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| Photo by Peter Sheffield - www.psd-images.com |
The
top four teams in the league competed for honours over two days of hard hitting
hockey
Saturday
saw Deeside take on Blackburn Eagles in the first semi final and both teams
started slowly and the nerves were showing. The Dragons ran out eventual winners
9-5 to book a place in the final on Sunday against the winners of Nottingham v
Widnes.
Widnes
dispatched Nottingham in the second semi final to set up a mouthwatering final
winner takes all game with two teams that have history of explosive matches as the
last game against these two teams ended up being abandoned due to fighting.
The
Dragons took an early two goal lead to settle the nerves and seemed to be
dominating the game but Widnes stepped it up a gear and two quick goals levelled
the game at the end of the first period.
The Second period was a much closer affair with both teams have lots of shots on goal and both netminders pulled out some brilliant saves to keep the game close but it was the Dragons that took the initiative and two goal from Adrian Palak restored Deeside two goal advantage going into the last period.
Widnes
came out flying in the last period and seemed to have the upper hand but failed
to break the Dragons defence until late in the game when they pulled a goal
back to make it 4-3 with three minutes left in the game
Widnes
tried everything to level the game and force overtime and the Dragons were
under pressure but did not buckle and with a minute left in the game Widnes
pulled their netminder to gain an extra attacker to try and level it but a shot at Deeside goal went wide and it
was picked up by Adrian Palak who skated free and scored into an empty Widnes
goal to put the game beyond them and the score finished 5-3 to the Dragons to
make it a memorable league and cup wining double season.
