Wild prove too strong for battling Hawks
● WIDNES WILD ......................................... 13 BLACKBURN HAWKS N2 ......................... 1
THE RTL-sponsored Widnes Wild gave their Laidler Division title hopes a welcome boost with a 13-1 win over the Blackburn Hawks N2 team at Silver Blades Widnes on Sunday.
It was a welcome return to the ice after the previous weekend’s cancelled game and brought an important two points to keep the Wild in touch with the other teams all vying for position at the top of the league table.
The Hawks’ development team had only won one game all season and that was against the Deeside Dragons development team so a Wild triumph always looked to be on the cards, but this match was not really as one-sided as the final score suggests and, in fact, Blackburn battled hard and played well overall.
The first period was especially close and the Wild came under pressure early on as first Mike Mawer and then Tom Jackson were banished to the penalty box giving the Hawks a five-on-three advantage during which they came close to scoring the opening goal.
However, the Wild weathered the storm and finally took the lead themselves in the ninth minute courtesy of a Nick Manning goal.
The Hawks hit back with an equaliser after 11 minutes, making the most of a powerplay while Geoff Wigglesworth was sitting out a slashing penalty.
However, the lead was restored some 90 seconds later when Manning hit his second goal of the game and gave the ● ● Wild the slimmest of advantages going into the first break.
The second period started off with the visitors on top completely belying their league position, keeping the Wild attack at bay and recording their best shots on goal tally for the game in search of another equaliser.
The next goal, however, went to Widnes with an Ollie Barron strike in the 28th minute to finally put some daylight between the two sides – and then the proverbial floodgates opened.
Three goals in less a minute – from Stuart Brittle at 30.54, Mikey Gilbert at 31.31 and Kyle Haslam at 31.49 – completely transformed the game and, from then on, the Wild were in complete control of proceedings.
A second goal from Haslam four min- utes later and another from Gilbert with a minute left in the period left the score standing at 8-1 for Widnes with little way back for the plucky Hawks team.
The third period started with an unfortunate incident with the Wild’s Lee Kemp colliding with the Blackburn netminder. Kemp was handed a two-minute penalty for goaltender interference but Pavel Vales managed to score a short handed goal and further extend the Widnes lead.
At this point the Hawks’ netminder Luke Wilson had to retire hurt and, after a 10 minute break in proceedings, was replaced in goal by Evan Corner – a nonnetminder who bravely volunteered to don the pads as Blackburn did not have a back-up on the bench.
Four more goals followed for the Wild – from Kemp, Brittle, Danny Bullock and team captain Simon Offord but the biggest cheer of this closing phase was reserved for netminder Barry Sprakes – making his home debut as a Wild player in the league – who replaced Matt Croyle in goal for the last 10 minutes.
The final score of 13-1 was possibly a little harsh on the Blackburn development team but a win is a win and the resulting two points keep Widnes in the mix around the top of the Laidler Division table.
The Wild travel to the Telford Tigers this Saturday and then host the Deeside Dragons at Silver Blades Widnes on Sunday evening. Face-off on Sunday is at 5.30pm and doors open at 4.45pm. ● See page 50 to read Wild head coach Ollie Barron’s post-game thoughts. ●