WIDNESWILD Wild have proven to be past masters of Play-Offs
THE Widnes Wild ice hockey team have a superb record when it comes to the end-ofseason play-off competitions.
They hold the record for number of wins and are the only team in the division to have qualified in each of the seven years that they have been held.
They have won the last three consecutive titles, but sadly missed out on the chance of adding a fourth this year when the playing season was finished early due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Summer of 2016 saw a bit of turmoil at Widnes after player coach Scott McKenzie decided to de-camp and join near neighbours Deeside Dragons, leaving the Wild approaching the next league season with no coach and an incomplete playing roster.
In came Ollie Barron who had been long-term captain of the Sheffield Spartans team in the Moralee Division and who had been left without a position after his team had been unceremoniously excluded from the ice time agreement due to political infighting at the iceSheffield rink.
Despite having no prior experience of coaching a team, Barron was appointed player-coach and arrived with several other former Spartans who were keen to carry on playing.
The newcomers, with such experienced players as Stuart Brittle, Andrew Turner, Nick Manning and – later on – Simon Offord, and with the outstanding young netminding talent in Matt Croyle, blended very well with the existing Wild players and an exciting new team was born.
As with the previous season, there was an unexpected challenge from a hitherto unfashionable team as the Blackburn Eagles began icing imports for the first time, enticed such players as “double double” winning captain Chris Arnone away from the Moralee Division Hawks, and put together a surprisingly competitive team.
They won three out of the four games against Widnes and went on to win the league title by a two-point margin.
Laidler Division Play-Offs 2017 (at iceSheffield) – April 8-9 2017
Semi Final 1: Widnes Wild 2-0 Altrincham Aces
Semi Final 2: Blackburn Eagles
1-3 Sheffield Senators
Final: Widnes Wild 2-1 Sheffield Senators
The 2017 Laidler Division play-offs were once again played at iceSheffield as part of a bumper weekend that also featured the Moralee Division semis and final as well.
The line-up saw Laidler champions Blackburn Eagles take on fourth place Sheffield Senators in one semi-final and Widnes pair up against local rivals Altrincham Aces in the other.
All three of the Laidler Division games were very close.
The first period in the Wild’s game against the Aces finished goalless and it took until the 35th minute for Ollie
Barron to edge Widnes in front.
The game opened up a bit after the goal and both sides started playing with a bit more freedom, but the score remained 1-0 to Widnes at the second break.
Once they had scored, Widnes began to look the better side and were able to stamp their authority on the game.
The Aces started taking more penalties and, during a powerplay for a holding call, Ollie Barron deflected a Simon Offord rocket shot past Aces netminder Declan Ryan to give the Wild a two-goal advantage with nine minutes left to play.
The remaining minutes were very scrappy with both sides picking up penalties and the Wild had to do without the services of Berwyn Hughes and Stuart Brittle who both picked up 2+10 minute penalties for checking.
The Wild’s game had followed the form book as they beat third place finishers Altrincham Aces 2-0 in the early morning game, but the second semi-final was a different story.
The Eagles had finished a massive 10 points ahead of fourth-place Senators in the final Laidler table and had a 2-1-1 record against the Senators.
They would normally have been expected to be firm favourites to reach the final but the Eagles’ preparations for the play-offs had been overshadowed by a dispute with their home rink over ice time arrangements and sponsorship for the new season, and this may have taken its toll on the players.
As it was, the Sheffield Senators – playing on their home ice – raced into a 0-3 lead by the first break and the game was effectively over after just 20 minutes.
Although the Eagles outshot the Senators by 41 to 31, their finishing was certainly below par and Mark Hartley played a blinder in the Sheffield goal.
A goal for the Eagles just after the mid-point of the game did little to change their fortunes and ended up being little more than a consolation.
In the final on the Sunday, the Wild were quickest out of the blocks and put Sheffield under pressure right from the first drop of the puck.
The Senators looked sluggish and had probably used up a lot of energy reserves in their game the day before and it was no great surprise when Widnes took the lead through team captain Shaun Dippnall after 11 minutes.
What was more of a surprise was that the score remained 1-0 at the first break and it was not until 23.12 was on the clock that the Wild scored again – with player coach Ollie Barron picking up a rebound and firing the puck into the Sheffield net to double the Widnes advantage.
Widnes were by far the better team at this point – looking likely to score again at any moment – and it was only due to the shot-stopping heroics of Mark Hartley in the Sheffield goal that the score was kept down.
Sheffield finally managed to drag themselves back into the game with a goal by Elliott Knell after 45 minutes and the rest of the match was played on a knife edge. The Senators looked much better going forward by now and Widnes had to work hard to protect their single goal lead.
The clock ticked down without further incident and Widnes were able to celebrate the perfect end to their best ever season so far in which they had achieved their best ever league position, finishing just two points behind league champions Blackburn Eagles, and brought Ollie Barron a piece of silverware in his first season as a player coach.
Laidler Division PlayOffs 2018 (at Widnes) – April 14-15 2018
Semi Final 1: Sutton Sting 4-3 Telford Tigers
Semi Final 2: Widnes Wild 6-5 Hull Jets (PS)
Final: Sutton Sting 3-6 Widnes Wild
The 2017/18 season saw the Barron-led team ready for another challenge for the Laidler Division title and this time around they were undone by the decision of Sutton Sting to drop down from the Moralee Division for the season.
As it happened, Widnes actually won three of the four league meetings between the two sides but were eventually undone by poor results against lower table teams and ended up in second place in the table once again, seven points behind champions Sutton.
The other two play off places went to Hull Jets – who finished in third place, level on points with the Wild – and Telford Tigers who finished one point behind.
There was a new format for the play- offs this season with the Moralee competition having quarter-finals, semis and final played as home and away ties but the Laidler teams opted to keep with the single weekend arrangement.
The Planet Ice rink at Widnes was