400 Dragons Games For Matt Wainwright

Matthew Wainwright at his 400th game presentation (Photo by Dragons IHC) 

Long term Deeside favourite Matthew Wainwright was presented with a special award at the Dragons’ home game against Solihull Barons on Sunday evening to mark his 400^th game for the club.

The popular defenceman is a former Deeside junior player and made his senior debut with the erstwhile Flintshire Freeze in ENL Division 2 in the 2010/11 season.

A veteran of 16 seasons at NIHL level, Wainwright has played pretty much his whole career at Deeside – apart from the 2014/15 season when he briefly joined local rivals Widnes Wild, and the 2021/22 season when the Queensferry rink remained closed following the Coronavirus pandemic and he played with Blackburn Hawks.

He was a member of the Dragons team that won the Laidler Division league and play off double in 2015/16 and has won two Welsh Cups and the Moralee Cup in the post-Covid period.

In his 400 games for Deeside, he has scored 64 goals from his mainly defensive role and contributed 210 assists across all competitions, picking up 224 penalty minutes.

Talking about Wainwright’s contribution to the Deeside club over the years, Dragons Head Coach Mike Clancy  said:

 “Reaching 400 games for one club is a fantastic achievement and something Wainy should be incredibly proud of. As Head Coach, I know how important players like Wainy are to the fabric of this hockey club. Playing 400 games in a Dragons jersey takes commitment, loyalty, resilience and a genuine passion for representing the badge.

Milestones like this don’t happen by accident. They’re earned through years of hard work, sacrifice and dedication. Wainy has been part of the journey of this club, and reaching 400 appearances is a testament to his commitment to the Dragons.

“On behalf of myself, the coaching staff and everyone involved with the club, I’d like to congratulate Wainy on this fantastic milestone. 400 games in a Dragons jersey is something special. Congratulations, Wainy, and here’s to many more!”

Match Report: Widnes Wild Women 4 – Solway Sharks Ladies 10 (WNIHL Div1 North)

Leen de Decker was the
Wild Women's MVP
(Photo by Wild Women IHC)

Sunday 18th October 2026 – WNIHL Div1 North: Widnes Wild Women 4 – Solway Sharks Ladies 10

The Widnes Wild Women gave their best performance of the season so far but ultimately lost out 4-10 to a strong Solway Sharks side at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.

The scoresheet will tell you that an incredible 9 of the Sharks’ 10 goals were all scored by the same player but they were far from being a “one woman band” and were a very tough side all round. 

Having said that, Widnes made them work hard for the win and the game turned out to be one of the roughest women’s matches - in terms of penalties handed out, at 10-22 - to be seen at Planet Ice Widnes for a number of seasons.

Solway opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal in the 4^th minute and scored four more before Leen de Decker opened the Widnes account with another short handed goal on 19 minutes.

The score stood at 1-5 to the visitors at the first period break but the second period was much closer and remained goal-less for the first 9 minutes.

Widnes were given an extended powerplay opportunity when Solway picked up three penalties in quick succession but they were caught out at the back while pushing forward, trying to make the most of a 5 on 3 player advantage but conceded another shorthanded goal on 29 minutes.

 

The Wild continued to press forward, however, and were rewarded with a powerplay goal just 80 seconds after that, from Leen de Decker.

Solway scored again with 32 seconds left in the period and led 2-7 at the second interval.

Widnes continued to have more of the play as the game went on and their pressure paid off with a goal from Kara Gledhill  - her first for the club – on 24 minutes.  Leen de Decker then fired in her hat-trick goal 5 minutes after that to narrow the score to 4-7.

It looked at this point as if the Wild Women might stage a late revival but Solway shut up shop after this and they were unable to make any more headway.

The visitors scored three more goals late in the period and that gave the score a more one-sided look than the Widnes performance necessarily deserved.

As well as de Decker’s hat-trick and Gledhill’s maiden goal, there were impressive performances right across the team. 

Isabel Bateson –usually a netminder - played out as an attacking skater to make up the numbers and didn’t look at all out of place in an unusual role for her.

Stephanie Drinkwater turned away 45 of the 55 shots that she faced in the Widnes goal and Natalie Hammond took over for the last few minutes and kept the Solway attack out all together.

The MVP (Most Valuable Player) awards for Wild Women home games are once again this season being sponsored by niche publishers Ice Hockey Review and, as well as the usual trophies, the winners also receive special edition pens handcrafted and donated by Anthony Stock. 

The awards were presented by match volunteer Lynda Bird and went to Ruby Riley for Solway and Leen de Decker for Widnes.

The Wild Women are next in action on Saturday 29^th November when they travel away to play Sheffield Shadows and they are next at home the Sunday after – 6^th December - when they entertain Solway Sharks Ladies once again at Planet Ice Widnes, with a later than usual face off time of 5.45pm.

