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| The Widnes Wild Women celebrate their Division 2 North title win at the WNIHL Play Offs (Photo by Stewart Cutting) |
Saturday 24th May 2020 – WNIHL Play Off Semi Final: Widnes Wild Women 1 – Streatham Storm 8
The Widnes Wild women’s team put in a battling performance in their Play Off semi final at iceSheffield on Saturday, ultimately losing out 1-8 to Streatham Storm – but they, at least, had something to celebrate as they were presented with the trophy and medals for winning the Division 2 North League championship.
The Wild Women arrived at the Play Offs missing a few regular players and also had to contend with being the last game of the day, which didn’t face off until 8.15pm. Streatham were a bit of an unknown quantity as WNIHL North and South teams don’t usually play each other, although Widnes had played the Storm’s first team a few times back in their Women’s Premier League days.
As it turned out, the game was fairly even in its early stages with the two sides cautiously testing each other out. Just as it looked as if the first period would play out goal-less, Streatham fired in a goal to take the lead just 41 seconds from the buzzer. 73 seconds into the second period, the score was 0-2 to the southerners and on 25 minutes they went 0-3 ahead.
Widnes eventually found the back of the net themselves on 29 minutes with a goal from Leen de Decker, who picked up the puck behind the Storm goal and guided it around inside the right hand post – but that was about as good as things got for the Wild Women. Although they pushed forward, trying to build on this, Streatham scored again 4 minutes after that and the score remained 1-4 at the second period break.
The Widnes net bulged once again 34 seconds into the third period and, with Streatham leading 1-5 by then, the game was pretty much over as a contest. The Wild Women had their chances but were kept out by a stubborn Storm defence. This led to their own goal being put under intense pressure and only a string of impressive saves from Wild netminder Stephanie Drinkwater kept the score from being higher than it was.
The pressure continued, however, and three goals in the latter stages of the game handed Streatham a convincing 1-8 victory.
With Telford Wrekin Raiders also losing 8-1 in their semi final to Division 2 South champions Cambridge Kodiaks, this set up an all-south final on Sunday, which Cambridge went on to win 4-1.
After Saturday’s semi-final, the Wild Women were presented with the league championship trophy for their Division 2 North title win and the players were all given commemorative medals. This was an extra special moment for the Widnes team as the last time they won the league title - back in 2020 - the playoffs were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the presentations were never made.
The Wild Women have their end of season presentation evening this weekend and can then enjoy a few weeks’ break before preparations begin for the new 2025/26 WNIHL season.
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For the sake of completeness, the full list of the WNIHL Play Off weekend results were as follows:
Saturday 24th May
- Division 1 Semi Final 1: Bristol Huskies 2 – Caledonia Steel Queens 1
- Division 1 Semi Final 2: Kingston Diamonds 1 – Swindon Topcats 4
- Elite Semi Final 1: Solihull Vixens – Guildford Lightning 1
- Elite Semi Final 2: Queen Bees 7 – Whitley Bay 2
- Division 2 Semi Final 1: Cambridge Kodiaks 8 – Telford Wrekin Raiders 1
- Division 2 Semi Final 2: Widnes Wild Women 1- Streatham Storm 8
Sunday 25th May
- Under 16 Semi Final 1: Chelmsford Rattlesnakes 10 – Manchester Storm 1
- Under 16 Semi Final 2: Whitley 5 – Bristol 1
- Division 1 Final: Bristol Huskies 3 – Swindon Topcats 2
- Division 2 Final: Cambridge Kodiaks 4 – Streatham Storm 1
- Elite Final: Solihull Vixens 0 - Queen Bees 2
Monday 26th May
- Under 16 Final: Chelmsford 4 - Whitley 3
- Elite v Div 1 Relegation Match: Kingston Diamonds v Bristol Huskies
