Wild fall short in gutsy final chase
THE YKK sponsored Widnes Wild rounded off their highly successful first season up in the Moralee Division with a 3-2 win over Billingham Stars at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
Unfortunately, this victory was not enough to propel them into the Play Off Final weekend – to be held at Leeds next week – as they lost the away leg of this quarter final encounter 8-1 away in the North East on Saturday and therefore crashed out of the knockout round 10-4 on aggregate.
In the away game in Billingham on Saturday, things started badly for the Wild and just got worse over the course of the match.
The Stars opened the scoring after five minutes and were 2-0 up by the first break. In all fairness, Widnes had an equal share of puck possession and shots on goal but were unable to make them count.
Two further goals from Billingham at the start of the second period – within just nine seconds of each other – really put the Wild on the back foot and a fifth goal at the midway point of the game left Widnes with a metaphorical mountain to climb in the third period.
The Wild threw the kitchen sink at the Stars goal in the final period outshooting the hosts by a massive 21 to 8 but it was Billingham, again, who scored the next goal on 43 minutes to extend the lead to 6-0.
The Widnes efforts were finally rewarded with a strike from player coach Richard Haggar but any hopes of a late comeback were thwarted by more impressive play by the home defence. To make matters worse, the Wild were then caught out at the back while pushing forward to try and reduce the deficit in advance of the home leg and conceded two more goals late in the game.
The 8-1 defeat was the Wild’s first loss after six straight wins and was their lowest goal haul since a 2-1 defeat away at Sheffield back in January. It also represented the first time in five starts that Billingham had recorded a win over Widnes this season.
The home game on Sunday was especially tense – particularly considering what was at stake – and after a nervy opening from both sides, the first period ended goalless.
Billingham took the lead with a powerplay goal on 26 minutes to lead 9-1 on aggregate but Bez Hughes equalised for the Wild three minutes later and Latvian import Vlads Vulcanovs edged Widnes in front three minutes after that.
While pushing forward to try and extend the lead, the Widnes were caught out by a short handed strike on 35 minutes and that left the score standing at a finely balanced 2-2 at the second period break.
A combination of a later than usual than usual start due to the Laidler Play Off final having been played at the rink earlier in the day and the huge task of trying to overturn a large deficit from the first leg left had led to a rather subdued atmosphere around the rink but the Wild team and fans – while faced with the almost impossible task of scoring eight unanswered goals in the final period - gave it one last push to finish off the season with style.
These efforts were rewarded when Liam Charnock fired the puck into the net on 52 minutes to retake the lead and Widnes were able to hold on for the 3-2 win.
With no more games to come, the Wild players will next be on view at the Club Presentation Evening, which will take place at the Village Club in Widnes on Friday 13th May. Tickets are £15 each and can be purchased from the ice rink Box Office.
League matches continue at the Widnes rink, however, as the women’s and junior seasons do not finish until the end of May.
This Sunday 24th April sees the Wild Academy Under 10 team host a 4-team cross ice tournament where they will take on teams from Telford, Bradford and Manchester Storm. That starts at 4.15pm and is followed at 5.40pm by a challenge match between the Wild Academy Under 16 team and Leeds Under 16s.
On Saturday 23rd, the Wild Academy Under 12 teams are away to Bradford – 4pm face off - and Manchester Storm – 6pm start.
Following that, the Widnes Wild Ladies team have four games during May, two home and two away starting off on Sunday 1st May when they take on the Bristol Huskies at Planet Ice Widnes, 4.15pm face off.