Match Report: Billingham Buccaneers 7 - Deeside D2 Dragons 0 (NIHL Laidler Division)

Ben Roscoe was the D2 Dragons' MVP away at Billingham (Photo by Buccaneers IHC)

Sunday 18^th October 2026 – NIHL Laidler Division: Billingham Buccaneers 7 - Deeside D2 Dragons 0

The Deeside D2 Dragons slumped to a disappointing 7-0 defeat away to Billingham Buccaneers.

(note: awaiting gamesheet information)

Ben Roscoe was named Dragons MVP for the second consecutive trip to the North East and Joe Everitt was voted hardest worker by his fellow players.

The D2 Dragons now have a weekend off and return to league action on Sunday 1^st November when they take on Nottingham Lions at Deeside Leisure Centre, 6.30pm face off.

Deeside D1 Dragons Weekend Report - 17th & 18th October

Damarni James was Dragons' MVP away at Leeds (Photo by Angel Devlin)

Saturday 17^th October – NIHL Moralee Division: Leeds Knights 5 - Deeside D1 Dragons 3

Sunday 18^th October – NIHL Moralee Division: Deeside D1 Dragons 4 – Solihull Barons 7

The Deeside D1 Dragons suffered their first defeats of the season, losing 5-3 away to Leeds Knights on Saturday and then 4-7 at home to league leaders on Sunday at Deeside Leisure Centre.

Saturday’s game at Leeds was the Dragons’ first away game of the season and they came up against a Leeds team packed with young talent who were just one point behind them in the league table.

The Dragons narrowly out-shot their hosts over the 60 minutes but were unable to make their chances count.  They fell foul of a number of niggly penalties and it was ultimately two powerplay goals that were the difference between the two teams.

Deeside actually opened the scoring with a Colin Cromie goal on 12 minutes but were pegged back by two quick goals to trail 2-1 at the first period break.

Leeds edged further ahead on a powerplay 6 minutes into the second period but a shorthanded goal from Jake Witkowski eventually narrowed the deficit on 32 minutes.  The Knights struck again on another powerplay on 38 minutes and led 4-2 at the second interval.

The Dragons threw the proverbial kitchen sink at the Knights in the third period and out-shot them by more than two to one.  Their efforts were rewarded with a goal from Damarni James on 44 minutes but they were unable to build on that.

Leeds scored a fifth goal on 59 minutes and although Deeside withdrew their netminder for the final 60 seconds in favour of an extra attacker, they were unable to force a late fight-back.

Sunday saw the visit of league leaders Solihull Barons and it was a close run thing for the first two periods.

Solihull scored first and raced to an early 0-2 lead but were pegged back by goals from Colin Cromie and Jake Witkowski to leave the game all square at 2-2 at the first period break.

The Dragons edged ahead briefly with a second Witkowski goal 3 minutes into the second period but

Solihull equalised just 40 seconds later and retook the lead themselves on 25 minutes.

There was no more scoring until the dying seconds of the period when Cromie fired in a delayed penalty goal punishing a Solihull slashing call to leave the score at a finely balanced 4-4 heading into the final period.

The Barons out-shot the Dragons by almost two to one over the course of the game and their pressure paid off in the third period when they hit three answered goals to secure the win.

The D1 Dragons have slipped down to 7^th place in the Moralee Division table following their two defeats at the weekend, coupled with wins for the other teams around them. 

Leeds Knights and Nottingham Lions have both leapfrogged above the Dragons and Solihull Barons, and Blackburn Hawks have pulled further away at the top of the table.  Solihull remain top with 25 points from 10 games and Blackburn are second with 22 from 9 games. Deeside have 12 points from their 6 games but they still have the advantage of games in hand over all the teams above them.  

The Dragons have tantalising home and away fixtures against Telford Tigers this weekend – playing away in Shropshire on Saturday and then at home on Sunday at Deeside Leisure Centre.

The two teams built up a tremendous rivalry last season as they battled it out for league places and also met in the two legged Moralee Cup final  – with Deeside coming out on top in both competitions.

They met in back to back friendly matches in early September, with Deeside winning 2-5 away and 4-1 at home but these first competitive meetings of the season are likely to have an extra edge.

Telford currently sit in fifth place in the Moralee Division table, four points ahead of Deeside - so two wins for the Dragons at the weekend would see them overtake the Tigers.  

Match Report: Deeside Dragons Women 14 - Kingston Diamonds 1 (WNIHL Div2 North)

Rachael Feather was the Dragons Women's MVP against Kingston (Photo by Paul Breeze)

Saturday 17th October 2026 – WNIHL Div2 North: Deeside Dragons Women 14 - Kingston Diamonds 1

The Deeside Dragons women’s team returned to winning ways with a comprehensive 14-1 victory at home to Kingston Diamonds at Deeside Leisure Centre on Saturday.

The game was actually quite close in its early stages and it took until 12 minutes for the opening goal to be scored by Dragons top scorer Niamh Walsh.   Two more goals followed  from Evie Davies and Teagan Walsh – Niamh’s sister – and Deeside led 3-0 at the first period break.

