Wild stay top thanks to contrasting wins
THE YKK-sponsored Widnes Wild consolidated their position at the top of the Laidler Division table with two wins at the weekend – winning 14-2 at Blackburn on Saturday and then beating the Telford Tigers in a tense and closely-fought game at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
The game at Blackburn against the Hawks 2 development team was the easier of the weekend’s two encounters but, despite having a short bench, the home side made things difficult and they battled on for the whole 60 minutes.
Widnes opened the scoring after three minutes through Czech import Jakub Hajek and, by the end of the first period, the score was 6-0 to the Wild.
Five more Wild goals followed before the Hawks scored their first goal at 35.37 and by then, the result was pretty much a foregone conclusion.
The Hawks kept the score down to just 3-1 in the third period – despite facing a massive 30 shots on goal in that last 20 minutes – and the game ended at 14-2 in favour of the Wild.
The game against Telford on Sunday was a much closer affair, with the Tigers having already beaten the Wild once this season, and was played at a furious pace for the whole hour.
The visitors had the most of the early exchanges but it was Widnes who scored first with a Danny Bullock goal after 12 minutes.
The score remained at 1-0 at the first break and Telford equalised on 28 minutes to ratchet up the tension around the rink.
A goal from the Wild’s player-coach Ollie Barron just two minutes later nudged Widnes back in front again, but the game remained on a knife edge.
The score remained at 2-1 at the second break and the third period was so close that the result could easily have gone either way. With the score still at 2-1 with less than a minute to play, the Tigers pulled their netminder in favour of an extra attacker and put the Wild defence under immense pressure.
Widnes called a strategic time out with 11 seconds left on the clock to try and break down the Tigers’ momentum.
This paid off as they were able to clear the puck out of their defensive zone and very nearly – but not quite – score a goal in the unguarded net at the other end. ●
Looking back over the two games, Widnes player-coach Barron, said: “A great four-point weekend for the Wild and two contrasting games versus the Hawks 2 and Telford Tigers 2.
“On Saturday in Blackburn I was keen for us to play a hard game for 60 minutes.
“We played some nice hockey in parts with the scoring spread across all three lines.
“On Sunday we faced a good hardworking Telford side. I think it was a great advert for our division with both teams leaving everything on the ice.
“What pleased me most was our determination as a full team and we all worked hard for each other all over the pad.
“Matt Croyle was fantastic in our goal, making crucial saves, and our defensive zone was much tighter – with some great penalty killing.
“We travel to Coventry next Saturday, in what will be another tough game.
“Coventry have a good squad this year, so we will go back to work on Thursday in preparation for the weekend.”
The Wild visit the Coventry Blaze this Saturday– nominally for a 7.15pm faceoff although that time is still to be confirmed. They were then scheduled to be at home on Sunday to local rivals Deeside Dragons at Planet Ice Widnes – but that game has now been postponed and will be rearranged for a later date. ● For all the latest match information, supporters are advised to check the official Wild website www.widneswild.co.uk and social media for updates before setting out.