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| Charlotte McAdam was the Wild Women's MVP against Caledonia (Photo by Paul Breeze) |
Sunday 26th October 2025 – WNIHL Division 1 North: Widnes Wild Women 1 – Caledonia Steel Queens 7
The Widnes Wild Women put in a plucky performance in their second home game of the new WNIHL season, losing out 1-7 to the Caledonia Steel Queens at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday
While any defeat is always disappointing, this result needs to be put into its correct context as the Wild Women are playing in a higher division this season – having won the Division 2 North title last season. They lost away 16-1 to the same opposition up in Edinburgh a few weeks ago, so this would have to be looked upon as an improvement.
The game saw Wild Women debuts for Tayla Huxley-Richards - a former Deeside junior – and Olivia Clough, who are both playing on a 2-way arrangement with the Manchester Storm women’s team.
Despite the final result Widnes didn’t play badly in this game. While the Steel Queens were clearly on top for lengthy spells, the Wild Women did put together some good plays themselves and, on another day – with the rub of the green – might well have scored a few more goals.
As it was, it took the Steel Queens 8½ minutes to break down the stubborn Wild defence and score their first goal. A second goal followed on 14 minutes but the 0-2 scoreline at the first period break still looked quite respectable.
A third Caledonia goal followed on 28 minutes and two more on 32 and 35 minutes began to give the game a more one-sided look than it necessarily deserved.
Widnes fans were finally given something to cheer about at 36.15 when Lise Gillen fired in a well-taken unassisted goal to break the home duck for the game.
Unfortunately, the Wild Women were not able to build on this breakthrough and the score stood at 1-5 at the second interval.
Two more goals in the third period – one on 42 minutes and another with just 43 seconds left on the clock – extended the Caledonia lead but Stephanie Drinkwater put in an heroic display in the Widnes net to keep the score down. Over the course of the game, she faced 67 shots, of which she stopped an impressive 60 for an 89.6 Save Percentage.
The MVP (Most Valuable Player) awards are once again this season being sponsored by niche publishers Ice Hockey Review and were presented by Lynda Bird. They went to Molly McGillian for Caledonia and Charlotte McAdam for Widnes.
The Wild Women are next in action on Sunday 9th November when they play Sheffield Shadows away in the Steel City. They are next at home on Sunday 23rd November when they take on Kingston Diamonds at Planet Ice Widnes, 4.25pm face off.