The second period was all Deeside and Lana Botes added a 4^th goal just 15 seconds in. Grace Taylor made the score 5-0 15 seconds after that and the Walsh “Sister Act” saw Teagan score two more goals both assisted by Niamh. Ella Mitchell found the back of the net, as did Botes again, to give the Dragons a 9-0 lead at the second break.

Deeside outshot Kingston by a whopping 71 to 12 over the course of the game and the Diamonds netminder did a good job in keeping 57 shots out.  Chloe Smith had a relatively quiet game in the Dragons goal but was eventually beaten with a goal fired in from a crowded goal area 32 seconds into the third period which denied what would otherwise have been her second shut-out of the season. 

Five more Deeside goals followed in the third period - from Niamh Walsh (2), Teagan Walsh – her fourth of the game - Ella Mitchell and Charlotte McAdam – to round off an impressive win.

The game saw a Dragons debut for former Coventry Phoenix league player Rachael Feather, who has most recently been playing for the Chester Road Reapers and was named as Deeside MVP. 

The win sees the Dragons Women move back to the top of the Division 2 North table with 8 points from their 5 games to date.  They are 1 point ahead of Leeds Thorns, who have played a game more.

The Dragons Women are back in action again on Saturday 31^st October when they take on Whitley Bay Beacons for the first time at Deeside Leisure Centre, 6pm face off.

Deeside D2 Dragons Weekend Report - 10th & 11th October

Deeside D2 Dragons with Werst Kirby U9s football team (Photo by Kerry Edward)

Saturday 10th October 2026 – NIHL Laidler Division: Deeside D2 Dragons 2 – Coventry Blaze 5

Sunday 11^th October 2026 – NIHL Laidler Division: Deeside D2 Dragons 3 – Sutton Sting 10

The Deeside D2 Dragons had a frustrating weekend, losing back to back home matches 2-5 against fellow mid-tablers Coventry Blaze on Saturday and 3-10 to league leaders Sutton Sting on Sunday at Deeside Leisure Centre.

Saturday’s game against Coventry started well for the Dragons and player / coach James Parsons fired them into an early lead on 7 minutes. Coventry equalised three minutes later, however, and two more unanswered goals saw them take a 1-3 lead into the first period break.

The Blaze edged further ahead on 23 minutes but Deeside narrowed the game with a Shannon Lingwood goal 38 seconds after that.

Deeside noticeably upped their game in the third period and tensions began to flare up as the game progressed, with the latter stages being littered with a number of penalties for both sides.  Deeside thought they had pulled another goal back on 52 minutes but the strike was disallowed due to a melee of players in the goal crease. 

Coventry hit back with a delayed penalty goal on 55 minutes and that rounded off the scoring for the game.

Shannon Lingwood was the Dragons MVP against Coventry
(Photo by Kerry Edward)

The West Kirby Under 9 football team were special guests at the game and appeared on the ice at the end to present the MVP award to Shannon Lingwood.  

Sunday’s visitors Sutton Sting arrived in North Wales with a 100% start to the season and 7 wins from their 7 games to date.  They had already beaten the D2 Dragons 13-3 in the away game so, with the best will in the world, this game was always going to be an uphill struggle for Deeside.

The Sting took the lead in the 3^rd minute and went on to lead 0-4 at the first period break

Deeside eventually broke their duck with a goal from Ben Roscoe two minutes into the second period but Sutton struck back to restore the 4-goal cushion just 49 seconds later. They edged further ahead on 37 minutes and took a 1-6 lead into the second interval.

Sutton further extended their lead as niggly penalties racked up for both teams in the third period but Deeside kept battling away and were rewarded with late goals form James Parsons and Charlie Spridgeon, but it wasn’t enough to stave off a 3-10 defeat at the hands of the league leaders.

Charlie Spridgeon ws the Dragons MVP against Sutton
(Photo by Niamh Edward)

Coming Next

The D1 Dragons were without a game at the weekend and dropped down to 5^th place in the Moralee Division table following wins for other teams. 

They do, however, have a perfect record of 4 wins from their opening 4 games of the season and have 12 points.  They are 10 points adrift of league leaders Solihull Barons who have 22 points from 9 games, despite a surprising 3-4 over-time defeat at home by struggling Hull Jets on Sunday.

Blackburn Hawks are second with 19 points from 8 games, Widnes Wild are third with 17 from 7 and Telford Tigers are now fourth with 13 points from 7 games, but Deeside have games in hand over all the teams above them.

The Dragons play their first away fixture of the season this Saturday 17^th October away to Leeds Knights and are back at home on Sunday when they take on league leaders Solihull Barons at Deeside Leisure Centre, 5.15pm face off.

The Deeside Dragons Women’s team are at home this Saturday 17^th October - after three straight away games – when they take on Kingston Diamonds at Deeside Leisure Centre, 6.25pm face off. 

Match Report: Nottingham Vipers 15 – Widnes Wild Women 1 (WNIHL Div1 North)

Leen de Decker scored the Wild Women's first goal of the season (Photo by All Sports Photography)

Saturday 10th October 2026 – WNIHL Div1 North: Nottingham Vipers 15 – Widnes Wild Women 1

The Widnes Wild Women’s difficult start to the season continued with a 15-1 defeat away to Nottingham Vipers on Saturday.

