Positives to take despite heavy defeat at hands of Steel City rivals
THE Widnes Wild Academy Under 18s team suffered a 14-3 defeat to Sheffield Steel City Under 18s at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday.
This is the first season of league competition for the Wild Under 18s team and they have so far struggled to make much headway against highly organised and experienced teams of much longer standing.
Despite being seriously out-shot throughout the game, Widnes actually performed very well. It took almost five minutes for Sheffield to break down the stubborn Wild defence and a further 10 minutes before they managed to score their second goal.
A short-handed goal conceded while Widnes were pushing up to try to take advantage of a power play situation handed the visitors a 3-0 advantage at the first break.
The second period saw Sheffield noticeably up their game, then they peppered Jake Lowndes’ net with 34 shots.
They added three more goals to their tally before Widnes team captain Sam Anderson fired in the first home goal of the game on 31 minutes. Two more Sheffield goals followed to finish the period at 8-1 to the visitors and Widnes brought on Jamie Lee Houghton in goal for the third period.
A Sheffield goal just 12 seconds from the restart edged the visitors further ahead, then Sam Anderson scored a second Widnes goal on a power play on 45 minutes. Sheffield countered with a further goal of their own just one minute later but Anderson put away his hat-trick strike on 48 minutes.
Four unanswered goals for Sheffield followed and, considering their battling performance, the Wild team would probably find the final score of 14-3 a little disappointing.
The win saw the Sheffield team move above
Manchester Storm to take over at the top of the league table. Sam Anderson’s hat-trick means he remains top of the scoring standings for the division, with 16 goals and four assists.
The Wild Academy Under 18s Team are next in action on Saturday, November 9 when they take on the Nottingham Under 18s team at home at Planet Ice Widnes – 7.45pm face off.
This is the same opposition to whom they very narrowly lost away last weekend and this should be a thrilling encounter to watch.
The Wild Academy Under 11s and Under 18s are brand new teams for this season, having been set up with the help of a £4,000 community grant as part of the Tesco supermarket chain’s Bags of Help initiative. The addition of these two new teams to the Wild Academy junior development programme means that Widnes now have competitive teams at all five junior age groups – ie Under 9s, Under 11s, Under 13s, Under 15s and Under 18s.
● THE Wild Academy are always keen to attract new players of any age and experience – boys and girls – but prospective newcomers are asked to contact head coach Mike Gilbert by e-mail at mike.gilbert@planet-ice. co.uk before attending.
The Junior training sessions run at the following times:
Under 9s and Under 11s: Tuesday 6.15-7.15 pm and Thursday 7.15-8.15 pm
Under 13s and Under 15s: Tuesday 7.15-8.15 pm and Thursday 7.15-8.15 pm
Under 18s: Wednesday 9pm -10.15pm
For anybody new who would like to take up the sport, the Planet Ice rink in Widnes has “learn to play” courses available for all age groups that run throughout the year and enquiries should be made at the rink, please telephone 0151-420 7930.