Wild Women Prepare For New Season

Steve Furber, Paddy Horner and Leen de Decker (Photo by Wild Women IHC)

The Widnes Wild Women have announced their coaching team in preparation for the new 2025/26 WNIHL season, which starts in September. Steve Furber returns as Head Coach with Thomas (Paddy) Horner back as Assistant Coach supported by Leen De Decker and Suzie Miller as Player / Coaches.

It is the same coaching group that oversaw the Wild Women’s successful Division 2 North title winning campaign last season and this continuity will be all-important as the team now prepare for playing in the higher Division 1 North after being promoted during the summer.

De Decker’s presence as a player on the ice will be crucial in the new season as she is the club’s all-time highest points scorer with 104 goals and 46 assists in 91 games.  She was one of the founder members of the Wild women when the former Manchester Phoenix team moved en-bloc to Widnes from nearby Altrincham in the summer of 2015. 

Stephanie Drinkwater
(Photo by Karyn Cooper)

She had previously played 8 seasons for Kingston Diamonds before arriving at Widnes via Manchester. She was, until recently, the most capped player for her native Belgium with 52 World Championship games under her belt, along with 3 WC bronze medals and 1 silver medal.

Three more of the Wild Women “originals” have also re-signed for this season.

Netminder Stephanie Drinkwater holds the club record for appearances with 104 over the ten years of the Wild Women’s history – but only 9 seasons as there was no competition in the 2020/21 season due to Covid closures.

Vanessa Crickmore-Clarke is a highly experienced attacker turned defender who won 5 league titles with the Sunderland Scorpions in her native north east and then spent 9 seasons playing with the Flintshire Furies at Deeside and Phoenix at Altrincham before the move to Widnes.

Vanessa Crickmore-Clarke
(Photo by Wild Women IHC)

In an impressive career to date, Vanessa has played some 300 competitive games in total, including 72 for Widnes.

Experienced centre Elizabeth Loss was another of the original Manchester Phoenix team that moved to Widnes in 2015 and, in her 8 seasons with the Wild women, has played 66 games.

Like Drinkwater, Crickmore-Clarke and de Decker, Liz was a key member of the Widnes team that won the 2019/20 Division 1 North league title and the Division 2 North title last season.

Elizabeth Loss (photo by Wil Evans)

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Following their promotion to Division 1, the Wild Women are keen to attract new players for the 2025/26 season and are offering trial opportunities at their weekly training sessions during August.

The sessions run on Tuesday evenings from 9.30 to 10.30pm at Planet Ice Widnes and players must be aged 14 or over and have their own insurance or be covered by EIHA trial insurance.

Anybody interested in taking part is asked to contact the team via the Widnes Wild Women’s Facebook page.

Players with higher league or international experience are especially welcome.

Dragons NIHL2 Team Add To Roster

Cameron Kushnirenko
(Photo by Keith & Jenny Davies)

The Deeside Dragons NIHL2 team have added to their squad ahead of the forthcoming Laidler Division season with the arrival of a former senior Dragons player, some returning Ducks and a few 2-way juniors.

Cameron Kushnirenko played for the senior Dragons team in the Laidler Division in the 2019/20 season and brings with him a wealth of experience at Division 2 level.

The former Bradford junior has played some 170 senior competitive games with two seasons with the Bulldogs, one at Altrincham and three at Sutton Sting to go with his season with the Dragons.

He has scored 14 goals and 49 assists from his defensive role and notched up an impressive 543 penalty minutes over his 7 senior seasons.

Dragons NIHL2 Head Coach Gary Shaw said of Kushnirenko:

“I am pleased to welcome Cameron back under my wing for the coming season. He originally came to Deeside with a bit of a reputation for mouthing off at the officials and got a lot of penalties for this, which I addressed and I had him focus on his work on the ice and this reduced his penalties vastly.”

“The hard work he has now put in has made him a very good defenceman and he is a player that we can rely on to help bring the young players on. So, I'm looking forward to the positive impact that I know he will bring to our future players.”

Liam Yarwood
(Photo by All Sports
Photography)

Two players who played for the team last season when they were known as the Deeside Ducks are back for the new campaign.

Liam Yarwood made his senior debut last season and played in 15 Ducks games, scoring 1 assist, while Callum Garwell made 1 Laidler Division appearance.

The whole point of the Dragons NIHL2 team is to encourage young talent and act as a stepping stone between the Deeside junior teams and the Dragons senior side. 

This worked very well last season with the erstwhile Ducks team giving senior debuts to over 20 young players who might not have had the chance to play at NIHL level so early in their careers and the policy will continue this season.

This season again, the club have identified a number of promising players from the Under 19s team who will be able to play up to gain extra experience and ice time with the Dragons in the Laidler Division.

Finn Ogden
(Photo by Andrea Petrie)

These include defenceman Lewis Edward, who is a former Telford Tigers and Dragons Under 16 player, netminder Finn Ogden who is the younger brother of Dragons player Cody Ogden, and Leo Hyman who is another promising junior netminder.

The Dragons NIHL2 team begin their season with back to back friendly matches against Bradford Bulldogs before their NIHL Laidler Division campaign gets under way.

They will take on the Bulldogs at home at Deeside Leisure Centre on Saturday 30^th August – face off 5.15 pm – and travel away to West Yorkshire for the return fixture the next day.

 

Sledge Hockey 2025: Round-Up #13

The 2025 British Para Ice Hockey League rounded off its regular season schedule with a cracking game at Peterborough that saw the Manchester Mayhem come away with a 6-9 victory at the Phantoms’ expense on Saturday.