The Wild Women actually lost 0-22 to the Vipers in their first game of the season three weeks ago in Widnes – their heaviest ever home defeat – and, while any loss is disappointing, Saturday’s result could certainly be viewed as an improvement.

Nottingham took the lead just 20 seconds into the game and never really looked back from there.

The score stood at 5-0 to the home side at the end of the first period and it was 9-0 by the time Leen de Decker opened the Widnes account on 35 minutes.

Not only was that the first Wild Women’s goal of this game, it was their first goal of the season, following two shut-outs in their opening two matches.

In fact you have to go back to 2.52 in their last game of last season – ironically also against Nottingham – to find the Wild Women’s last goal, also scored by Leen de Decker.

Keen ice hockey statisticians and historians will be interested to learn that this represents a goal-scoring drought of 211 minutes 52 seconds, breaking the previous unwanted record of 208 minutes and 48 seconds back in the 2021/22 season.

Nottingham added one more goal in the second period to lead 10-1 at the break and then fired in 5 more unanswered goals in the third to round off a comprehensive victory.

In the Widnes goal, plucky netminder Isabel Bateson faced an incredible 108 shots, turning away an impressive 93 of them.   The Vipers netminder only had to deal with 9 shots at the other end, letting one of them in and, rather curiously – considering the overall scoreline - the two goalies ended up with a broadly similar save percentage (88.89 to 86.11) for the game.

The Wild Women get straight back into the saddle again this Sunday 18^th October when they are at home to Solway Sharks Ladies at Planet Ice Widnes, 4.20pm face off.

Match Report: Nottingham Vipers 8 – Deeside Dragons Women 2 (WNIHL Div2 North)

Deeside Dragons Women (Photo by Lisa Langford)

Saturday 10th October 2026 – WNIHL Div2 North: Nottingham Vipers 8 – Deeside Dragons Women 2

The Deeside Dragons women’s team suffered the first defeat in their short history with an 8-2 loss away to Nottingham Vipers on Saturday.

Despite the final scoreline, this game was very actually closely fought and the Dragons women matched their opponents for shots on goal with 42 each across the 60 minutes of play.

Nottingham did, however, have a number of current Division 1 players on their bench – playing on a 2-way with their senior team – and this made a big difference in their finishing in front of goal.

The Vipers took the lead on 5 minutes and led 3-0 at the first period break.  They scored two more before Deeside eventually broke their duck with a goal from Niamh Walsh on 29 minutes and another strike late in the period saw the hosts leading 6-1 at the second interval.

A seventh goal followed for the Vipers early in the third period but Deeside’s continued efforts were rewarded with a goal from team captain Lucy Kirkham on 56 minutes, although it was too late by then to spark any sort of late fight-back. 

Nottingham scored again with a minute left on the clock and rounded off a comprehensive – if not completely convincing - 8-2 victory.

The Dragons Women will be hoping to quickly bounce back from this defeat when they take on Kingston Diamonds this Saturday 17^th October at Deeside Leisure Centre, 6.25pm face off. 

Match Report: Manchester Storm U16G 1 – Deeside Dragons U16 Girls 3 (WNIHL U16 Girls North)

Emmie Lauder opened the Dragons' scoring at Manchester (Photo by Lisa Langford)

Sunday 4^th October 2026 – WNIHL U16 Girls North: Manchester Storm U16G 1 – Deeside Dragons U16 Girls 3

The Deeside Dragons Under 16 Girls team picked up their first win of the new season with a 1-3 victory away to Manchester Storm in Altrincham on Sunday.

The Storm actually had more of the play in this game and outshot the Dragons by more than 2 to 1 over the 45 minute duration, but were not able to make the most of their chances when they came.

Deeside, however, were sharper in offence and opened the scoring on 5 minutes with a powerplay goal from Emmie Lauder and the score remained 0-1 at the first period break. 

Niamh Walsh edged the Dragons girls further ahead on 27 minutes to give them a 0-2 lead at the second interval but Manchester finally scored a goal of their own on a powerplay on 35 minutes.

Walsh scored her second goal of the game on 39 minutes to round off the scoring for the evening – and secure a 1-3 victory for the Dragons.

Violet Lennon put in a superb performance in the Deeside goal, turning away all but 1 of the 44 shots that she faced.

The Dragons Under 16 Girls are next in action on Sunday 18^th October when they travel away to play Leeds, 2.35pm face off.

They then have five more away trips before their next home game which will take place on Saturday 13^th March when they entertain the Caledonia Iron Maidens at Deeside Leisure Centre.

Match Report: Billingham Buccaneers 6 - Deeside D2 Dragons 2 (NIHL Laidler Division)

Ben Roscoe was the D2 Dragons MVP away at Billingham (Photo by Dragons IHC)

Sunday 4^th October 2026 – NIHL Laidler Division: Billingham Buccaneers 6 - Deeside D2 Dragons 2

The Deeside D2 Dragons lost 6-2 away to Billingham Buccaneers on Sunday evening.

