Ryan Jones was the Dragons' MVP against Nottingham (Photo by Emilia Roberts Photography)
Sunday 4th
January 2026 – NIHL Moralee Division: Deeside D1 Dragons 11 –
Nottingham Lions 2
The Deeside Dragons Moralee Division team got 2026 off to a winning
start with an 11-2 victory at home to Nottingham Lions at Deeside Leisure
Centre on Sunday.
The Dragons hit the ground running and took the lead with a Colin Cromie
goal after just 24 seconds but Nottingham put up a good fight in the early stages
and actually outshot Deeside by almost 2 to 1 in the first period.
In fact, it took until 17 minutes in for Cromie to score the Dragons’ second
of the night and the score stood at 2-0 at the first period break.
Nottingham fired in a powerplay goal just 61 seconds into the second period
and the score remained at a rather nervy 2-1 at the midway point in the game.
Two further Dragons’ goals did eventually follow – from team captain
Jared Dickinson and Jake Witkowksi - but it was far from a done deal at that period,
despite a 4-1 lead at the second interval.
The mounting Deeside pressure paid off in the third period, however, and
a goal-fest ensued. Witkowsi scored his second goal of the night straight from the
face off and then added his hat-track strike 5 minutes later.
Then, Ross Kennedy got in on the act on 50 minutes exactly and Deeside
looked to be cruising.
Nottingham did pull another goal back on 52 minutes but it was too late
by then to mount any sort of comeback and two more goals from Kennedy brought him
a third period hat—trick.
Witkowski added a fourth to his tally and defenceman Ryan Jones also fired
in a goal – his second of the season - and went on to be named Dragons’ MVP for
the game.
The win means that the Dragons move back up into third place in the
Moralee Division table, overtaking Solihull Barons who didn’t have a game this
weekend, and they now have 47 points from 22 games
Telford Tigers have climbed into second place after back to back away
wins over Sheffield and Widnes and they are now 3 points ahead of Deeside,
although they have played a game more.
League leaders Blackburn Hawks were also without a game at the weekend but
are now further ahead at the top of the table after two wins over the festive
period and they now have 66 points from 24 games.
