Tristan Lewis was the Wild MVP in the U18 match against Billingham (Photo by Paul Breeze)
Saturday 21st October – EIHA Under 18 North: Widnes Wild Academy U18B 3 – Billingham U18 5
The Widnes Wild Academy Under 18 B team put in a battling performance against Billingham Under 18s but ultimately lost out 3-5 in an entertaining match at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday.
After a closely contested start, Billingham scored two goals – on 13 and 18 minutes – to take a 2-0 lead into the first period break.
Widnes finally scored their first goal of the game 77 seconds into the second period with a powerplay goal from Jared Knowles. Billingham scored again two minutes later to restore their two goal advantage.
The second period was rather robustly contested with a lot of penalties handed out to both sides. At one point, Widnes had two men in the penalty box serving 5 minutes each and the Wild youngsters had to defend against a 5 on 3 powerplay.
They managed to keep the Billingham attack at bay during this extended spell of pressure and a second goal from Knowles on 38 minutes brought the score to 2-3 with one period left to play.
Widnes drew level with a shorthanded goal from Tristan Lewis on 50 minutes but Billingham edged back into the lead just 30 seconds later.
The Wild pushed forward in an attempt to salvage something from the game but a fifth Billingham goal left them too much to make up in the final minutes.
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The Academy Under 16 team are away to Sutton on Saturday 28th October, 4.30pm face off and the Under 18A team are away to Manchester Storm U18 the same day.
The Under 10s team host a 4 team cross ice tournament on Sunday at Planet Ice Widnes starting at 4.15pm, featuring opposition from Blackburn, Manchester and Deeside, and that is followed by the Under 14 team’s home game against Leeds U14s at 5.50pm.
Admission is free for all spectators to Wild Academy home games at Planet Ice Widnes and fans are encouraged to go along and support the stars of the future.
