Laidler Conference Round Up - Weekend of 23rd & 24th January 2016

Altrincham Aces score away at Nottingham Lions
Photo by Urban Scot Photography

Second place Widnes Wild closed up slightly on leaders Deeside Dragons – who didn’t play at the weekend with a 5-8 win away at Bradford Bulldogs. Widnes were 1-5 up by the first break and never really looked like losing this game, in which they outshot their hosts

New Widnes signing - Telford under 18 player Joe Gilbert - picked up an assist on his first outing for the Wild and was named MVP for his new team.

It was a weekend of two halves for former league leaders Nottingham Lions. They beat bottom team Coventry Blaze 2-4 in Saturday night in a lively game that saw 162 PIM being handed out (Blaze 85 – Lions 77).   Blaze were actually 2-0 up at one point and all Lions 4 goals came in the last period.  The 4^th came in the very last minute as Coventry pulled their netminder in the hope of snatching a GTG.

On Sunday night, the Lions were beaten in their own den 1-2 by ever the improving Altrincham Aces. In a strangely lopsided game, all three goals came in the first period and what would turn out to be the winner was actually scored by Mikey Gilbert at 4.26.

The Lions remain in 3^rd place – three points behind Widnes Wild but having played a game more. Blackburn Eagles are in 4^th and are 6 points clear of Aces in the battle for the final play-off position.  Both team have ten games left to play and will meet each other once more home and away before the end of the season.