The previous game had to be cancelled due to a technical problem at the Mayhem’s home Widnes rink so this was the only meeting between the two teams this season and, as such, it was a bit of an unknown quantity for both sides.

The game was very fiercely contested – with lots of goals - and was highly entertaining When the score stood at a finely balanced 6-6 midway through the third period, the result could easily have gone either way, before the Mayhem pulled away in the latter stages to make sure of the win.

Most of the damage was inflicted by the Mayhem’s GB international player Karl Nicholson, who scored 6 goals in the game to bring his total for the season to an impressive 18 - and the others were scored by Anton Tomlinson, Peggy Assinck and Tom Kimm.

Gary Farmer scored 5 for Peterborough with the other one going to Stacey Quirk

Despite the result, the Phantoms finish the league season as runners up in the table with 10 points from their 8 games – 5 points behind champions Sheffield Steelkings.

Last year’s champions Cardiff Huskies finish in 3^rd place, following a disappointing season by their own high standards. They have the same number of points as the Phantoms but take the lower table position due to an inferior goal difference overall and an inferior playing record in games between the two teams.

The Mayhem finish in 4^th place in the final standings for the second year in a row with 6 points from 8 games - two more than last season – and the Sheffield Steelstings development team prop up the rest of the table.

Attention now turns to the Great Britain Women’s Para team who will be taking part in the first ever official World Championships in Slovakia at the end of this month.

The 2025 BPIHL season will finish off with the Play Offs, which will be held at Lee Valley Ice Centre over the weekend of 13^th and 14^th September. 

Match Report: Peterborough Phantoms 6 – Mayhem 9 (BPIHL)

Tom Kimm was on target for the Mayhem away at Peterborough (Photo by Blindside Trading Cards)

Saturday 9th August 2025 – BPIHL: Peterborough Phantoms 6 – Mayhem 9

The Mayhem sledge team rounded off their regular season schedule with a superb 6-9 win away over Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday.

In their previous games this season, the Mayhem had put in some battling performances but things hadn’t gone their way in front of goal.  However, everything clicked into place for this season finale and, despite travelling with an understrength squad, they saw their efforts rewarded.

They took the lead after just 33 seconds with a goal from Karl Nicholson and didn’t really look back after that.  At the end of the first period, the score was 1-3 to the Mayhem and, at the end of the second, it was 3-6.  

The game was highly entertaining to watch and the Phantoms clawed back to draw 6-6 midway through the third period. The result could easily have gone either way at this point, but Mayhem heads didn’t drop and goals from Nicholson (2) and Peggy Assinck made sure of the win.

Mayhem’s GB international player Karl Nicholson, scored 6 goals overall in the game to bring his total for the season to an impressive 18 - and the others were scored by Anton Tomlinson and Tom Kimm, as well as Assinck. 

Despite the result, the Phantoms finish the league season as runners up in the table with 10 points from their 8 games – 5 points behind champions Sheffield Steelkings.

Last year’s champions Cardiff Huskies finish in 3rd place, following a disappointing season by their own high standards. They have the same number of points as the Phantoms but take the lower table position due to an inferior goal difference overall and an inferior playing record in games between the two teams.

The Mayhem finish in 4th place in the final standings for the second year in a row with 6 points from 8 games - two more than last season – and the Sheffield Steelstings development team prop up the rest of the table.

Attention now turns to the Great Britain Women’s Para team who will be taking part in the first ever official World Championships in Slovakia at the end of this month.

The GB squad is made up of players from across the various BPIHL teams and a number of players and staff from the Mayhem will also be involved.

The 2025 BPIHL season will finish off with the Play Offs, which will be held at Lee Valley Ice Centre over the weekend of 13th and 14th September.  

*****

There are hopes that there may be a new sledge team in the league for next year after the recently formed Leeds Locomotives club held an introductory taster session at the West Yorkshire rink.

A number of newcomers to the sport went along to see what it was all about and try out the equipment and the Locomotives are now trying to build on this promising start to try and get enough people together to make a team viable.

There are currently only 5 teams in the British Para Ice Hockey League, playing across 4 venues: Cardiff Huskies, Peterborough Phantoms, the Mayhem at Widnes and the Steelkings and Steelstings at Sheffield.

There used to be a team based in Hull called the Kingston Kestrels but, sadly, they did not return to playing after the Covid closures and their place was taken up by the new Steelstings development to keep the numbers up.

The sport’s governing body – British Para Ice Hockey – are making great efforts to try and expand the game to new locations and, to this end, staged the end of season play offs at Nottingham last year and are holding them at Lee Valley in east London this year.

Deeside / Widnes Rivalry Stoked by Summer Signings

Rhys Edwards in action for Widnes (Photo by Steve Cunningham)

The new NIHL season starts in September and, as with every year, the most keenly anticipated dates in the Deeside fixture schedule are the meetings between the Dragons and Widnes Wild, who enjoy a fierce local rivalry going back some 12 years.

Because of the relative proximity between the two teams, these games are always robustly competed and passionate affairs.  There has been a regular interchange of players over the years and this season’s new arrivals are likely to add further spice to the meetings between the two teams  

The Dragons squad for the coming season includes a number of players who have previously turned out for the Wild - Phil Pearson, Matt Wainwright, Will Harper and MJ Clancy, as well as coaches Mike and Dave Clancy - and they have upped the ante this summer with the signings of Matty Barlow and Rhys Edwards.

Barlow has been a long term favourite at Widnes and has scored 54 competitive goals for the Wild in 140 games spread over 3 spells with the club.

Rhys Edwards made his Moralee Division debut with the Wild in the 2022/23 season and made 49 competitive appearances for them over 2 seasons, scoring 25 goals and 27 assists. He spent last season playing in Hull where he split his time between the Jets in the Moralee Division and the Seahawks in the National Division.

