Ice Hockey Review: April 2026

Thursday, 2 April 2026

Women's Team Trial At Deeside

The Deeside Dragons club have announced an initial trial for the new women’s team that they plan to operate next season.

The one-hour trial session will take place at Deeside Leisure Centre on Monday 20^th April and will cost £10.00 per person. Interested parties must complete and submit the “Expression Of Interest” form HERE before attending.

The Deeside club have been running an Under 16 girls team in the Under 16 North division of the WNIHL (Women’s National Ice Hockey League) for the past 2 seasons and the team are currently second in the league table with 4 games left to play.

Their remaining matches this season are:

12^th April: home v Caledonia Iron Maidens
19^th April: home v Sheffield Shadows
25^th April: away @ Whitley Bay Beacons
9^th May: away @ Sheffield Shadows

Deeside Dragons Players Named in All Star Teams

Matty Barlow, Jake Witkowski, Jared Dickinson, Colin Cromie and Ross Kennedy (Photo by Emila Roberts Photography)

A number of Deeside Dragons players have been named in the “All Star Team” poll for the Moralee Division for the 2025/26 season. The vote was organised by the NIHL North Updates organisation, who ran a fans’ poll and a players’ poll via their social media pages.

Dragons’ top scorer Jake Witkowski was named as the top forward in both the players’ poll and the fans’ poll following his record breaking points total for the season and was joined in both lists by Colin Cromie and Ross Kennedy.

Witkowski topped the Moralee Division points scoring standings with 138 points (66 goals and 72 assists), breaking the record for points in a season that had stood since 2018/19. His tally of 72 assists was also the highest in the Moralee Division for the season but he was pipped for the most goals by Telford’s impressive Czech player Vladimir Luka who scored 72 and finished second in the overall points charts with 72+47=119.

Ross Kennedy finished fourth in the Moralee list with 40+55=95 and Colin Cromie came fifth with 35+52=88.

Ethan Mayoh was named as top defenceman in the All Star fans’ poll and also appeared in the players’ votes, while Matty Barlow and Bailey Thomas both made it into the fans’ final list.

Tyler de la Bertouche (Photo by Keith & Jenny Davies)

Tyler de la Bertouche was named as top netminder in the Moralee Division in the fans’ selection and came second to Blackburn’s Harrison Walker in the players’ voting.

The full 2025/26 All Star Team listings are as follows:

Moralee Division – Fans’ All Star Team (in order of votes)

Netminders: Tyler de la Bertouche (DEE), Harrison Walker (BLA)
Defencemen: Ethan Mayoh (DEE), Sam Zajac (BLA), Bailey Thomas (DEE), Corey Goodison (SOL), Bobby Streetly (BLA), Thomas Barry (BLA)
Forwards: Jake Witkowski (DEE), Vladimir Luka (TEL), Colin Cromie (DEE), Alex Rushby (NOT), Niklas Ottosson (SOL), Adam Barnes (BLA), Ross Kennedy (DEE), Andrew McKinney (BLA), Jacob Lutwyche (BLA), Chris Sykes (BIL), Matty Barlow (DEE), James Moss (BIL)

Moralee Division – Players’ All Star Team (in order of votes)

Netminders: Harrison Walker (BLA), Tyler de la Bertouche (DEE)
Defencemen: Sam Zajac (BLA), Corey Goodison (SOL), Henry Adams (SOL), Ethan Mayoh (DEE), Dan Harrison (TEL), Thomas Barry (BLA)
Forwards: Jake Witkowski (DEE), Vladimir Luka (TEL), Niklas Ottosson (SOL), Alex Rushby (NOT), Andrew McKinney (BLA), Colin Cromie (DEE), Adam Barnes (BLA), Ross Kennedy (DEE), Jason Silverthorn (TEL), Jacob Lutwyche (BLA), James Moss (BIL), Dan Mulcahy (SOL)

NIHL North Updates operate a Facebook page where they post - as is suggested in the title - match updates for games being played in the NIHL North Moralee and Laidler Divisions each weekend.

In fact, during the current – and somewhat elongated - “transition” period while we wait for the EIH(A) to get their new Gameday online scoring and stats system up and running properly, NIHL North Updates is pretty much the only place where you can find an up-to-date and centralised summary of what is happening on match days across the two divisions.

You can follow all the latest news in the NIHL Moralee and Laidler Divisions on the NIHL North Updates Facebook page HERE

D2 Dragons Players Named In All Star Teams

Deeside D2 Dragons top points scorer James Shaw (Photo by Lewis Cleveland)

Deeside D2 Dragons’ top points scorer for the season James Shaw has been voted onto the Laidler Division All Stars Team for the 2025/26 campaign.

The vote was organised by the NIHL North Updates organisation, who ran a fans’ poll and a players’ poll via their social media pages and Shaw was elected to both the fans’ and the players’ final selection of forwards.

Shaw scored 26 goals and 11 assists in 21 games and topped the D2 Dragons standings ahead of James Parsons in second, who got 15+10, and Chris Jones in third who got 7+18.

D2 Dragons popular “enforcer” Karl Bacon was voted onto the fans’ All Star Team as a defenceman.

The full 2025/26 All Star Team listings are as follows:

Laidler Division – Fans’ All Star Team (in order of votes)

Netminders: Ryan Wardell (BIL), Chris Outhwaite (BIL)

Defencemen: Artem Pavlov (BIL), Luke Reid (SHE), Karl Bacon (DEE), Charles Coney (COV), Alfie Kelly (ALT), Ethan McLaughlin (BIL)

Forwards: Sam Dowd (BIL), Morgan Glasby (SUT), Josh Milnes (ALT), Thomas Humphries (SHE), Matty Pickup (BIL), James Shaw (DEE), Lawson Glasby (SUT), Joe Colton (SUT), Jake Frost (ALT), Lewis Swaffield (SHE), Dan Caple (BIL), Steven Wallace (BIL)

Laidler Division – Players’ All Star Team (in order of votes)

Netminders: Nathaniel Bell (SUT), Ryan Wardell (BIL)

Defencemen: Artem Pavlov (BIL), Josh Rawsthorne (SHE), Charles Coney (COV), Jacob Truswell (SUT), Luke Reid (SHE), Jamie Scott (SUT)

Forwards: Morgan Glasby (SUT), Thomas Humphries (SHE), Sam Dowd (BIL), Josh Stockton (BRA), James Shaw (DEE), Josh Milnes (ALT), Joe Colton (SUT), Sam Parkin (SHE), Lawson Glasby (SUT), Lewis Swaffield (SHE), Harry Roebuck (SHE), Mackenzie Barker (KIN)