Riverside Raiders 2 – Wyre Seagulls 10
Period Scores: 0-3, 1-3, 1-4
Penalties In Minutes: Raiders 37 – Seagulls 37
Match Officials: Neil Herring & Ray Ormes
Scorer: Lucy London
Timekeeper: Howard Smith & Shannon Holt
The Riverside Raiders were beaten 2-10 by the Wyre Seagulls in a bruising yet highly entertaining Summer Classic Cup game at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
The Seagulls arrived with the only 100% record left in the competition
and, with a liberal smattering of former league players on their bench, were
always going to be a tough team to beat.
However, as it turned out, the opening phase of the game was very even
- with chances for both teams - and it took until the 8th minute for the
Seagulls to take lead through a Matthew Duncan strike.
Two more goals gave the visitors a 0-3 lead at the first period break
and they edged further ahead with a hat trick goal for Duncan and a fourth
overall with just 2 minutes gone of the second period.
The Raiders finally opened their account on 25 minutes with a powerplay
goal from Matthew Lennox and this served to lift them as a team and they surged
forward in an attempt to further close the gap.
Unfortunately, this left them vulnerable at the back and the Seagulls
scored two more goals to finish the period with a 1-6 lead. A fourth goal from
the Seagulls’ Duncan in the 46th minute effectively ended the game as a contest
and the visitors went on to score three more goals to edge their tally into
double figures.
The game ended on a slightly more "lively" note than might
otherwise have been expected as there was a bit of a skirmish - involving
several players from both sides - with just three minutes left to play and
which took considerably longer than that for the match officials to work out
the resulting penalties.
Two players were banished to the dressing rooms for fighting and 4
further Raiders players and two Wyre players packed into their respective
penalty boxes.
The Seagulls then managed to pick up two more penalties in the last
minute of the game and the home side had the last laugh in terms of goals after
Dave Priestley scored a powerplay goal with 27 seconds left on the clock.
While they may have lost the game, the Raiders gained a song as Poet In
Residence Lucy London – who helps out as scorer for the matches – has written a
song to cheer the team out onto the ice. The song has been set to music and
recorded by Liverpool based Canadian musician Jason Moon and Lucy presented a
CD copy of the "Riverside Raiders" song to the team’s Game
Co-ordinator Howard Hughes after the match.
The Most Valuable Player awards went to Matthew Duncan for the Wyre
Seagulls and Ben Donkin for the Raiders and were presented by young player
Caleb Eddleston - who will be playing for the Wild Academy Under 9 team next
season - and match volunteer Shannon Holt.
*****
The Riverside Raiders play their last Western Conference game of this year’s
Summer Classic Cup this Sunday 14th July when they entertain the Blackburn
Buccaneers at Planet Ice Widnes.
The two teams drew 3-3 in their previous meeting with the Buccaneers
taking the overtime win after a dramatic penalty shoot-out and Sunday’s game
will be highly significant as it will help decide which of the two teams will
qualify for the play offs. The game faces off at 4.30pm and admission is free.
 |
| The Most Valuable Player awards went to Matthew Duncan for the Wyre Seagulls and Ben Donkin for the Raiders and were presented by young player Caleb Eddleston - who will be playing for the Wild Academy Under 9 team next season - and match volunteer Shannon Holt (Photos by Paul Breeze) . |
Full Team Line-Ups & Player Statistics:
RIVERSIDE RAIDERS: Alex Hannah, Michael Filek, Rob Melvin (NM, 58.45), James Kelly (0+1), Matthew Lennox (1+0), Howard Hughes (2PIM), Luke Williams (2PIM), Ben Donkin (4PIM) , Jeff Chapman-Watson, Jack Walker (0+1), Bobak Samari (2PIM), Daniel Trust (25PIM), Nicholas Jackson, David Priestley (1+0, 2PIM), Mike Teinert
WYRE SEAGULLS: Nicholas Hageman (2PIM), Mark Kay, Jonathan Brumby (1+0, 2PIM), Daniel Coxon, Chris Brumby (0+1), Matthew Duncan (4+3), Kieron Hardman (1+2), Matthew Milhench (NM 60mins), Matthew Hook (2+2, 2PIM), Daniel Skelton, Adam Fleet (2+1), Ben Cleary (0+1), Wesley Evans, Craig Pennington (0+1, 2PIM), Chris Wareing, Mark Jenkins, Conor Duthie (2PIM), Jordan Bradshaw (25PIM)