Talking about the two signings, Dragons head coach Mike Clancy said: 

”We’re excited to add Matthew Barlow to the S4S Deeside Dragons. He’s a smart, skilled forward with real pace and strong vision. Across Leeds and Widnes last season, he scored 30 goals and 17 assists in 30 games, showing that he can produce consistently and perform in big moments.”

“What really stood out was Matty’s hunger to keep developing and challenging himself — exactly the kind of mindset we value here. We believe he’ll bring a new dynamic to our attack and be a key contributor throughout this season.”

“Rhys is exactly the type of player we want in our lineup. His skillset, attitude, compete and drive are second to none. He will be a huge asset for us both on and off the ice.”

“It’s not just about what he brings in terms of scoring or playmaking, it’s the example he sets in training, his professionalism, and his hunger to improve. Players like Rhys elevate the group around them.”

“It takes a big player to wear a club legend’s number – #5 (previously worn by James Parsons – who has just retired). These are big boots to fill, and I am sure Rhys will excel in doing just that.”

Further intrigue has been added to this Deeside / Widnes dynamic with two Dragons players - Alex Parry and Oliver (Oli) Howells - moving the opposite way up the M56. 

Parry is a long term Deeside junior and senior player and made his ENL debut with the Flintshire Freeze back in the 2009/10 season. Apart from the 2021/22 season when the Deeside rink was closed after Covid, he has played his whole career to date with the Freeze and the Dragons notching up some 280 competitive games at ENL / NIHL level, scoring 91 goals and 130 assists.

Last season he was a Dragons Alternate Captain and scored 12 goals and 20 assists in 30 league games.

Oli Howells has played for the Dragons for the past 2 seasons, scoring 1+6 in 53 games from his defensive role. He is a graduate of the Telford junior development system and, with spells with the Tigers 2, Sheffield Titans and Scimitars and Solihull Barons – as well as his stint at Deeside - has some 137 NIHL appearances to his record since his senior breakout season in 2021/22. 

Since Widnes first joined the Laidler Division in 2013, there have been 41 games between the Wild and the Dragons, of which Widnes have won 20, Deeside 19 - and there have been two draws.

The overall goal tally from those matches is 238 to Widnes and 195 to Deeside - however that does include a season against the “Dragons 2” development side which, obviously produced some rather one-sided games - with some 55 goals being conceded in the 3 games that were played.

In the Moralee Division era (post 2022 when the Deeside rink re-opened after the Covid closure), the two teams have met 15 times in league and cup competitions. The Dragons have won 9 games and Widnes 6 - with the “goals scored” being 85 to 68 in Deeside’s favour.

With all teams playing each other twice at home and twice away during the regular league season, there are 4 league meetings between the Dragons and the Wild for fans to look forward to – spread over two weekends. 

The first meetings will take place over the weekend of 4th and 5th October, with the game in Deeside on the Saturday and the return in Widnes on the Sunday. The second local derby weekend will take place on 10th and 11th January with the game being played in Widnes on the Saturday and the reverse fixture in Deeside on the Sunday.

The Dragons start off the season with home and away friendly matches against Telford Tigers with the home game on Saturday 6th September at Deeside Leisure Centre, 5.15pm face off, and the away game down in Shropshire the next day. 

Sledge Hockey 2025: Round-Up #12

The Sheffield Steelkings rounded off their BPIHL title winning league campaign with a hard fought 4-5 win away to Manchester Mayhem on Saturday.

They raced to a 0-2 lead after just 70 seconds but found the going harder after that as the Mayhem fought back and scored as many goals against them as they had conceded in all of their previous 7 games.

Daniel Clarke and Ben O’Brien each scored a brace for the Steelkings with Jake Oakley adding the other one.

The Mayhem goals came from Karl Nicholson (3) and Anthony Booth.

Peterborough Phantoms secured the runners up spot without having to hit a puck after receiving a 0-5 forfeit win from their away game against Manchester Mayhem.

The game had been scheduled for 19^th July but had to be cancelled due to technical problems at the Widnes rink.

Both teams have players who are going to represent Great Britain at the Women’s World Championships later in the month and there were no suitable dates before then for the game to be re-arranged.

In the meantime, the Mayhem travel down to Peterborough this Saturday 9^th August to play the Phantoms in what will be the last league game for both teams – and, indeed, the final game overall of the BPIHL regular schedule for 2025.

Dragons Announce Pre-Season Challenge Matches

The Deeside Dragons NIHL2 team have announced that they will begin their season with back to back friendly matches against Bradford Bulldogs before their NIHL Laidler Division campaign gets under way.

They will take on the Bulldogs at home at Deeside Leisure Centre on Saturday 30^th August – face off 5.15 pm – and travel away to West Yorkshire for the return fixture the next day.

Their regular season starts the following Saturday 6^th September when they travel to play the Sheffield Titans

The senior Dragons Moralee Division team start their season off with home and away challenge matches against Division 1 new boys Telford Tigers, playing at home on Saturday 6^th September and away the following day.

Their first league game of the season is at home to Sheffield Scimitars on Saturday 13^th September at Deeside Leisure Centre.

Match Report: Whitley Bay Islanders 9 – Connah’s Quay Cobras 2 (Summer Classic Cup)

Emma Dutton was on target for the Cobras against Whitley (Photo by RDG Digital)

Saturday 2^nd August – Summer Classic Cup: Whitley Bay Islanders 9 – Connah’s Quay Cobras 2

The Connah’s Quay Cobras look set to miss out on the play offs of the Summer Classic Cup after a bad tempered 9-2 defeat away to Whitley Bay Islanders on Saturday.

