YKK WIDNES WILD Hawks felled as Wild hit summit
THE YKK sponsored Widnes Wild moved to the top of the Midlands Cup group table after a superb 8-2 win over north west rivals Blackburn Hawks at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
The Wild had previously beaten the Hawks home and away in the recent streaming series games but those matches were played behind closed doors - so this was the very first time that Widnes had beaten Blackburn on home ice in a rink full of fans and was, therefore, a memorable occasion for the yellow camp.
Meetings between Widnes and Blackburn are always passionate and exciting affairs and, this is augmented by the fact that, due to the close proximity between the two teams, there has always been a lot of interchange of players over the years.
The Hawks team this season – with former Widnes head coach Mike Clancy at the helm – has several former Wild players on their roster including: Matthew Wainwright, Tom Revesz, Calum Ruddick, MJ Clancy, Michal Novak, Lee Pollitt and former Riverside Raiders rec netminder Mike Rogers, while the Wild line up includes former Blackburn players Ken Armstrong, Harrison Walker, Jack Murray, Joe Greaves and Keiron Furlong.
Widnes took the lead in the eighth minute with a goal from Kieran Beach but Blackburn hit back with an equaliser from Jared Dickinson on 14 minutes.
Just when it looked as if the game would be tied at the first period break, Blackburn scored again – with Dickinson’s second goal of the night with just 47 seconds left on the clock - to give them a narrow 1-2 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Right at the start of the third period, Wild netminder Harrison Walker over-stretched when diving to make a save, pulling a muscle, and he had to be replaced by back up Evan Coles.
This was Coles’ first appearance in goal for the Wild this season, but you would never know as he put in a blinding performance.
Widnes equalised with a powerplay goal from Latvian import Vlads Vulkanovs on 27 minutes and then a brace from player coach Richard Haggar on 31 and 37 minutes put them in a promising 4-2 lead by the end of the second period.
The third period continued in similar vein with the Wild putting Blackburn under intense pressure and outshooting them by an incredible 22 to 8.
A goal from Jakub Hajek extended the lead on 43 minutes and then a superb short handed strike from Vulkanovs on 46 minutes made the score 6-2 to Widnes.
Things got a bit niggly in the closing phase of this game and Blackburn turned physical to vent their frustrations, picking up 14 of their 18 penalty minutes during the third period.
Tom Stubley fired the Wild further ahead in the 49th minute and, shortly afterwards, the crowds were entertained by a fight between Wild “Sheriff” Lee Kemp and Blackburn’s keenly pugilistic captain, Reece CairneyWitter that let off some of the steam that had been building between the two teams.
The scoring was rounded off for Widnes with a 58th minute goal from youngster Tristan Grimshaw – his first competitive senior goal for the Wild, with an assist for former Hawks player Jack Murray, representing his first point for Widnes since joining in the summer.
In the 39 minutes and 47 seconds that he was in goal, back up netminder Evan Coles did not let a single shot past him and he was rightly named Most Valuable Player of the game for Widnes, while the accolade for Blackburn went to Mike Rogers in the Hawks goal.
The win puts Widnes top of the Midlands Cup group table with two games left to play.
Both of their remaining games are against the Solihull Barons with the away game coming this Sunday 24th October and the home game the following Sunday 31st October at Planet Ice Widnes.
Two wins for Widnes over the Barons would secure them the Midland Cup outright and also a place in the semi finals against the top teams from the North Cup qualifying group.
Before that, the Wild have a tricky away game to negotiate in the league against Sheffield l Scimitars on Saturday 23rd October at iceSheffield – 4pm face off.