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| Wild Head Coach Tom Jackson was in a festive mood at the weekend (photo by David Tattum) |
Saturday 21st December 2024 – NIHL Moralee Division: Widnes Wild 4 - Deeside Dragons 10
Sunday 22nd December 2024 – NIHL Moralee Division: Widnes Wild 12 - Sheffield Scimitars 4
The Widnes Wild NIHL team pulled themselves off the bottom of the Moralee Division table with a sensational 12-4 win over fellow strugglers Sheffield Scimitars at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
It was a mixed weekend overall for the Wild as they lost at home to fierce local rivals Deeside Dragons 4-10 but, considering the season they have had so far, one out of two ain’t bad.
Games against the Dragons are always keen-fought and passionate affairs and Saturday’s match was no exception. Spice was added to the occasion by the presence of ex-Wild import Jakub Hajek on the Dragon’s bench, along with more former Widnes players in MJ Clancy, Matt Wainwright and Will Harper.
The game actually started well for the Wild and they took the lead with a goal from Tomas Vyrostek after just 4 minutes. Mikey Gilbert fired the Wild 2-0 up two minutes later but then a brace for the Dragons talented American import Jake Witkowski saw the score level at the first period break.
Witkowski fired the Dragons into the lead for the first time on 27 minutes with his hat trick goal and Clancy doubled the advantage for the visitors on 32 minutes.
Owen Rae pulled a goal back for Widnes just 2 minutes later with his first strike of the season but Hajek restored the two-goal cushion 2 minutes after that.
A goal from Wild captain Andrew Hopkins narrowed the deficit to just one on 37th minutes and the score stood at a tantalisingly close 4-5 at the second interval.
Everything went wrong for Widnes in the third period. Deeside scored again just 30 seconds from the restart and four more unanswered goals swept them to a convincing 4-10 victory.
With local bragging rights Deeside-bound down the M56 for the time being, Sunday’s game against Sheffield really was a “must win” for the Wild, knowing that a regulation time victory would lift them above the Scimitars in the league table and off the bottom spot that they had occupied for much of the season.
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| Bailey Thomson scored 4 goals in the Wild's win over Sheffield on Sunday (Photo by Keith & Jenny Davies) |
This game also started well for the Wild, with Bailey Thomson opening the scoring in the 4th minute and from then on, Widnes never looked like losing.
A second goal for Thomson on 14 minutes and then a strike for Mikey Gilbert two minutes later saw them with a 3-1 lead at the first period break and further goals - from Andrew Hopkins, Matty Barlow and Thomson again, for his hat-trick - made it 6-2 at the second interval.
Widnes really ran riot in the third period with goals from Ross Chalmers, Tomas Vyrostek, two more for Hopkins, a fourth from Thomas and a last minute strike from Damarani James with just 13 seconds left on the clock to round off an impressive victory.
The odd goal here and there from the plucky Sheffield side didn’t really matter too much as Widnes were able to celebrate their biggest ever win in the Moralee Division and the first time they have scored double figures since stepping up to the higher league in 2021.
Sunday’s win sees the Wild move above Sheffield into 9th place in the 10-team league table – with 11 points to the Scimitars’ 10 – and two points behind 8th place Leeds with a game in hand. The Wild now have a break to regroup and, hopefully, build on this achievement when the season restarts in January.
The first weekend of the new year sees them in a double header clash with the Nottingham Lions. They play away in the Lace City on Saturday 4th January – 1pm face off – and then at home the following day at Planet Ice Widnes, 5.30pm start.
The Wild haven’t played Nottingham yet this season and they are one of the teams who are on their radar as infinitely catch-able in the race for final league placings. As such, these two games will go a long way to defining the Widnes season as a whole.
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Play was interrupted after Tomas Vyrostek’s opening goal in the game against Deeside on Saturday – but it was all in a good cause.
It was the Wild’s annual “Air The Bear” Christmas Teddy Toss and it has become a tradition that, after the first goal is scored (assuming there is one and it is not a 0-0 draw…) fans throw donations of soft toys onto the ice.
These are then gathered up and distributed to good causes over the festive period
The Teddy Toss was generously supported by the visiting fans from Deeside as well and the toys will be taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and local animal shelters.