The home game in Deeside back in June had been a very close affair with the Cobras narrowly winning 4-3 so this was always likely to be a difficult away trip to the North East.

The game started badly for Connah’s Quay as the hosts opened the scoring after just 47 seconds. By the end of the first period, the score was 3-0 and by the end of the second, it was 8-0

The Cobras put up a good fight and had their own chances in front of goal but were unable to make the most of them.

Finally, 41 seconds into the third period, their efforts were rewarded with a goal from player coach Emma Dutton.  However, any hopes of late fight-back were scotched by a 9^th Whitley goal just 19 seconds later. Sam Plant scored for the Cobras on 49 minutes but that was the last of the goals for the evening.

The game was disrupted by a number of fights and had to finish before the full 60 minutes had been played as it over-ran the ice time allocation.

The Islanders’ win means that they move level on points with the Cobras in the group table but take the higher position above them due to a superior goal difference.

Whitley Bay still have one game left to play – at home to unbeaten group leaders Don Valley Vikings - and a heavy enough defeat (by 21 goals or more) would overturn their goal difference advantage and hand the second qualifying spot in the final table to the Cobras, but that seems rather unlikely.

Match Report: Mayhem 4 – Sheffield Steelkings 5 (British Para Ice Hockey League)

Mayhem netminder Daniel Hartshorn makes a save against Sheffield (Photo by Roksana Oniszczuk)

Saturday 2nd August 2025 – British Para Ice Hockey League: Mayhem 4 – Sheffield Steelkings 5

The Mayhem sledge team put in a brave and battling performance against recently crowned champions Sheffield Steelkings in their last home game of the British Para Ice Hockey League season but narrowly lost out 4-5 at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday.

This was a very entertaining game to watch and the result remained in doubt until the very last seconds.  While a defeat is always disappointing, to put the performance in perspective, the Steelkings had only conceded 4 goals in total in their previous 7 league games.

The game started badly for the Mayhem as the Steelkings opened the scoring after just 37 seconds. 35 seconds later it was 0-2 to the champions and things were looking rather grim.

Luckily the Mayhem were able to steady the ship at that point, tighten up their defence and put a few plays together of their own. 

Sheffield eventually extended their lead to three goals in the 10th minute but the Mayhem fought back with a brace of well taken strikes from Karl Nicholson on 12 minutes and 14 minutes to bring the score to 2-3 at the first period break.

Just 48 seconds into the second period it was all level as Anthony Booth fired in a superb equaliser for the Mayhem.  The home team were on top for much of the second period and put the Sheffield goal under considerable pressure. 

Unfortunately, they were not able to find the back of the net again and Sheffield eventually scored on 24 minutes to retake the lead. That completed the scoring for the second period and left the score at a very close 3-4 at the second interval.

The third period was also very tense and closely contested. Sheffield edged further ahead with a goal on 35 minutes but the Mayhem hit back just 30 seconds later to reduce the deficit back to one single goal, with Karl Nicholson rounding off his hat-trick.

The last ten minutes were agonisingly nail-biting as both teams had their chances but were unable to make any of them count. 

Mayhem netminder Daniel Hartshorn pulled off some very brave saves - some from point blank range - to keep his team in the game and both sides battled away until the last second. 

The game ended in a 4-5 victory for Sheffield but the Mayhem’s tally of 4 was the most goals that the Steelkings had conceded in a match all season.

The MVP awards went to Kirsty van der Poll for Sheffield and team captain Mark Colquitt for the Mayhem

Mayhem captain Mark Colquitt was MVP against Sheffield
(Photo by Roksana Oniszczuk)

The Mayhem actually suffered two defeats last week – the one against Sheffield on the ice and another off it.

The home game against Peterborough Phantoms that had been scheduled for 19th July and had to be cancelled due to technical problems at the Widnes rink will not now be rearranged and has been awarded as a 0-5 forfeit win to the Phantoms.

Both teams have players who are going to represent Great Britain at the Women’s World Championships later in the month and there were no suitable dates before then for the game to be re-arranged.

In the meantime, the Mayhem travel down to Peterborough this Saturday 9th August to play the Phantoms in what will be the last league game for both teams.

Following the forfeit win, Peterborough are now second in the BPIHL table – overtaking Cardiff Huskies who have already completed all their games - and will finish as runners up irrespective of Saturday’s result .

The Mayhem will finish the regular season in 4th place, which means that they qualify for the end of season play offs, which will be held at Lee Valley Ice Centre over the weekend of 13th and 14th September.

Mayhem To Host League Champions

Mayhem's Fiona Naylor (Photo by Blindside Trading Cards)

There were no games in the British Para Ice Hockey League this weekend and all eyes are now firmly on Widnes – for the right reasons, this time - where the Mayhem sledge team will play host to recently crowned league champions Sheffield Steelkings this Saturday 2nd August, 4.25pm face off.

The Mayhem’s last home game – against Peterborough Phantoms on 19th July - had to be postponed due to technical problems with the ice rink but that has now been resolved and Saturday’s game should go ahead as planned.

Sheffield have the only undefeated record in this season’s BPIHL – with just one point having been dropped in an overtime loss against Cardiff that was a 1-1 draw at the end of normal time - and a remarkable “goals against” record of just 4 from 7 games – so they will be keen to keep that momentum going in what will be their last game of the regular season.

The Steelkings are already assured of the league title and can’t be caught on points, but the Mayhem still have a mathematical chance of finishing joint second - or third – in the league, if they win all of their remaining games, so there is still plenty to play for.

