Photo by Geoff White (www.gw-images.com)
Sunday 2nd May - Three Rivers Cup: Widnes Wild 4 Sheffield Scimitars 3
The YKK Widnes Wild secured an impressive home win at Planet Ice Widnes in an exciting and tense encounter.
The opening period was evenly contested, with both Harrison Walker for the Wild and Thomas Hovell in the Scimitars net being kept very busy. The Sheffield Scimitars opened the scoring late in the first period, courtesy of a power play goal from Scott McKenzie. Sheffield then doubled their advantage a couple of minutes later, to give them a 2-0 lead to take into the second period.
The Wild were able to respond early in the second period to get themselves back into the match. A goal from Adam Barnes, his first of the night, helped to cut the lead in half. The match continued at a high intensity, with both sides able to create decent goal scoring opportunities. However, the Scimitars continued to hold a slender advantage.
The third period proved to be gritty and aggressive, with Thomas Barry for the Wild and Jack Brammer for Sheffield both seeing penalties for roughing early in the period. Widnes then enjoyed a three goal explosion in the space of five minutes, courtesy of a goal from Brady Doxey and power play goals from Jordan Griffin and Adam Barnes.
With just under three minutes left on the clock, Thomas Barry and Jack Brammer were able to settle their score; with both players ending the match in the penalty box with fighting penalties. The Scimitars pulled a goal back in the last seconds of the match, but it was not enough to deny Widnes a great win on home ice.