The Widnes Wild Academy sent two teams to the Under 18 tournament in Sheffield at the weekend – one in the “A Competition” and one in the “B Competition” – and, while they didn’t win many of their games, they picked up a lot of useful experience.
The Sheffield tournament is a national event and attracts teams from right across the country – and sometimes abroad - and this gives the players the opportunity to play against different teams to those who they usually meet in their normal regionalised league competitions. This weekend, for example, saw teams from Milton Keynes, Slough and Gosport taking part, as well as a team from Holland.
In the A Competition, the Wild U18A team lost 4-0 to the Sheffield Steelhawks, 1-0 to an U16s Select team, 2-0 to Slough and 3-2 to the Dutch Flyers team from Holland. Their only success on the ice came in a 1-1 draw with Leeds and they finished bottom of the 6-team group table.
The Wild U18B team fared slightly better in the B Competition, losing 4-1 to eventual winners Milton Keynes, 1-0 to Deeside, 3-0 to Sheffield and 3-0 to Leeds but they did pick up a 1-0 win over Solent (Gosport) to finish 5th out of the 6 teams.
The Wild Academy are looking to recruit new players for the 2024/2025 season across all age groups from Under 10 to Under 18 and have been holding a series of welcome sessions at the Planet Ice rink during May and June.
Separate “Learn To Play” sessions are also available for anybody new who would like to take up the sport. For more information, contact Academy Head Coach mike.gilbert@wildacademy.co.uk