Following Saturday’s game, they have a trip away to Peterborough on Saturday 9th August and then must wait to hear when the postponed home game – also against Peterborough - will be played.   

Moralee Division Fixtures: Deeside Dragons / Widnes Wild Rivalry Set To Continue

Alex Parry (Photo by Peter Sheffield) and Matt Barlow (Photo by David Tattum)

The fixture list for the Moralee Division has been announced for the forthcoming 2025/26 NIHL division season.

Whitley Warriors have moved to play in the Scottish National league for the new season and their place in the Moralee Division has been taken by Telford Tigers 2 who move up a league after having won the Laidler Division last season.

Widnes Wild will start their league campaign with three away trips - to Sheffield Scimitars on 7th September, Telford Tigers on 13th September and Solihull Barons on 14th September – before playing their first home game against Blackburn Hawks on Sunday 21st September. 

However, as with every season, the most keenly anticipated dates in the Widnes fixture schedule are the meetings between Widnes Wild and Deeside Dragons, who enjoy a fierce local rivalry going back over a decade.

Because of the relative proximity between the two teams, these games are always robustly competed, passionate affairs.  There has been a regular interchange of players over the years and this season’s new arrivals are likely to add further spice to the meetings between the two teams  

The Dragons squad for the coming season includes former Wild players Phil Pearson, Matt Wainwright, Will Harper and MJ Clancy and they have recently upped the ante with the signings of Matty Barlow and Rhys Edwards.

Barlow has been a long term favourite at Widnes and has scored 54 competitive goals for the Wild in 140 games spread over 3 spells with the club.

Rhys Edwards made his Moralee Division debut with the Wild in the 2022/23 season and made 49 competitive appearances for them over 2 seasons, scoring 25 goals and 27 assists. He spent last season playing in Hull where he split his time between the Jets in the Moralee Division and the Seahawks in the National Division.

Widnes are still working on their roster for the new season but two signings that immediately leap off the page - and who both played for Deeside Dragons last season - are Alex Parry and Oliver (Oli) Howells. 

Parry is a long term Deeside junior and senior player and made his ENL debut with the Flintshire Freeze in the 2009/10 season. Apart from the 2021/22 season when the Deeside rink was closed after Covid, he has played his whole career to date with the Freeze and the Dragons notching up some 280 competitive games at ENL / NIHL level, scoring 91 goals and 130 assists.

Oli Howells has played for the Dragons for the past 2 seasons, scoring 1+6 in 53 games from his defensive role. He is a graduate of the Telford junior development system and, with spells with the Tigers 2, Sheffield Titans and Scimitars and Solihull Barons – as well as his stint at Deeside - has some 137 NIHL appearances to his record since his senior breakout season in 2021/22. 

With all teams playing each other twice at home and twice away during the regular league season, there are 4 league meetings between the Wild and the Dragons for fans to look forward to – spread over two weekends. 

The first meetings will take place over the weekend of 4th and 5th October, with the game in Deeside on the Saturday and the return in Widnes on the Sunday. The second local derby weekend will take place on 10th and 11th January with the game being played in Widnes on the Saturday and the reverse fixture in Deeside on the Sunday.

Deeside Dragons have pre-season home and away challenge matches against Telford Tigers on Saturday 6th September (home) and Sunday 7th (away).

They then start their league campaign away to Sheffield Scimitars on Saturday 13th September and are at home to the same opposition the next day.

The Dragons will, once again be taking part in the two-legged Welsh Cup competition against Cardiff Fire, hoping to retain the trophy that they won last season.  The away game is on Saturday 20th September and the home tie is the following Saturday 27th September.

Larry & Snip Testimonial Report (Deeside)

Both teams together at Marc Lovell and James Parsons' testimonial game (photo by Deeside Dragons IHC)

The Deeside Dragons gave an emotional send off to long-serving players Marc Lovell and James Parsons with a special testimonial match at Deeside Leisure Centre on Saturday.

The duo retired from playing senior hockey at the end of last season, having both notched up 20-plus years in the ENL / NIHL with the Flintshire Freeze and Deeside Dragons clubs.

Marc Lovell and James Parsons
(Photo by Deeside Dragons IHC)

Two special teams were put together for the event – Team Larry (for Marc Lovell) and Team Snip (for James Parsons) and were made up from a mixture of current Dragons, former Dragons and Freeze players and other former team mates of the pair, with plenty of familiar faces for the fans to recognise.

Original Flintshire Freeze player coach Mark Stokes – now a qualified NIHL referee – also made a welcome return to Deeside to officiate at the match 

As with most events of this nature, the game was played in very good spirits throughout and there were lots of goals generously shared around the two teams - and a lot of humour. 

On this occasion, the taking part was really more important than the winning but, for the sake of sporting completeness, it should be recorded that Team Larry beat Team Snip by 11 goals to 10, thanks to a dramatic late winner scored by Logan Lovell with just 51 seconds left on the clock.

The goalscorers in full for Team Larry were Andy McKinney (4), Marc Lovell, Alex Parry, Charlie Spridgeon, Mark Thomas, Lucas Lovell, Alan Steele & Logan Lovell – and, for Team Snip, Matt Wainwright (2), Scott Barnett (2), Steve Elliot, Aaron Davies, Cade King, Billy Perks and Ella Parsons (2). 

Talking afterwards about the Testimonial game, James Parsons said:

“Seeing so many familiar faces down at the Den last night was really special. I was absolutely blown away by how many people — family, friends, and supporters — came out to show their support. A massive thank you to Shaun Bebbington, Mikey Rowe, Mike Clancy, Matty Compton, and Ian Foster for making it all happen.”

