Wild send the Barons packing
ICE HOCKEY MORALEE DIVISION YKK WIDNES WILD 6 SOLIHULL BARONS 4
THE YKK sponsored Widnes Wild moved up to fourth place in the Moralee Division table with a hard fought 6-4 win over Solihull Barons at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
The game was very evenly matched throughout – between two teams who are neck and neck in terms of league placings and was, overall, a very good advert for NIHL ice hockey.
Widnes took the lead on seven minutes with a goal from Josh Reynolds, who was making his first appearance for the Wild, and went further ahead on 15 with a strike from Latvian import Vlads Vulcanovs.
Solihull hit back 90 seconds later to halve the deficit but the score remained 2-1 to Widnes at the first period break.
Goals were exchanged in the second period with two for each side – Vulkanovs and player coach Richard Haggar finding the net for Widnes – and the game remained finely balanced at 4-3 with one period left to play.
Matty Barlow edged the Wild further ahead on 43 minutes and a short handed hat-trick goal for Vulkanovs 7 minutes later looked to have given Widnes a winning lead.
However, Solihull pulled a goal back on 52 minutes and the Wild had a nervy last few minutes to hang on before securing the win.
The win sees the Wild move to within 1 point of the third place Barons with a game in hand and two meetings still to come between the two sides.
As we progress in the second half of the season all of these games take on an extra importance as the final league positions will decide who plays who in the playoffs, with the higher finishing teams getting an easier draw in the quarter finals.
At the end of the game, Tom Stubley was unveiled as the Wild Player of the Month for January, having been selected by fans via an online Twitter poll.