YKK WIDNES WILD Smooth Wild’s Lace City win
THE YKK sponsored Widnes Wild came away from the Lace City with a narrow 3-4 win over Nottingham Lions on Sunday.
Widnes took the lead in the sixth minute with a goal from Jay Robinson and doubled the advantage on 15 minutes with a strike from Matty Barlow.
Nottingham struck back with a goal of their own just 40 seconds later but the two-goal cushion was restored with just three seconds left in the period with a goal from the Wild’s Latvian import Vlads Vulkanovs.
A second goal from Vulcanovs four minutes from the restart put the Wild 1-4 up and they looked to be cruising, but despite numerous chances for both teams, that was to be the only goal of the second period.
The Wild eased off and defended their lead in the third period and, as a result Nottingham had a far bigger proportion of the play.
They dragged a goal back on 45 minutes and then narrowed the defecit to just one goal with a powerplay strike seven minutes later.
Widnes weathered this late storm, however, and held on to win the game 3-4 – with netminder Evan Coles putting in a super performance to stop 47 of the 50 shots fired at him, resulting in an overall Save Percentage of 94.00% over the 60 minutes.
The result sees the Wild remain in fifth place in the Moralee Division table, two points clear of Billingham and two behind fourth place Sheffield both of whom they have games in hand over.
Vlads Vulkanovs remains the Moralee Division’s top goal scorer with 20 strikes in 15 league games, level with Solihull’s
Thomas Soar.
The Wild are back in action this Sunday 13th February when they take on Solihull Barons at Planet Ice Widnes, 5.30pm face off.
The weekend after that they have the two legged final of the highly prestigious Moralee Cup where they play Dundee Comets home and away. The first leg is away in Dundee on Saturday 19th February, face off 7.30 pm, and the return leg is the next day at Planet Ice Widnes, 5.30pm start.
Demand for tickets for the final is expected to be high and supporters are advised to purchase in advance to avoid disappointment. Tickets for the home leg of the final on the Sunday can be purchased at the Planet Ice Widnes box office or online.