The Dragons actually scored first with a goal from Cameron Kushnirenko but three goals for the hosts saw them leading 3-1 at the first period break.

Lucas Betts scored for Deeside in the second period but three more Billingham goals saw the Buccaneers with a healthy 6-2 lead at the second interval.

Recent signing Mike Rogers – a former Senior Dragons and ex-Blackburn and Altrincham netminder – took over from Jake Lowndes in the Deeside goal for the third period and the final 20 minutes played out goal-less.

Ben Roscoe – who has obviously benefited from “playing up” with the senior Dragons in the Moralee Division – put in a battling performance and was named MVP for Deeside.

The D2 Dragons are back at home this weekend when they have back to back home games against Coventry Blaze on Saturday 10^th October and league leaders Sutton Sting on Sunday 11^th October at Deeside Leisure Centre.

Supporters are asked to take note of the fact that both games will face off at the later time of 6.30pm.

Match Report: Deeside D1 Dragons 4 – Billingham Stars 2 (NIHL Moralee Division)

Colin Cromie bagged a brace against Billingham (Photo by Angel Devlin Sports Photography)

Sunday 4^th October – NIHL Moralee Division: Deeside D1 Dragons 4 – Billingham Stars 2

The Deeside D1 Dragons continued their 100% start to the Moralee Division season with a narrow 4-2 victory at home to Billingham Stars on Sunday at Deeside Leisure Centre.

Despite the close scoreline, Deeside actually had the upper hand throughout the game and out-shot Billingham by over 2 to 1 over the course of the sixty minutes.

Colin Cromie opened the scoring for the Dragons on 4 minutes and the same player doubled the lead on 11 minutes to give Deeside a 2-0 lead at the first period break.

Billingham pulled a goal back just 20 seconds into the second period, making the most of a powerplay left over from the first period on a Deeside tripping call.  Despite numerous chances for the Dragons, Billingham scored again on 29 minutes – on another powerplay – and the game remained finely balanced at 2-2 at the second interval.

Deeside edged ahead again on 48 minutes with a goal from Theo Malone but a spell of niggly penalties hindered their hopes of pushing further ahead.

Billingham then got into penalty trouble of their own and, in the midst of all this, Matty Barlow scored a 56^th minute goal to restore daylight between the two teams.  That was the last goal of the game and Deeside held on to notch up an important 4-2 victory.

Following the weekend games, Deeside remain in 4^th place in the Moralee Division table with 12 points from their 4 wins to date - and they have games in hand over all of the other teams.

Solihull Barons remain top of the table with 19 points from 7 games with Blackburn Hawks in second with 16 from 7 and Widnes Wild in third with 14 from 6.

The D1 Dragons now have a weekend off before their next game which will see their first away fixture of the season - against Leeds Knights on Saturday 17^th October.  They are back at home the following day when they take on Solihull Barons at Deeside Leisure Centre, 5.15pm face off.

The D2 Dragons have back to back home games this weekend - against Coventry Blaze on Saturday 10^th October and league leaders Sutton Sting on Sunday 11^th October at Deeside Leisure Centre.

Supporters are asked to take note of the fact that both games will face off at the later time of 6.30pm. 

The Dragons women are away to Nottingham Vipers this Saturday 10^th October.

Deeside & Manchester Play First Ever North West Women’s Derby.

North West derby at Altrincham (Photo by Lisa Langford)

Saturday 3rd October 2026 – WNIHL Div2 North: Manchester Storm 0 – Deeside Dragons Women 26

The Deeside Dragons women’s team made history at the weekend when they took part in the first ever North West women’s league derby, with a comprehensive 0-26 win away to Manchester Storm in Altrincham on Saturday.

There have been numerous women’s teams in the north west over the years – dating back to the original Manchester team at the old Ice Palace back in the 1930s - but they have always played in different divisions before now so this was the first competitive league fixture of its kind.

Deeside and the Storm “B” are both new teams in the league for this season and are playing in the “Elizabeth” section of WNIHL Division 2 North. The Manchester team is a second string development team for the main Storm “A” women’s team that play in the higher “Valerie” section of Division 2 North, and it is composed of mainly young and inexperienced players.

The Dragons team also has a preponderance of young players who are in their first season of senior women’s hockey but they also have a number of older, more experienced league players within their ranks, so – on paper - this game always looked likely to go Deeside’s way.  

Niamh Walsh opened the scoring for the Dragons Women after 46 seconds and they never really looked back from there.

By the end of the first period, the score was 0-10 to Deeside and, by the end of the second, it was 0-21. Five more goals followed in the third period to round off a comprehensive victory.

Despite the one-sided scoreline, it wasn’t all one-way traffic and Chloe Smith in the Dragons had to turn away 21 shots to notch up her first senior shout out and, while Manchester may have conceded 26 goals, the over-worked Manchester netminding pairing of Anne-Marie Spurrett and Laura Thomason actually kept out an impressive 71 from the 97 shots that they faced overall.

