Deeside Dragons Win Moralee Cup

Deeside Dragons - Moralee Cup winners 2025/26 (Photo by Paul Breeze)

Saturday 21^st February 2026 – Moralee Cup Final (1): Telford Tigers 7 - Deeside D1 Dragons 9

Sunday 22^nd February 2026 – Moralee Cup Final (2): Deeside D1 Dragons 6 – Telford Tigers 5

(Deeside win 15-12 on Aggregate)

The Deeside D1 Dragons won the prestigious NIHL Moralee Cup for the first time in their history with a 15-12 two-leg aggregate victory over Telford Tigers at the weekend.

They won the away leg down in Shropshire 7-9 on Saturday and then completed the job at home with a 6-5 victory at Deeside Leisure Centre on Sunday.

The first leg away in Telford on Saturday was full of goals and incidents. Deeside opened the scoring after just 9 seconds with a goal from Ross Kennedy on their very first attack and it was 0-2 to Deeside with a Colin Cromie goal two minutes later.  

Telford pulled a goal back on 4 minutes but Jake Witkowski restored the two-goal cushion with a well taken breakaway strike on 7 minutes. Telford scored again just 14 seconds after that and went on to level on 12 minutes to leave the score at 3-3 at the first period break.

The second period was just as closely fought - with goals from Jared Dickinson and Ryan Jones putting Deeside two goals ahead once again and Telford again fighting back to be level at 5-5 at the second interval.

The back and forth continued in the third period as Deeside took the lead again on 42 minutes with a Rhys Edwards goal and Telford equalised once more 2 minutes later.

Darmani James fired the Dragons back into the lead on 45 minutes and this was shortly followed by a fight over by the Telford players bench which went on to have repercussions for the outcome of the game.

The resulting penalties from the fight saw Deeside playing with a man advantage for a full 5 minutes and they made the most of this with 2 powerplay goals from Jake Witkowski to build up a 6-9 lead.

Telford eventually pulled a goal back with 5 minutes left to play but that was the last of the action and the Dragons were able to take a two goal aggregate lead into the second leg the next day.

As with the first game, Deeside took an early lead in the return leg with a Colin Cromie goal just 80 seconds in.

Further goals followed - from Damarni James and Theo Malone - and the Dragons were 3-0 up after 6 minutes of play.

Telford were really lacklustre in the first period and the Dragons’ tally could have been much higher as they outshot the visitors by 3 to 1. The Tigers eventually managed a goal of their own with just 40 seconds to go in the period and the score stood at 3-1 at the first break.

The Tigers perked up in the second period and began to look more dangerous going forward. They scored a second goal on 24 minutes but Ross Kennedy hit back for Deeside just 30 seconds later to restore the 2 goal cushion. Telford kept chipping away, however and were rewarded with two more goals late in the period, leaving the score standing at a finely balanced 4-4 at the second interval.

A Rhys Edwards goal on 43 minutes put Deeside back into the lead – 5-4 on the night and 14-11 on aggregate - but a 6-player fight 3 minutes after that seemed to break down any momentum that they might have been hoping to build up.

Three players from each side were sent to the penalty box and a Telford player was banished from the game but the upheaval seemed to rock Deeside more and Telford equalised in the aftermath with a goal on 49 minutes.

The Dragons were on the back foot after this as Telford sensed that they might still have a chance of snatching the silverware. The tension increased around the rink as the clock ticked down and then Jake Witkowski fired in a goal with 92 seconds left to secure the win - and the trophy - for the Dragons.

The Moralee Cup was presented to Deeside team captain Jared Dickinson by England Ice Hockey representatives Martin Peters and Michelle Leigh and the players and coaches all received commemorative medals and caps.

The D1 Dragons return to league action next weekend with a game away to Nottingham Lions on Saturday 28^th February, 1pm face off.  They are back at home the following day when they take on Hull Jets at Deeside Leisure Centre, 5.15pm face off.