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| Photo by Owen Tennant - Camera and Editing by Mike Teinert |
The Raiders won the Summer Classic Play Off title last year and will be hoping to go one better by taking the league title as well this time around. The Raiders finished as runners up in the league last year, ending up on the same number of points as the champions Grimsby Stormers – and with a superior head to head record – but lost out on goal difference after the Lincolnshire team had a couple of landslide home wins over short-benched travelling teams.
The Summer Classic features six teams from across the country who play each other home and away in a qualifying group, with the top teams then meeting again in semi finals and final. The final will be played at iceSheffield on Sunday 2nd September.
Alongside the Raiders, the other teams involved in the 2018 competition are: the Flintshire Phantoms from Deeside, the Wyre Seagulls from Blackburn, Kingston City Knights from Hull and two iceSheffield based teams in the shape of the Steel City Hawks and the Sheffield Ice Tigers.
The Riverside Raiders’ Summer Classic Cup Games are as follows:
Sunday 1st April: home v Steel City Hawks (Sheffield)
Saturday 21st April: away @ Wyre Seagulls (at Blackburn) - 6.15pm face off
Sunday 6th May: home v Flintshire Phantoms
Sunday 27th May: home v Sheffield Ice Tigers
Sunday 17th June: home v Wyre Seagulls
Sunday 24th June: away @ Steel City Hawks (Sheffield) - 4.15pm face off
Sunday 1st July: away @ Sheffield Ice Tigers - 4.15pm face off
Sunday 29th July: home v Kingston City Knights
Sunday 5th August: away @ Kingston City Knights
(Game away @ Flintshire Phantoms to be confirmed)
All home games face off at 4.30pm at Planet Ice Widnes and admission is free.
At the game this Sunday against the Steel City Hawks, a bucket collection will be made in aid of two mental health charities MIND and CALM, in support of a charity game that is being played at Blackburn Arena on the same day in memory of Wyre Seagulls and Blackburn Falcons rec player Rob Craig who died last year.