Niamh Walsh led the Deeside goal-rush with 7 goals and 2 assists but the scoring was spread widely across the team with 13 different players making it onto the score-sheet with goals or assists.

For the record, these were: Charlotte McAdam (3+3), Lucy Kirkham (2+4), Emmie Lauder (3+1), Teagan Walsh (2+0), Nylah Young (2+0), Sophie Royle (1+1), Ellie Mitchell(1+1), Ava Langford, Evie Davies, Lana Botes, Alicia Smith (all 1+0) - and Eleanor Johnson weighed in with a assist.

Following the weekend results, the Dragons Women remain in second place in the Division 2 North table with a perfect three wins from their first three games. Leeds Thorns are currently top, one point ahead of Deeside, but they have played two games more.  

The Dragons women are away to Nottingham Vipers this Saturday 10^th October and are next at home on the following Saturday 17^th October when they take on the Hull-based Kingston Diamonds at Deeside Leisure Centre, 6.30pm face off.

Niamh Walsh (#87) was the Dragons Women's top scorer
away at Manchester Storm (Photo by Lisa Langford)

Rather like the proverbial buses, you wait for 90 years for a North West women’s derby to come along, and then you get several coming all at once.

As well as the four meetings between the Dragons and Storm B to played this season, “Storm A” will also be playing Blackburn Hawks women in 4 league matches.

The two teams – who both joined the league for the first time last season – played in different divisions in 25/26 but Storm A were promoted to the Valerie section of Division 2 North during the summer, meaning they will come up against the Hawks women’s team for the first time in competitive matches.

The first meeting will be in Altrincham on Saturday 17th October, with the return match the following Sunday - 25th October - in Blackburn.

Deeside Dragons 2025/26 Season Review Book Now Available

“Where Dragons Dwell” is our season review book for all things Deeside Dragons as we look back over the highly eventful 2025/26 ice hockey season.

Crammed into one single volume we have:

Match reports and game stats for every game for the D1 Dragons and D2 Dragons teams throughout the season, from pre-season challenge games right through to the Play Off finals.  

Player statistics, reports and final standings for the:

• Deeside Dragons D1 Moralee Division team
• Deeside Dragons D2 Laidler Division team
• Deeside Dragons Under 16 Girls team
• Deeside Junior Dragons U14 (2) team

Also includes Connah’s Quay Cobras, Flintshire Phantoms, Effing Terrible - and lots more besides!

Illustrated throughout with superb photos from Emilia Roberts, Angel Devlin, Jiminal, Adam Bassett, Keith & Jenny Davies, Lewis Cleveland, Katy Lennon, Paul Breeze and others as credited.

“Where Dragons Dwell” is currently ONLY available to buy at Deeside D1 Dragons home games - at a special price to Dragons fans of £15.00  - and all proceeds go straight to the Dragons club.

Match Report: Deeside D1 Dragons 5 – Hull Jets 2 (NIHL Moralee Division)

Deeside's Ross Kennedy bagged a brace against Hull (Photo by Keith & Jenny Davies)

Sunday 27^h September – NIHL Moralee Division: Deeside D1 Dragons 5 – Hull Jets 2

The Deeside D1 Dragons made it three wins from three starts in the new Moralee Division season with a 5-2 victory at home to Hull Jets on Sunday at Deeside Leisure Centre.

The game was pretty close throughout and the first period looked as if it was going to play out goal-less until Hull opened the scoring with just 6 seconds left on the clock to take a narrow 0-1 lead into the first break.

Deeside drew level 48 seconds from the restart with a goal from Ross Kennedy and the same player edged the Dragons into the lead three minutes later.

Just 46 seconds after that, the score was 3-1 to Deeside as team captain Jared Dickinson fired the puck away for his first goal of the season.

Hull put in a battling display and matched Deeside shot for shot over the course of the game. They were rewarded with a second goal on 32 minutes but were otherwise unable to make the most of their chances when they came.

The Dragons were sharper in front of goal and restored the two-goal cushion on 38 minutes with a Jake Witkowski goal to lead 4-2 at the second interval.

Hull visibly upped their game in the final period as they tried to force a late comeback.  The period played out goal-less and the Jets called a time out with 3 minutes left to discuss last-ditch tactics.

They withdrew their netminder for the last 90 seconds in favour of an extra attacker and pushed forward to put the Deeside goal under pressure.

The tactic backfired, however, and Jake Witkowski fired in an empty net goal with 3 seconds left in the game to hand the Dragons a well deserved 5-2 victory. 

Curtis Warburton gave another impressive performance in the Deeside net, turning away 35 of the 37 shots that he faced - also being credited with an assist on Witkowski's empty net goal - and was named Dragons MVP.

Following the weekend games, Deeside have moved up into 4^th place in the Moralee Division table with 9 points from their 3 wins to date - and they have games in hand over all of the other teams.

Solihull Barons remain top of the table with 13 points from 5 games with Widnes Wild lurking close behind in second and Blackburn Hawks in third – on 11 and 10 points respectively.

