Playoffs place booked in smashing weekend
BRADFORD BULLDOGS .......................... 3 TEAM ........................................................... 8
THE RTL-sponsored Widnes Wild enjoyed a four point weekend with two hard-fought away victories that saw them secure second place in the Laidler Conference table and qualify for the post-season playoffs.
The Wild had a smashing time at Bradford on Saturday night with an 8-3 win that came to an abrupt end before the scheduled finish and then tamed the Nottingham Lions 3-1 at the National ice Centre on Sunday.
The game at Bradford was actually abandoned with just 48.30 played of the regulation 60 minutes after a powerful shot from a Bradford player broke the plexi-glass behind Wild netminder Greg Ruxton’s goal.
Three separate panels were damaged and it was decided that it would take too long to replace them and that the game would finish at that point – with Wild leading by five goals.
The Wild were in coasting mode by that point having scored three unanswered goals in the third period so the result was never in any doubt by the time of the enforced stoppage, but the game had been very close earlier on.
After a very tense and closely-fought start, Widnes took the lead with a great goal from Ken Armstrong but the Bulldogs quickly countered and levelled the scores after eight minutes.
Bobby Caunce – recently returned to the Widnes team after a season and a half away with Blackburn – came up with a real gem of goal picking the puck up deep in defence and put the Wild ahead 2-1 going into the first break.
The second period saw much of the same with Widnes dominating for long spells but Bradford defended solidly and looking dangerous on the counterattack.
Stuart Brittle – who is enjoying his best scoring form of the season at present – edged Widnes a little further ahead only for Bradford to peg them back to 3-2 at the midpoint of the game.
Further goals from the Wild’s Nick Manning and player/coach Ollie Barron looked to finally be putting daylight between the two teams but another Bulldogs counter left plenty still to be played for with the score 5-3 after two periods.
The Wild upped their game further when they came out for the third period and three goals in quick succession – from Berwyn Hughes and then two more from Brittle – pretty much killed the game off from a Bradford point of view.
And then the game was killed off altogether after the plexi-glass was damaged as the match officials decided to cut the game short.
The resulting 8-3 win was the Wild’s fifth unbeaten game in a row and kept them within touching distance of league leaders Blackburn Eagles who doubledup on the Sheffield Senators 6-3 the same night.
After the game, Barron said: “It’s always a tricky game going into Bradford. They set up in a way difficult to play fluent hockey in their home rink, so we knew we would have to roll our sleeves up and get stuck in.
“We matched the Bulldogs for hunger and grit and I felt the team stepped up a gear in third period to secure the points, scoring some nice team goals along the way. In a way it was disappointing the game ended early due to plexi-glass issues as I felt we had just started to play some really nice hockey.” NOTTINGHAM LIONS .............................. 1 WIDNES WILD ........................................... 3 THE clash on Sunday at Nottingham was a much closer encounter. The previous games between these two teams had all ● been tense, niggly affairs and this was no exception.
Despite having more of the overall play in the opening period, outshooting their hosts by almost two to one, Widnes had to wait until the 14th minute of the game to make a breakthrough.
The opening goal was put away by Berwyn Hughes – the defenceman scoring for the second game in a row – assisted by Nick Manning.
The lead was short-lived as the Lions equalised some three minutes later and the sides went into the first break tied at 1-1.
This game was robustly contested from the outset with penalties being conceded by both teams throughout.
The Lions attempted to up their game in the second period but it was the penalty count that was their ultimate undoing. With one player already in the penalty box for a hooking call, the Lions bench managed to get themselves into trouble with an abuse call that saw another Nottingham player binned for two minutes to give Widnes a two player advantage.
The Wild team had been criticised in previous games for not taking full advantage of their powerplay situations but they made this one count as Simon Offord blasted in a fierce shot with just nine seconds left on the five-on-three advantage to give Widnes a 2-1 lead.
The rest of the period was disrupted by minor penalty calls on both sides – including a Wild bench penalty for abuse – but it was Widnes who benefited the most from this as Manning scored an excellent short-handed goal with three minutes left in the second period.
Widnes were on the back foot for most of the third period with netminder Matt Croyle making some excellent saves to keep the marauding Lions at bay.
There was no further scoring in the game and the Wild came away from the Lace City with an important 3-1 victory.
The four points from the two weekend away games mean that Widnes Wild have qualified for the playoffs at IceSheffield – where the top four teams in the Laidler Conference meet in semi-finals and final.
More importantly, they are now guaranteed a minimum second-place finish as the teams behind them in the table are no longer able to overtake them with the number of games left in the season.
The Wild now have 34 points from their 23 games and are three points behind league leaders Blackburn Eagles, who have played a game less.
Those two teams meet for the fourth and final time in Blackburn a week on Saturday but, before that, Widnes have another tricky away game to Coventry Blaze this Saturday evening. The clash faces-off at 7.30pm.
After the Nottingham game, Barron said: “Nottingham are a good team with some good young players coming through.
“They have a lot of energy and it is difficult on the larger ice pad.
“The game itself was quite chippy with a lot of penalties for each team.
“I was delighted in the way we played for each other and battled until the end of the game.
“Every played stood up and played their role – players blocking shots and hits to make plays was great to see.
“We killed some big penalties and I thought Matt Croyle in goal made some great saves.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s game at Coventry, Barron said: “We cannot afford ourselves to underestimate the Blaze.
“Although they haven’t had much success in terms of wins this season, they work hard for each other for 60 minutes and have a number of players capable of finishing the puck.”