“Getting to share the evening with the legend Larry was a fantastic experience.”

Marc Lovell added:

“It was probably one of the most enjoyable hockey games I have been a part of. It was so good to get so many players together who we have both played with and against over the years on the ice together. I was overwhelmed with the amount of supporters that turned up to support the game and to share the moment with Snipper made it that extra bit special.” 

“A big thank you to all the players who played their part, the coaches who helped out on the day and Mark Stokes and Dave Clancy who refereed for us. But a massive thank you to Shaun Bebbington and the Dragons organisation for organising it all and giving us both a great send off.”

Sledge Hockey 2025: Round-Up #11

The Cardiff Huskies moved up into second place in the British Para Ice Hockey League table after a 5-0 home victory over Sheffield Steelstings, in what was the last league game of the season for both teams.

After a goal-less first period, two strikes in the second and three in the third secured the win for the defending champions.

Tyler Christopher scored 2 for the Huskies and Shannon Couch, Dani Czernuszka-Watts and Josh Davies all added one goal apiece.

The Shots On Goal count was 42-1, with Steelstings netminder Bryan Hackworth doing well to stop 37 of the 42 shots that he faced. In the Huskies net, Nicole Hill picked up a 1-shot shut-out – her first clean sheet of the season.

The Manchester Mayhem’s home game against Peterborough Phantoms that was scheduled to be played on Saturday had to be cancelled because of a technical fault that saw the Widnes rink closed for much of the week.

Following Cardiff’s win on Saturday, the Huskies have now moved above Peterborough into second place in the league table. The Phantoms are 2 points behind but have two games in hand.

The Mayhem have yet to play Peterborough this season and will travel down to East Anglia on 9^th August for their last regular-schedule game of the season. 

Peterborough need two points from their two games against the Mayhem to clinch second place and it is hoped that the cancelled home game can be re-arranged but, with the Widnes rink having been closed and ice time slots at a premium with other teams also needing to reschedule games, it may be difficult to find a suitable date. 

The situation is complicated by the fact that players and staff from both teams will be involved in the inaugural Women’s Para Ice Hockey World Championships, which will be held in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia, from 26^th to 31^st August - so the domestic league season needs to be brought to a close before then.

Cobras Win Championship Cup At Sheffield RecFest

Cobras with the RecFest cup (Photo by Beth Jones)

The Connah’s Quay Cobras brought home silverware for the second year in a row from the prestigious annual Sheffield Recfest tournament where they won the Championship Cup competition at the weekend.

This tournament is an impressive feat of planning and logistics and featured 15 different teams taking part in 60 short-format games over the two days.

In the initial group games on the Saturday, the Cobras Beat Solihull Jesters 2-0 but lost to Milton Keynes 1-4, Streatham Nightwolves 0-3 and Sheffield Blazers 0-2. This saw them finish the day in fourth place in their 5-team group with 2 points from a possible 8.

For the Sunday games, all of the teams were put into new groups reflecting their relative finishing positions on the Saturday and the Cobras were put in the Championship C Group. They beat Solihull Jesters 6-1, Cleveland Comets 2-0 and drew 2-2 with Birmingham Rockets, setting up a tantalising group decider game against Deeside rink-mates Flintshire Phantoms which they won 3-0 

This meant that they finished in top spot with 7 points from their 4 games, 1 ahead of Birmingham and 2 ahead of Flintshire and brought home the Championship Cup to go with the Plate that they won last year. 

Sledge Hockey: Mayhem v Phantoms Postponed

Mayhem's Felicity Gregory (Photo by Blindside Trading Cards)

The Mayhem sledge team’s home game against Peterborough Phantoms that was scheduled to be played on Saturday had to be cancelled because of a technical fault that saw the Widnes rink closed for much of the week.

Sheffield Steelkings – the Steel City’s A team – have already secured the league title but Peterborough and Cardiff Huskies are in a battle to see who will finish as runners up in the league table. Aside from the obvious pride aspect, final league positions are important as they decide the fixture pairings for the end of season play offs and the higher finishing teams get the easier draw in the semi finals.

With Cardiff beating the Sheffield Steelstings development side 5-0 on Sunday, in what was the last league game for both teams, the Huskies have now moved above Peterborough into second place in the league table. The Phantoms are 2 points behind but have two games in hand.

The Mayhem have yet to play Peterborough this season and will travel down to East Anglia on 9th August for their last regular-schedule game of the season.  Before that, they are also due to play the Steelkings at home on 2nd August at Planet Ice Widnes.  

Peterborough need two points from their two games against the Mayhem to clinch second place and it is hoped that the cancelled home game can be re-arranged but, with the Widnes rink having been closed and ice time slots at a premium with other teams also needing to reschedule games, it may be difficult to find a suitable date.  

The situation is complicated by the fact that players and staff from both teams will be involved in the inaugural Women’s Para Ice Hockey World Championships, which will be held in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia, from 26th to 31st August - so the domestic league season needs to be brought to a close before then.

Mark Stokes To Referee Deeside Testimonial

Referee Mark Stokes
(Photo by Flyfifer Photography)

It’s not very often that a referee gets applauded onto the ice but that is likely to be the case at the Larry & Snip Testimonial game this Saturday at Deeside Leisure Centre as the match referee will be none other than former Flintshire Freeze player coach Mark Stokes.

Following a fascinating career where he played for Sheffield Sabres, Sunderland Indians, Blackburn Hawks, Telford Tigers, Manchester Storm, and Altrincham Aces, Stokes was one of the founders of the Flintshire Freeze club when the new Deeside rink opened in 1998.