The D1 Dragons are at home again this Sunday 4^th October when they take on Billingham Stars at Deeside Leisure Centre, 5.15pm face off.

The D2 Dragons are away to Billingham the same day while the new Dragons Women’s team travel to Altrincham on Saturday to take on Manchester Storm, where they hope to extend their own winning start to the season after two victories from their two starts to date.

Match Report: Widnes Wild Women 0 – Whitley Bay Beacons 9 (WNIHL Div 1 North)

Vanessa Crickmore-Clarke was the Wild Women's MVP against Whitley (Photo by Paul Breeze) 

Sunday 27^th September 2026 – WNIHL Div 1 (North): Widnes Wild Women 0 – Whitley Bay Beacons 9

The Widnes Wild Women’s difficult start to the new WNIHL season continued with a 0-9 defeat at home to Whitley Bay Beacons at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.

The game began under rather strange circumstances as the Whitley team coach was delayed in traffic and the visitors only had 5 players available – who had travelled down separately – at the official face off time.

Under league rules, a team has to have a minimum of 10 skaters and 1 netminder in order for the game to be allowed to go ahead – and any players who arrive late have to be in place before the start of the second period.

The face off time couldn’t be delayed as there was a junior game schedule for straight afterwards so, with the assurance that the Beacons coach was due to arrive shortly, the match officials agreed that game could start with Whitley icing the five players who were there – and they could borrow Widnes netminder Isabel Bateson in order to get things under way.

Despite their numerical inferiority -  and the fact that they couldn’t change lines for a breather - Whitley got off to a good start, taking a shock lead after just 32 seconds and then scoring a second goal two minutes after that. 

The away coach had arrived by now and, with 6.23 on the clock, the official Whitley netminder came on to relieve Bateson in the Beacons goal, along with three extra players – and the remainder of the team joined the game in dribs and drabs once they were changed and ready. 

A third goal went in with just 3 seconds left on the clock -  which seemed a bit harsh on the Wild Women – and the  score stood at 0-3 at the first period break.

Widnes continued to battle away but didn’t manage to make much headway against the, by now, full strength Beacons team and 5 unanswered goals were conceded in the second period

They switched their netminders at the half-way point with Stephanie Drinkwater making way for Isabel Bateson, who thus enjoyed the almost unheard of distinction of playing for both teams in the same game.

The third period looked as if it might play out goal-less until a late strike saw Whitley score their final goal with 25 seconds left in the game and they were able to return to the north east with an emphatic 0-9 victory.

The game saw debuts for promising young players Charlotte Nation and Maisee Rowlands who have previously been playing with the Manchester Storm in Division 2 North and who certainly didn’t look out of place at this higher level.

The MVP (Most Valuable Player) awards for Wild Women home games are once again this season being sponsored by niche publishers Ice Hockey Review and, as well as the usual trophies, the winners also receive special edition pens handcrafted and donated by Anthony Stock. 

The awards were presented by Wild Women General Manager Karyn Cooper and to Kate Ord for Whitley and team captain Vanessa Crickmore-Clarke for Widnes.

The Wild Women are next in action on Saturday 10^th October when they travel away to play Nottingham Vipers and they are next at home on Sunday 18^th October when they entertain Solway Sharks Ladies at Planet Ice Widnes, 4.20pm face off.

Match Report: Kingston Diamonds 2 – Deeside Dragons Women 12 (WNIHL Division 2N)

Emily Davies MVP
(Photo by Katy Lennon)

Sunday 20^th September 2026 – WNIHL Division 2 N: Kingston Diamonds 2 – Deeside Dragons Women 12

The new Deeside Dragons women’s team continued their winning start to the season with 2-12 away victory over Kingston Diamonds in Hull on Sunday.

Somewhat surprisingly, considering the eventual scoreline, the first period played our goal-less and it took until 4 minutes into the second period for the first goal of the game to be scored.  That fell to the Dragons’ Niamh Walsh and she added two more goals for a straight hat-trick within 16 seconds of each other on 33 minutes to give Deeside a comprehensive lead.

Teagan Walsh found the back of the net 9 seconds from the restart - meaning that three goals had been scored in just 25 seconds – and further strikes from Walsh, again, and Grace Taylor saw Deeside leading 0-6 at the second period break.  

Kingston finally got a goal of their own 90 seconds into the third period but the Dragons’ 6 goal cushion was restored on 44 minutes with a goal from Charlotte McAdam.

Kingston pulled another goal back on 45 minutes but McAdam scored again 4 minutes later – and, 16 seconds after that, player coach – and former Flintshire Fury - Emma Dutton scored her first goal of the new era to put Deeside 2-9 up.

The Dragons women heavily outshot the Diamonds by 50 to 19 over the course of the 60 minutes and, by now there was only going to be one winner.

Two goals for experienced captain Lucy Kirkham late in the period and a second of the game for Dutton with just 58 seconds left on the clock saw Deeside cruise to a 2-12 victory.

It was superb all round performance for the new team who were only playing their second ever game and seven different players got on the scoresheet. It was a very difficult task to pick a single “player of the game” but the MVP award eventually went to Emily Davies.

