxton with a long shot from the left w wing at an incredibly narrow angle.
The lead lasted a little over five minutes as Wild captain Shaun Dippnall managed to steal the puck from a Hull defender and crossed for Bobby Caunce to slot it into the net.
Just 27 seconds later, Caunce returned the favour by carrying the puck round behind the net and passing back out for Dippnall to put the Wild into the lead.
Shortly after this, Widnes found themselves short-handed for two minutes but they weathered the storm and, on exactly 11 minutes, in-form sniper Stuart Brittle gleefully received a crossgoal pass from Nick Manning, which he then fired past the Hull n e t m i n d e r ’s unguarded right hand side to put the Wild two goals ahead.
Three minutes later it was 4-1 after a great spell of Widnes pressure and passing around the Hull defensive zone saw the puck fall to Bez Hughes who blasted in a screamer of a goal from just inside the blueline. And then with 15.33 gone on the clock, Danny Bullock picked up a halfway line pass from Karl Niamatali and fired in the Wild’s fifth goal.
Hull then got Widnes on the back foot and forced a defensive interfer- ● ence penalty. As a result of this, the Jets’ other sharpshooter – Kieran Beach – fired in a powerplay goal for with just under a minute to go in the period. With the score at 5-2 at the first break, Widnes still looked good for the win but the whole complexion of the game changed in the second period. Despite constant pressure from Widnes on the Hull goal, the Jets were the next to score as Richard Hagger fired in a long shot from the right hand side to make it 5-3.
Less than two minutes later, Widnes restored their three-goal advantage after a Brittle pass from behind the goal found player/ coach Ollie Barron who fired home.
Within seconds of the start of the third period, Hull player Daniel Spence was pulled up by the referee for unsportsmanlike conduct, which then developed into a 10 minute penalty for abuse and then a game misconduct penalty as well.
The Wild pushed forward during the ensuing two-minute powerplay but were unable to make any sort of breakthrough and then, after killing off the penalty, the Jets scored again to make the score 6-4.
You could really feel the tension rack up around the arena after this and things then got considerably worse for the Wild fans as Hull scored again – this time on an interference powerplay – to make the score 6-5 with 11 minutes still to play.
It seemed almost inevitable that the Hull team – having bravely battled back from being 5-1 down so early on in the game – would go on to score an equalising goal but the Wild team dug deep and managed to keep them at bay.
Widnes’s nerves were finally settled a little by a great individual goal from Brittle with less than four minutes left to play.
The weekend’s events mean that Widnes are now guaranteed second place in the Laidler Conference as they can’t now be caught by the teams below them. As well as the end of season play off weekend at iceSheffield – which features the top 4 teams in the division – Widnes have now also qualified for the promotion/relegation game with the second bottom team in the Moralee Conference, although details of the timing and format of that contest have yet to be announced.
The Wild are at home again this Sunday when they entertain Altrincham Aces who are enjoying a late surge for the last playoff place.