 |
| Alex Parry (Photo by Peter Sheffield) and Matt Barlow (Photo by David Tattum) |
The fixture list for the Moralee Division has been announced for the forthcoming 2025/26 NIHL division season.
Whitley Warriors have moved to play in the Scottish National league for the new season and their place in the Moralee Division has been taken by Telford Tigers 2 who move up a league after having won the Laidler Division last season.
Widnes Wild will start their league campaign with three away trips - to Sheffield Scimitars on 7th September, Telford Tigers on 13th September and Solihull Barons on 14th September – before playing their first home game against Blackburn Hawks on Sunday 21st September.
However, as with every season, the most keenly anticipated dates in the Widnes fixture schedule are the meetings between Widnes Wild and Deeside Dragons, who enjoy a fierce local rivalry going back over a decade.
Because of the relative proximity between the two teams, these games are always robustly competed, passionate affairs. There has been a regular interchange of players over the years and this season’s new arrivals are likely to add further spice to the meetings between the two teams
The Dragons squad for the coming season includes former Wild players Phil Pearson, Matt Wainwright, Will Harper and MJ Clancy and they have recently upped the ante with the signings of Matty Barlow and Rhys Edwards.
Barlow has been a long term favourite at Widnes and has scored 54 competitive goals for the Wild in 140 games spread over 3 spells with the club.
Rhys Edwards made his Moralee Division debut with the Wild in the 2022/23 season and made 49 competitive appearances for them over 2 seasons, scoring 25 goals and 27 assists. He spent last season playing in Hull where he split his time between the Jets in the Moralee Division and the Seahawks in the National Division.
Widnes are still working on their roster for the new season but two signings that immediately leap off the page - and who both played for Deeside Dragons last season - are Alex Parry and Oliver (Oli) Howells.
Parry is a long term Deeside junior and senior player and made his ENL debut with the Flintshire Freeze in the 2009/10 season. Apart from the 2021/22 season when the Deeside rink was closed after Covid, he has played his whole career to date with the Freeze and the Dragons notching up some 280 competitive games at ENL / NIHL level, scoring 91 goals and 130 assists.
Oli Howells has played for the Dragons for the past 2 seasons, scoring 1+6 in 53 games from his defensive role. He is a graduate of the Telford junior development system and, with spells with the Tigers 2, Sheffield Titans and Scimitars and Solihull Barons – as well as his stint at Deeside - has some 137 NIHL appearances to his record since his senior breakout season in 2021/22.
With all teams playing each other twice at home and twice away during the regular league season, there are 4 league meetings between the Wild and the Dragons for fans to look forward to – spread over two weekends.
The first meetings will take place over the weekend of 4th and 5th October, with the game in Deeside on the Saturday and the return in Widnes on the Sunday. The second local derby weekend will take place on 10th and 11th January with the game being played in Widnes on the Saturday and the reverse fixture in Deeside on the Sunday.
Deeside Dragons have pre-season home and away challenge matches against Telford Tigers on Saturday 6th September (home) and Sunday 7th (away).
They then start their league campaign away to Sheffield Scimitars on Saturday 13th September and are at home to the same opposition the next day.
The Dragons will, once again be taking part in the two-legged Welsh Cup competition against Cardiff Fire, hoping to retain the trophy that they won last season. The away game is on Saturday 20th September and the home tie is the following Saturday 27th September.
