 |
| Laura Moran receives the MVP award on her debut for the Widnes Wild Women (Photo by Paul Breeze) |
Sunday 1st October 2023 – WNIHL Division 2 North: DMUK Widnes Wild Women 5 - Grimsby Wolves 0
The DMUK Widnes Wild women got their 2023/24 Division 2 North campaign off to the best possible start with a 5-0 win over Grimbsy Wolves at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
The game saw debuts for new signings Laura Moran, Katya Oliver and Eleanor Johnson and a return to the team after a year away for Jemma Brown.
The Wild women opened the scoring after just 48 seconds with a goal from Preston Gennoe and then two goals within a minute of each other around the 10 minute mark – from Katya Oliver and Katie Fairclough – handed them a commanding lead.
A superb piece of individual play saw Fairclough score her second goal of the game in the 17th minute and Widnes were able to take a 4-goal lead into the first period break.
The Wild women outshot Grimsby by over 2 to 1 over the course of the game and it was no great surprise when Fairclough scored her straight hat trick goal just 4 ½ minutes into the second after sustained pressure around the Wolves net. With the score standing at 5-0 – and with 35 minutes still to play - Widnes took their foot off the gas a bit and took the opportunity to give the whole of the bench plenty of ice time.
There was no more scoring after that and Ellie Green came on to replace Stephanie Drinkwater in the Wild goal for the final 30 minutes to take a share in the resulting shutout.
The Wild Women’s Most Valuable Player awards for this season have been sponsored by Lucy London - Poet In Residence for the 5th year in a row and consist of goodie bags containing a limited edition MVP teddy bear and a selection of Body Shop products provided by Running Mum Beauty.
The awards were presented by Wild Women matchday volunteer co-ordinator Clair Johnson and went to Erin Dommett for Grimsby and Laura Moran for Widnes.
The DMUK Widnes Wild Women are next in action on Saturday 14th October when they make the long journey to Edinburgh to take on new league team Caledonia Steel Queens at Murrayfield Ice Rink.
They then have further away trips to Leeds, Sheffield and Telford - before their next home game on Sunday 10th December, when they entertain Kingston Diamonds at Planet Ice Widnes.
