Match Report: Deeside D2 Dragons 4 – Coventry Blaze 3 (NIHL Laidler Division)

James Shaw was the D2 Dragons' MVP against Coventry (Photo by Paul Breeze)

Saturday 14th February 2026 – NIHL Laidler Division: Deeside D2 Dragons 4 – Coventry Blaze 3

Sunday 15th February 2026 – NIHL Laidler Division: Sutton Sting 7 - Deeside D2 Dragons 0

The Deeside D2 Dragons made it three wins in a row with a closely fought 4-3 win at home to Coventry Blaze on Saturday before slumping to a 7-0 defeat away at league leaders Sutton Sting on Sunday.

A Ben Roscoe goal on 14 minutes gave the Dragons the lead on Saturday but Coventry equalised two minutes later to leave the score at a finely balanced 1-1 at the first period break.

Deeside edged back ahead with a Liam Yarwood goal on 22 minutes and the lead was further extended with a James Parsons powerplay strike on 37 minutes for a score of 3-1 at the second break.

With just 10 minutes to go, the score was still 3-1 and Deeside were looking comfortable but a freak collision between two Dragons players saw them both knocked to the ice, which allowed two Coventry players to break away and pull a goal back.  90 seconds later the Blaze struck again to level the score and set up a nail biting last few minutes.

Just as it looked as if the game would go into overtime, leading scorer James Shaw fired in what would turn out to be the winning goal and Deeside just had to hold out for the final 25 seconds.

The mounting tension finally boiled over with an unfortunate incident with just 2.4 seconds left on the clock – followed by lengthy deliberations by the match officials – which eventually saw Deeside legend Chris Jones banished for what remained of the game - and further disciplinary action is likely to follow as a result. 

The remaining seconds were then played, Deeside held on to win and James Shaw was awarded the Dragons MVP award.

The away game on Sunday against Sutton was a much tougher task and saw a 7-0 win for the title favourites.

The score stood at 3-0 after the first period, 7-0 after the second and the third period played out goalless, with Thomas Warburton taking the MVP award for the Dragons.

The D2 Dragons are back at home this Saturday 21^st February against Altrincham Aces. The game was originally scheduled for Sunday but had to be moved as the D1 Dragons’ cup final game needs to be played on that day.