Bez Hughes was the Wild’s MVP in their last game of the season - at home to Nottingham. (Photo by Keith & Jenny Davies)
Saturday 22nd March 2025 – NIHL Moralee Division: Widnes Wild 7 - Nottingham Lions 5
The Widnes Wild NIHL team finished the season on a winning note with a thrilling 7-5 victory over Nottingham Lions at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday.
Nottingham took an early lead just 9 seconds into the game but goals from Mikey Gilbert and Andrew Hopkins saw Widnes leading 2-1 at the first period break.
The second period was another belter with three goals coming for each side. Matty Barlow, Dani Haid and Luke Alston were all on target for the Wild ensuring that Widnes went into the second interval with a slender 5-4 lead.
The third period was just as closely fought and Nottingham made quite a fight of it but two goals from Barlow in the third period – rounding off a well-deserved hat-trick - settled matters and the Wild were able to celebrate their third home win in a row
With Leeds Knights losing away at Sheffield, the three league points from the win temporarily lifted Widnes up into 8th place in the Moralee Division table, occupying the final play off spot. However, Leeds were due to play Nottingham on the Sunday and if they won that game, they would leapfrog back above the Wild in the final standings.
As it turned out, Nottingham looked as if they would be doing the Wild a big favour in Leeds as they raced to a 0-3 lead in the game on Sunday. The Knights fought back, however, tying the match 3-3 at the end of regulation time, and then went on to win 4-3 in overtime. The OTW gave them 2 points and means that they finish just 1 point ahead of the Wild in the final Moralee Division table, securing the 8th and final play off spot.
The quarter final pairings for the Play Offs are based on final league positions with 1st v 8th, 2nd v 7th and so on. This means that the line up for the quarter finals is Billingham Stars v Leeds Knights, Blackburn Hawks v Nottingham Lions, Solihull Barons v Whitley Warriors and Deeside Dragons v Hull Jets.
The ties will be played over two legs, home and away, this Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th March, with the winning teams progressing to two-legged semi finals the weekend after.
The Play Off finals for all four regional NIHL Divisions will take place as per to the Steel City Showdown weekend in Sheffield on Saturday 12th April
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The Widnes Wild women’s team’s game that was scheduled to be played away against Leeds Roses on Saturday was postponed and will now take place on 10th May. The game will be played at Bradford due to a lack of available ice time at the Leeds rink and it will be the first time that the Wild Women have ever played at that venue.
