The Riverside Raiders won the Summer Classic Cup play off title in 2017 (Photo by Chris Johnstone)
Sunday 16th April 2023 – Challenge Match:
Connah’s Quay Cobras (Deeside) 4 - Riverside Raiders (Widnes) 8
Period Scores 2-3,
1-2, 1-3
Shots on Goal:
Cobras 51 - Raiders 41
Penalties In
Minutes: Cobras 8 - Raiders 6
The team for Sunday’s game saw
the welcome return of familiar faces such as Adam Jenkins, Ben Donkin, Mike
Teinert and Eemeli Vuorihovi and the addition of former Widnes Wild women’s
captain Emma Pearson, erstwhile Wild netminder Ian Thirkettle and graduates
from the Wild Junior Academy Rory Sillery and Alain Barthelemy, among others.
The Connah’s Quay team also
featured an interesting mix of youth, rec and experience including former
Deeside Dragons league players Kenny Williams, Scott Egerton and Sam Krempasky,
ex Riverside Raider and Bradford Bulldog Gez Evans and former Manchester
Phoenix women’s players Cath Thornton and Emma Dutton - so it was a really good
test for the Raiders side.
The Raiders took the lead with
just 28 seconds on the clock with a goal from Rory Sillery and further strikes
from Kai Gennoe and Adam Jenkins saw them leading 0-3 after 6 minutes.
The Cobras hit back with two
goals of their own to go into the first break at 2-3 down and then score again
90 seconds into the second period to level the score.
Two goals for the Raiders –
from David Geroc on 36 minutes and Eemeli Vuorihovu just 45 seconds later - put
them back in control and the score stood at 3-5 after two periods.
The third period saw the
Raiders edge further ahead with goals from Andrew Birch on 53 minutes and
Gennoe, again, on 56 and a hat-trick strike from Gennoe just 14 seconds later
put the visitors 3-8 up with just over 3 minutes left on the clock.
The Cobras fired in one last
goal 11 seconds after that – a hat trick goal for Sam Krempasky – and that
rounded off the scoring for the game.
The Raiders 2023 Summer Classic
Cup campaign gets under way on Saturday 29th April when they take on the Hull
Knights at Planet Ice Widnes, 6pm face off.
This year’s Ice Hockey Summer
Classic tournament sees 16 teams from across the north of England competing in
4 groups of 4, playing each other home and away. The top teams in each group
will meet in a championship play off weekend in Sheffield later in the
summer.
The full Riverside
Raiders 2023 Cup fixtures are:
29th April: home v
Hull Knights
7th May: home v
Halton Huskies
3rd June: away @
Hull Knights
10th June: home v
Blackburn Buccaneers
25th June: away @
Blackburn Buccaneers
1st July: away @
Halton Huskies
The two games against the
Halton Huskies should be especially entertaining as both teams are based at the
Planet Ice rink in Widnes.
