Monday, 18 December 2023

Match Report: Sheffield Scimitars 1 - Widnes Wild 3 (Moralee Division)

Luca Tessadri saves a penalty shot away at Sheffield – photo by Angela Reid

Saturday 16th December – Moralee Division: Sheffield Scimitars 1 – Widnes Wild 3

The Widnes Wild NIHL team’s up and down season continued with a 1-3 win away to Sheffield Scimitars on Saturday and a 1-7 home defeat at the hands of Billingham Stars at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.

The away game on Saturday saw the welcome return of Andrew Hopkins, who had been sidelined with a long term injury, and – somewhat impressively - was the 5th game in 3 days for the indefatigable Rhys Edwards who had already played once at the venue for the Bradford Bulldogs earlier in the day.

Widnes got off to a flying start and goals from Bailey Thomson, Mikey Gilbert and Andrew Hopkins gave them a 0-3 lead at the first period break. 

The short-benched home side closed up a bit in the second period and finally managed to score a goal of their own on 37 minutes. They had the chance to further narrow the deficit shortly afterwards when they were awarded a penalty shot but Widnes netminder Luca Tessadri made the save to keep the score at 1-3 after 40 minutes of play. 

The third period played out goal-less and the Wild were able to ease off in the latter stages to conserve their energy for the home game against league leaders Billingham Stars the following night.