He was the Freeze Player Coach for 7 seasons from 1998 to 2005 – guiding the club to the ENL North title in 2003/04 - and stayed on as non playing head coach for two seasons from 2005 to 2007.

Both Marc Lovell and James Parsons made their senior debuts with the Freeze under Stokes in 1999/00 and 2004/05 respectively.  

Stokes is now an NIHL qualified referee and will be wearing the armbands for the long serving duo’s testimonial game. “Team Stripes” for the evening will be completed by Dave Clancy and Mackenzie Wilkes who will be linesmen. 

Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, Stokes said:  

“ I am really looking forward to coming up to Deeside and seeing all the guys connected to the team past and present. I remember Marc joining us when he was only 17 and James a few years later. Both had exceptional skills and ability - and to play as long as they did with their own lives to navigate personally as well is no mean feat.” 

“They both have given a lot to the Deeside area and deserve this farewell and I am certainly proud to see them at the end of their hockey career. Unfortunately I wont be lining up on the ice with them as I will be playing a different role in the game, so am really looking forward to it.”

The Larry & Snip Testimonial will take place on Saturday 26th July at Deeside Leisure Centre.  Doors open at 4.30pm and face off is at 5.15.

Tickets cost £10 for adults, £4 for children and £8 for concessions and can be bought in advance HERE

Deeside Testimonial Will Be A Family Affair

Families play a big part in ice hockey and this will be clearly demonstrated at Saturday’s testimonial game where there will be THREE generations from each family involved on the team benches.

Team Larry - Marc Lovell’s team - will have his father Barry Lovell as Head Coach for the day and Marc’s two sons Lucas and Logan both as players.  Barry was a manager with the various Deeside junior teams while Marc was playing up through the age groups.

Both Marc’s sons are Junior Dragons players. Logan played for the Under 10s team last season and also played up with the U12s and Lucas played for the Under 12s.  

Team Snip will feature James Parsons as captain, his father Keith Parsons - who was one of the original Dragons players when the team first started up in 1974 - as Head Coach, and James’ daughter Ella, who plays for the Junior Dragons U10 team.

The two teams for the night have been made up from a mixture of current Dragons, former Dragons and Freeze players and other former team mates of Lovell and Parsons, so there should be plenty of familiar faces on view.  (See more HERE) 

The Larry & Snip Testimonial will take place on Saturday 26th July at Deeside Leisure Centre.  Doors open at 4.30pm and face off is at 5.15.

Tickets cost £10 for adults, £4 for children and £8 for concessions and can be bought in advance HERE

Mayhem To Face Phantoms This Saturday (UPDATE 17/7: GAME OFF!)

Mayhem's leading goalscorer Karl Nicholson (Photo by Blindside Trading Cards)

Update 17/07/2025:  Please note that Saturday's game has been called off due to a technical problem at the Widnes rink.  Attempts were made to try and find an alternative venue - but to no avail.  There are hopes that the game can be rescheduled.  

The Mayhem sledge team may be out of the title race for the 2025 British Para Ice Hockey League season – the crown was won by Sheffield Steelkings at the weekend – but they may still have a say in who finishes second in this year’s standings.

The Mayhem have two games yet to play against Peterborough Phantoms,  who lost out to Sheffield at the weekend, ending their own title ambitions,  but can still finish in the runners up spot if they win their remaining games.

The other team in the mix for second place are last year’s champions Cardiff Huskies who have had a disappointing campaign by their usual standards and currently sit in third.

This coming weekend will be a crucial one as Cardiff play the Sheffield Steelstings (development team) in their last game of the season on Sunday, while the Mayhem are at home to the Phantoms at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday (6.30pm face off).

The Mayhem are then at home to the Steelkings on Saturday 2nd August before travelling away to Peterborough on 9th August in their last game of the regular season.

GB international player Karl Nicholson is the Mayhem’s leading goal-scorer so far this season with 9 goals from 5 games, while Anthony Booth is second with 5 and the team will need all their players to be on top form as they take on the league’s top two teams in their closing games of the season.   

Sledge Hockey 2025: Round-Up #10

The Sheffield Steelkings secured the 2025 British Para Ice Hockey league title with a 2-4 win away to closest rivals Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday.

Peterborough had been the only team left in the league with a chance of overtaking the Steelkings but they will now have to make do with battling for the runners up position, along with last year’s league Champions Cardiff Huskies.

Although the league title may be sewn up, there is still plenty of sledge hockey yet to be played with 4 games to go in the regular season and the play off weekend at Lee Valley in September.

This weekend sees the Manchester Mayhem take on Peterborough on Saturday 19^th July at Planet ice Widnes in the first meeting between the two teams this season (6.30pm face off)

Sunday sees Cardiff host bottom club Sheffield Steelstings in the Welsh capital in what will be the last league game for both teams. (6.15pm start).

Wild Women Promoted to Division 1

Auld Acquaintance – Wild Women puck drop against Solway Sharks in 2019 (Photo by Paul Breeze)

The Widnes Wild women’s team have been promoted following their league title win last season and will play in Division 1 of the WNIHL for the forthcoming season.

The Wild Women struggled last time they were in this division but it is important to strive to play at the highest level you can and the competition has been regionalised into North and South sections since then. This means that they no longer have to face difficult away journeys to places such as Swindon and Chelmsford.

They will however, have to undertake 4 away trips north of the border to Scotland where they will renew auld acquaintance with Solway Sharks Ladies – who play in Dumfries – and Caledonia Steel Queens, who are based in Edinburgh. 

The other teams making up Division 1 North for next season are Sheffield Shadows, Kingston Diamonds and Nottingham Vipers, making for a 20 game schedule with 2 home and 2 away matches against each team.

