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| Karyn Cooper was the Wild women’s MVP against Telford – photo by Paul Breeze |
The DMUK Widnes Wild women’s team suffered a 1-5 defeat at the hands of play off contenders Telford Wrekin Raiders at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
Following on from their comprehensive 3-15 away victory over Whitley Bay in their previous game, there were hopes that the Wild women might be able to launch a late charge to qualify for the play offs themselves but Telford proved to be a much tougher challenge altogether.
The game saw home debuts for Charlotte McAdam and Eleanor Johnson but Widnes were missing a couple of regular players and had to juggle their usual lines, meaning that it took them a while to get going.
Telford scored the first goal mid-way through the first period and then added a second on 17 minutes, taking full advantage of a powerplay for a Wild penalty. The score remained 0-2 to the Raiders at the first period break but, with them having outshot Widnes by 6 to 18, it could have been worse had Stephanie Drinkwater not been on form in the Wild goal.
The second period saw a tighter Widnes defensive performance and, while they were still heavily outshot, the resulting 0-0 period score gave rise to hopes that there might be a late rally in the final 30 minutes of play.
These hopes were dashed by a third Telford goal just 55 seconds into the period – before incoming netminder Ellie Green had time to settle – and further goals on 42 and 44 minutes put the game well beyond Widnes’ reach.
The Wild breakthrough finally came with 45.33 on the clock when Widnes captain Charlotte Cramp slotted the puck past the Telford netminder, rounding off the scoring for the game.
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 match volunteer Fiona Tyrer and went to Rebecca Craig for Telford and Karyn Cooper for Widnes.
The 1-5 result means that Telford remain in a good position to challenge for a top two spot and a place in the end of season play offs while Widnes look resigned to battling for the mid-table places.
The Wild women have two more home games left to play and await a league management decision regarding two outstanding away games for which no suitable replay date has been found.
The Wild Women are next in action on Sunday 28th April when they take on Sheffield Shadows at Planet Ice Widnes, 4.25pm face off.