The Dragons women’s team have two more away games now – at Manchester Storm this Saturday 3^rd October and Nottingham Vipers on 10^th October.  They are next at home on Saturday 17^th October when they take on Kingston at Deeside Leisure Centre, 6.30pm face off.

Sledge Hockey 2026: Great Britain v Ukraine International Tournament

Team GB v Ukraine at Lee Valley (Photo by Rox Photography)

The Great Britain Para Ice Hockey team played a 4-match international challenge series against Ukraine at the Lee Valley Ice Centre in east London over the weekend of 21-23 August.

The tournament saw GB international debuts for Dan Hartshorn and Max Phillips-Brant and a first start in the Mens / Mixed team for Kirsty van der Poll who had previously played for the GB Women’s team in the 2025 World Championships.

The full GB squad for the tournament was:

• Karl Nicholson (Manchester Mayhem)
• Ben O'Brien (Sheffield Steelkings)
• Jon le Galloudec (Cardiff Huskies)
• Dean Lahan (Manchester Mayhem)
• Josh Davies (Cardiff Huskies)
• Felicity Gregory (Manchester Mayhem)
• Max Phillips-Brant (Sheffield Steelkings)
• Mark Colquitt (Manchester Mayhem)
• Shannon Mitchell (Cardiff Huskies)
• Kirsty van der Poll (Sheffield Steelkings)
• Dani Czernuszka-Watts (Cardiff Huskies)
• Callum Shakespeare (Peterborough Phantoms)

 

Netminders

• Bryan Hackworth (Sheffield Steelkings)
• Dan Hartshorn (Manchester Mayhem)
• Nicole Hill (Cardiff Huskies)

 

Coach: Peggy Assinck

It was a special occasion for the brand new Ukraine team as it was one their first outings since forming a number of months ago.

The team is made up entirely of military personnel who have been injured in the ongoing war against Russia and are based around the Nezlamni (Unbroken) Rehabilitation Center in Lviv.

Things got off to a good start in the first game on the Friday afternoon as Karl Nicholson gave Team GB an early lead after just 10 seconds of the first period. Ukraine equalised on 14 minutes with a goal from Yurii Yaskovets and the score remained 1-1 at the first period break.

Ukraine scored again on 25 minutes with the only goal of the second period from Oleksandr Zhavrenko and then Yevhenii Shvab extended their lead on 41 minutes. Despite creating chances of their own, Team GB were unable to get past the strong Ukraine defence and the first game ended up as a 1-3 win to the visitors.

The second game - on Saturday morning - saw a goalless first period but Ukraine took control with two goals from Viktor Drachuk within 90 seconds of each other right at the start of the second.

Ben O’Brien pulled a goal back on 28 minutes but GB weren’t able to build on this and a third Ukraine goal 2 minutes into the third period from Zhavrenko rounded off the scoring for the game.

Saturday afternoon saw an exhibition game to showcase the GB Women’s team against a composite side made up of GB and Ukraine men’s players and coaches.

The GB Women’s team for the occasion was:

Nicole Hill, Davina Hall, Helen McGivern, Freya Austin, Kirsty van der Poll, Felicity Gregory, Dani Czernuszka-Watts, Peggy Assinck, Emily McLean and Nicola Terrell.

The game ended in a 0-7 defeat for the GB Women, although they put in a battling display and did good work in promoting women’s para ice hockey.

Game 3 of the main series was played on Saturday evening and started off with another goal-less first period. 

Ukraine scored twice in the second period – with goals from Oleksandr Zhavnenko and Viktor Dykyi – and Yurii Yaskovets added another in the third period for a 0-3 victory.

In the Ukraine goal, Taras Hryshchuk recorded a 6-shot shut-out while GB netminder Bryan Hackworth did well to turn away 25 of the 28 shots that he faced.

The final game on Sunday afternoon was very close and, despite chances for both sides, the score remained 0-0 after two periods.

Ukraine finally broke the deadlock on 33 minutes with a goal from Zhavnenko and then Dykyi doubled the lead on 42 minutes for a final score of 0-2.

Ukraine netminder Roman Humeniuk celebrated a 5-shot shut -out while Dan Hartshorn and Nicole Hill notched up a goal-free period each before Hartshorn conceded two in the final period.

Ukraine’s Yevhenii Shvab was the tournament’s top points scorer overall with 7 points from his 1 goal and 6 assists.

Oleksandr Zhavnenko was the top goal scorer with 4 goals while Viktor Dykyi also finished on 4 points with 2 goals and 2 assists. Viktor Drachuk and Yurii Yaskovets both notched up 2 +1 and Viktor Deineka contributed an assist.

The Ukraine netminding duo of Hryshchuk and Humeniuk  was particularly impressive as they only conceded 2 goals in 180 minutes of play and recorded two successive shut-outs in the final two games.

The GB side was missing a few regular players but gave a good account of themselves over the 4 games. The tournament also offered some useful game time against strong opposition for the women players ahead of the Women’s World Championships that will be held in Australia in November.