The DMUK Widnes Wild women's team after their last home game of the 2022/23 of the season against Leeds Roses (Photo by Paul Breeze)
The DMUK Widnes Wild women’s team have qualified for the end of season play offs - to be held in Sheffield at the end of the Month.
They achieved this without even having to step out onto the ice after their closest rivals Telford lost a crunch match against already confirmed champions Solway Sharks, meaning that they will no longer be able to overtake the Wild Women in the league table.
The Widnes ladies had already finished their regular season schedule with a 9-2 win over Leeds Roses at the end of April but the WNIHL season runs until the end of May and other teams in the division still have games to complete. The Telford match result means that the Wild women are confirmed in second place in the table with 11 wins from their 14 league games, and can look forward to the Play Off weekend at iceSheffield.
This will be the first time that Widnes have appeared in the end of season tournament since 2017 when they finished 4th in the Women’s Premier League and lost to Streatham Storm in the semi final. In the normal run of events, they would also have played in the 2020 tournament after having won the Division 1 North title that season but all sports were suspended due to the Covid pandemic and the Play Offs never took place.
This year’s event will see the top two teams from Division 2 North – Solway and Widnes – take on the top two finishing teams from Division 2 south – Cardiff and Peterborough – in semi finals and final to decide an overall winner. The team that wins the final will also be eligible for promotion to Women’s Division 1 for next season.
The women’s play off weekend takes place at iceSheffield over the Bank Holiday Weekend of 27th to 29th May and features teams from all 6 women’s competitions - Elite League, Division 1, Division 2 North and South and Under 16 girls North and South - with 13 games over the 3 days.
The WNIHL Division 2 Semi Finals take place at 6pm and 8.15pm on the Saturday and the final will be played at 3pm on the Sunday.
The full schedule for the weekend is:
Saturday 27th May 2023
09.00 – WNIHL Division 1 Semi-Final 1
11.15 – WNIHL Division 1 Semi-Final 2
13.30 – WNIHL Elite Semi-Final 1
15.45 – WNIHL Elite Semi-Final 2
18.00 – WNIHL Division 2 Semi-Final 1
20.15 – WNIHL Division 2 Semi-Final 2
Sunday 28th May 2023
09.00 – WNIHL Division 1 Final
11.15 – WNIHL U16 Semi-Final 1
13.15 – WNIHL U16 Semi-Final 2
15.00 – WNIHL Division 2 Final
17.15 – WNIHL Elite Final
Monday 29th May 2023
09:00 – WNIHL U16 Final
10.45 – WNIHL Playoff
Admission tickets cost £5 per person for the whole weekend and can be booked via the EIHA website at: https://eiha.ticketco.events/uk/en/m/e/wnihl_finals_weekend
A livestream option is available for anybody who is unable to travel to Sheffield, and can be booked via the same ticket link.
