Tuesday 9 May 2017

Summer Cup: Widnes Wildcats 5 - Whitley Bay Islanders 8

Sunday 7th May 2017 – Summer Cup
Widnes Wildcats 5 – Whitley Bay Islanders 8
Period Scores:  1-3, 3-3, 1-2
Penalties In Minutes:  Widnes 37 – Whitley 49

Widnes Scoring:
Lubomir Felber 2+0, Dalibor Rakoczy 1+1,Andrejs Tenbergs & Phil Hamer both 1+0, Jake Berry, Lindsey Perry, Martin Dietrich & Neil Herring all 0+1

Match Report by Paul Breeze (www.icehockeyreview.co.uk)

The Widnes Wildcats suffered defat in their first Summer Cup game of the 2017 competition as they were beaten 5-8 at home by the Whitley Bay Islanders at Silver Blades Widnes on Sunday.

The game started well for the Wildcats and they took the lead as early as the 2d minute with a great solo goal by Lubomir Felber.  The visitors soon got into their stride after the long journey from the North East , equalising after 12 minutes and then scoring two further goal later on in the period to take a 1-3 lead into the first break.    

Two more goals early in the second period looked to have the game almost sewn up for the visitors but then things began to get rather lively.  A Whitley player picked up a 2 minute penalty for roughing at 28.51 and within 20 seconds, Andrejs Tenbergs pulled a goal back for the Wildcats on the resulting powerplay. This sparked an incident that saw two Whitley players banished from the game and Tenbergs himself pick up a 2 +match penalty.

In the aftermath of these penalties, the Wildcats scored two more goals – through Phil Hamer on 32 minutes and Dalibor Rakoczy 3 minutes later – to bring the score back to 4-5 but any hopes of a Widnes rally were dashed as the Islanders picked up another goal in the very last second of the period.

A 7th goal for the visitors midway through the third period looked to have settled the game although a second goal of the evening from Felber with some 6 minutes left on the clock did give the Widnes camp some cause for optimism. A Whitley powerplay goal in the very last minute of the game rounded off the action for a final score of 5-8.

The Wildcats are at home in cup action again next Sunday 14th May when they take on the Blackburn Falcons at Silver Blades Widnes.  The game faces off at 4.30pm and admission is free.