The league programme will run from September to May, with end of season play offs being held for the top teams at the end of May.

***

In order to support their campaign in the second tier of women’s ice hockey next season, the Wild Women are keen to hear from potential sponsors who can help them out financially - or in some other way. 

The Wild women have sponsorship packages available to suit all budgets - from individuals up to large companies – and anybody interested in offering support for the new season is asked to contact the team via their social media or by email to: widneswildwomen@gmail.com

***

Following their promotion to Division 1, the Wild Women are keen to attract new players for the 2025/26 season and are offering trial opportunities at their weekly training sessions during August.

The sessions run on Tuesday evenings from 9.30 to 10.30pm at Planet Ice Widnes from 5th August and players must be aged 14 or over and have their own insurance or be covered by EIHA trial insurance.

Anybody interested in taking part is asked to fill out the Summer Training form, which can be found on the Widnes Wild Women’s Facebook page .

Players with higher league or international experience are especially welcome.

Deeside Testimonial For Long Serving Duo

Marc Lovell and James Parsons (Photo by Billingham Stars IHC)

The Deeside Dragons club are holding a special testimonial match on Saturday 26^th July at Deeside Leisure Centre to honour the long service of Marc Lovell and James Parsons, who both retired from playing at the end of the season.

Marc Lovell was a Deeside junior player, graduating to senior hockey with the Flintshire Freeze in the 1999/00 season, and has some 600 competitive appearances at ENL / NIHL level or higher to his credit.

As well as 20-plus seasons with the Freeze and Dragons at Deeside, he also played one season with Manchester Phoenix in the Elite League and 3 seasons with Telford in the EPL.

James Parsons was also a Deeside junior, made his senior debut in 2004/05, and went on to play over 500 competitive matches at ENL / NIHL level with the Flintshire Freeze and Deeside Dragons, notching up over 700 points over a 20 year period.

Aside from a season at Blackburn in 2021/22 when the Deeside rink was closed after Covid and a few loan appearances in the EPL with Telford Tigers and Manchester Phoenix, he has played his entire career at Deeside.

The Testimonial game will be contested between two teams that have been put together especially - “Team Larry” (after Lovell’s club nickname) and “Team Snip” (for James Parsons). Each team will have a mixture of current and former Dragons on their bench, along with former team-mates, other friends from the world of ice hockey, and family members.

Special one–off playing shirts have been designed for the occasion and a number of them will be raffled off at the game to help boost the testimonial fund.

Tickets for the Larry & Snip Testimonial game cost £10 for adults, £4 for children and £8 for concessions and can be bought in advance HERE . 

The two teams for the match will be as follows:

Team Snip (James Parsons)

Netminders; Phil Pearson, Grahame Bird

Defence: Steve Fellows, Ollie Lomax, Matt Wainwright, Billy Perks, Cade King, Karl Bacon

Forwards: Aaron Davies, Jared Dickinson, Filip Supa, Gary Dixon, Scott Barnett, Andrew Chappell, Geoff Wigglesworth, Steve Elliot, James Parsons, MJ Clancy, Ella Parsons

Head Coach: Keith Parsons

Assistant Coaches: Mike Clancy and Des Founds

Team Manager: Bruce Morton

 

Team Larry (Marc Lovell)

Netminders:  Matt Compton, Phil Crosby

Defence: Mike Jones, Dave Costelloe, Ryan Jones, Kenny Williams, Gary Shaw, Marc Lovell, Mark Thomas, Logan Lovell 

Forwards:  Andy McKinney, Dan Mackriel, Alan Steele, Pete Founds, Alex Parry, Jason Hewitt, Jase Parry, Charlie Spridgeon, Ross Kennedy, Paul Davies, Lucas Lovell

Head Coach; Barry Lovell

Assistant Coaches: Phil Kennedy & Steve Parry

The Larry & Snip Testimonial will take place on Saturday 26th July at Deeside Leisure Centre.  Doors open at 4.30pm and face off is at 5.15.  

Sledge Hockey 2025: Round-Up #9

The Sheffield Steelkings gave their league title hopes a huge boost with a 5-0 win over Manchester Mayhem at iceSheffield on Saturday.

The Mayhem team travelled short of a number of regular players and only had the minimum 5+1 available. This meant that everybody had to remain on the ice for the whole game with no line changes so it was always going to be a bit of an uphill struggle against the league leaders.

Three goals for the Steelkings in the first period pretty much killed the game as a contest and one more in both the second and third period saw them romp to a 5-0 victory.  

The goals were shared among 5 different scorers - Ben O'Brien, Jake Oakley, Daniel Clarke, John Plummer, and Matt Clarkson – and netminders Jonathan Gill and Andrew Jackson backstopped the Kings to their 4th shutout of the season.

On Sunday, Peterborough Phantoms beat the Steelstings development team 0-9 at iceSheffield to move into second place in the league table. 

The BPIHL’s top scorer for the season so far Gary Farmer scored 7 goals,  with D-Jay Hall and Callum Shakespeare contributing the others.  Daniel Lee recorded a 3-shot shut out for his third clean sheet of the season.

The weekend results mean that the Steelkings are now three points ahead at the top of the league table with 11 points and 2 games left to play.

Peterborough Phantoms move into second place with 8 points from 5 games, level with Cardiff Huskies, who have played 2 games more.

Last season’s champions Cardiff are now out of the title race as they only have one game left in the regular season so Peterborough are the only team able to catch Sheffield and possibly snatch the crown from them.

The Phantoms take on the Steelkings this Saturday 12^th July in what will effectively be a title decider for this season’s league championship.  If Sheffield beat Peterborough in that game, they will be uncatchable in top spot.