Wild ‘imports’ –

THE Widnes Wild team finished last season with three overseas players on their roster, after German forward Daniel Haid was signed in January as an extra imported player.

Haid was signed partially as cover while Michal Novak was getting over a long-term injury and also to take some of the pressure off Jakub Hajek and allow Widnes the option to rotate their players in the run-up to what was expected to be a thrilling title battle.

Unfortunately, things did not work out as planned as the league season was cancelled with several crunch games left to play – but not before Daniel had made an impact on the Laidler Division, scoring seven goals and six assists in his first 11 league games.

Haid hails from Bietigheim in Germany and spent four seasons playing for the Chemnitz Crashers in the minor German leagues, scoring 24+37 in 55 league games.

He has more recently been studying at Sheffield Hallam University where he played for the Sheffield Bears student team.

The 2019/20 season was certainly an odd one for the Wild team.

It began with high hopes of retaining the league title that they had won the year before and also bagging their fourth play off title in a row but all manner of things went wrong.

The team struggled for much of the season with key players out with long-term injuries, and playing lines often had to be cobbled together depending on who was available.

This saw leading scorer Hajek playing with different players from week to week and it was very creditable that he still managed to notch up 20 goals and 30 assists for the season.

Novak had a good pre-season, scoring seven goals in four challenge matches but then missed much of the league campaign after picking up an injury. He managed to battle back to fitness and played six league games before the competition was curtailed, scoring 4+2.

Following on from the superb previous title winning season that had seen both Hajek and Novak in flying form, scoring 41+39 and 26+30 respectively, it was all a bit of a disappointment but such is the nature of ice hockey - you never know what is going to happen next!

Widnes have been lucky with their choices of import in previous seasons – and not so in others ... Here’s a run down of previous overseas players to have iced for the Wild, starting at the very beginning.

FILIP SUPA ........... 2013/14 & 2014/15

FILIP Supa was the Wild’s first ever import signing, joining the team for the debut 2013/14 season.

Having learned his hockey at the Topolcan club in his native Slovakia, playing over 100 competitive games at Under 18 and U20 Level, he then spent several years away from the game.

When the new Widnes rink opened, Supa was living in Warrington.

He came along to the open player trials and was offered a place on the Wild team for their first season.

He went to be top goalscorer for the season with 27 strikes in 22 games and returned for the following season, where he scored an incredible 55+25 in 34 leagues games.

Having been a huge favourite, with the Wild fans, Supa blotted his copybook somewhat by moving to join arch rivals Deeside Dragons for the 2015/16 season.

He played in North Wales for two seasons and has most recently been icing for the Telford Tigers 2 team where he remains one of the top goalscorers.

Widnes assistant coach Richard Charles played with Supa in the Wild’s first ever season.

He said of the Slovakian: “He was a good hard working player with a real determination to dig deep offensively.

“He was a very quiet player but effective.

“A good goal scorer, he maybe just didn’t get the service he would have liked in that first season but he and Bobby Caunce eventually clicked very well and formed a powerful partnership.

“Given that he was the first import the club had, there was a lot of pressure on his shoulders and he relished the limelight and was a real fans favourite. He aspired to bigger things and ultimately that’s why he left.”

PAVEL VALES .......... 2014/15-2017/18

BORN in Brno in the Czech Republic, Pavel Vales was already living in Widnes when he came to the attention of the Wild club.

He had learned his junior hockey with the Karlovy Vary juniors teams and played some 240 competitive games at Under 16 and Under 18 level before graduating to play for Teknika Brno and Boskovice in the minor Czech leagues.

Aged just 22 when he joined the Wild, Vales played for Widnes for four seasons as an import defenceman, making 113 competitive