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| Deeside v Widnes matches are always very "passionate" encounters (Photo by Geoff White) |
This weekend sees keenly anticipated back to back NIHL Moralee Division matches between near neighbours (in ice hockey terms, at least...) Deeside Dragons and Widnes Wild, who enjoy a fierce rivalry dating back to when the Wild team was formed back in 2013.
Needless to say, there have been some
memorable encounters over the years - and here are just a few of them:
The Wild’s first ever league game was away at
Deeside on 8th September 2013 and the Dragons won 9-5.
The first Widnes Wild game that I ever saw
was also against Deeside. It was the first game of the 2015/16 season and
Deeside won away in Widnes 5-7 – and they went on to win the Laidler Division
title that year.
That season had quite a few memorable moments
– some humorous, some less so. It
started off with Scott McKenzie ‘s slightly embarrassing press conference where
he confidently announced that Widnes would “definitely” win the league that
year – and later on, in reply, we had Phil Lowndes’ iconic “Widnes Pussies”
video clip.
Scott McKenzie: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1679189762330278
Phil Lowndes: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1669912499924671
The Dragons actually secured the Laidler
title with a 7-7 draw away at Widnes on Valentine’s Day and went on to finish
10 points clear of the Wild in the final league table. However, the latter part
of that regular league schedule season is probably best remembered for the
abandoned game at Deeside on 26th March when Widnes refused to play
on after an unfortunate incident in the 25th minute of the game.
For anybody who wants to watch / revisit what
happened there, you can see the incident and the aftermath from 34.30 onwards
on the Drop The Puck episode here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNOL7anI2K0
3rd February 2019 saw a very unusual incident in a Dragons away game at Widnes. This was the occasion when the match officials decided to award a retrospective goal to Deeside nearly a 2 full minutes after it had happened - and then wound the game clock and penalties back and replayed the intervening match time…
You can see the original incident at 5.30 on
the highlights video, the on-ice deliberations from 7.00 to 8.30 and then
slow-motion replays of the “was it / wasn’t it” goal from 8.30 to 9.00.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7omQW54TH2I
I am not convinced that this course of action
was actually allowed for in the rules - and internet research hasn’t uncovered
any other instances where it had ever happened before.
Widnes won the game 11-4, by the way
And, to round off this brief saunter down a Memory Lane of unusual occurrences, in another passionately contested Wild v Dragons clash at Widnes – in the Moralee Division this time, on 6th November 2022 - at 59.57, the referee awarded Widnes a PENALTY GOAL. While I knew this was on the rule books, in over 40 years of watching British ice hockey, I had never personally seen this happen before – or, indeed, since.
By way of explanation, the Dragons had
removed their netminder in favour of an extra attacker to try and force a late equaliser
and the Widnes forward (Matty Barlow – now a Deeside Dragon) broke away and was
bearing down on an empty net when he was tripped. With the goal being undefended, in those
circumstances, the presumption is that the attacker will score, so a Penalty
Goal is awarded instead of a Penalty Shot.
You can see this unusual incident at 1.04.25
to 1.04.40 on the Drop The Puck highlights video. The rest of the programme is
worth a watch as well, obviously…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2KeRjyPtaY
So, these are a few of my own keenly
remembered moments from Deeside v Widnes games
There was, of course, also the Laidler Play Off
final in 2016 that Deeside won 5-2 - and
the one off Promotion Play Off, played at Blackburn, that ended all square and was
won by the Dragons in overtime. The list
could go on and on... and I am sure you will have plenty more memories of
your own.
Anyway, the next
thrilling instalment of the ongoing Deeside v Widnes rivalry can be seen this
weekend when the Wild host the Dragons at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday 10th
January – 7pm face off – and Deeside are at home to Widnes in the return
fixture on Sunday at Deeside Leisure Centre – 5.15pm start.
