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| The Riverside Raiders celebrate winning the Summer Classic Cup Conference, League and Play Off treble at ice Sheffield (Photo by IHSC) |
The Riverside Raiders secured a unique treble in this year’s Summer Classic Cup with a 7-2 victory in the Play Off final over Widnes rink-mates Halton Huskies at iceSheffield.
The weekend started off well for the Widnes-based teams as the Raiders – who had finished top of the Western Conference qualifying group – hammered Eastern Conference runners up Grimsby Falcons 21-7 in the first semi final.
The second semi final saw Halton Huskies beat home team and Eastern Conference winners Sheffield Ice Tigers 9-0 – with Adam Darbyshire putting in an impressive performance in goal to notch up a “shut out” – setting up an all-Widnes final on the Sunday.
The weekend results meant that the Raiders completed their 2023 campaign with a 100% record, having won all 8 of their group and play off matches and securing the Western Conference, Development Division and Play Off titles.
In the Elite Division Play Offs, held over the same weekend, Deeside–based Flintshire Phantoms lost 5-6 to Don Valley Vikings in their semi final, while Leeds Lightning won the other one 11-5 against Newcastle Predators. The final saw the Sheffield-based Vikings come from behind to beat Leeds 8-4, meaning that they also won their treble of Conference, League and Play Off for the season.
“This year, with practically a new set of players our aim was to get back into competitive hockey and to just have fun. This team has gelled so quickly to form a really close knit group and we wanted to go into the IHSC and enjoy our hockey and try to bring home the silverware.”
“With a mixture of heavy fitness sessions and intensive gameplay sessions, our coaches have worked really hard to give is the edge in all aspects of the game and with an 8 game winning streak to take home all 3 trophies that hard work has certainly paid off. We're now planning and looking forward to the 2023/24 season.”
Mike Teinert (Photo by David Tattum / DJT Ice Hockey Photos)
