Jake Witkowski opened the scoring for the Dragons in the Play Off final at Sheffield (Photo by RDG Digital)
Saturday
11th April 2026 – Play Off Final (at Sheffield): Blackburn Hawks 4 - Deeside D1 Dragons 3
The
Deeside D1 Dragons’ otherwise highly successful season finished on a slightly
disappointing note after they narrowly lost out 4-3 to Blackburn Hawks in the
Moralee Division play off final at Sheffield
on Saturday.
As
the score suggests, this was a very tight game, played between two very closely
matched teams at a breakneck pace throughout. The result was in doubt until the
very last second and it was a superb advert for NIHL ice hockey.
Deeside
took the lead with a Jake Witkowski goal in the 5th minute but Blackburn
eventually equalised with a hotly debated goal on 16 minutes to leave the score
at 1-1 at the first period break.
The
second period saw an incredible 4 goals scored within 80 seconds of each other,
with Blackburn taking the lead on 27 minutes, Ross Kennedy firing the Dragons
level 41 seconds later and Rhys Edwards putting Deeside back into the lead 30
seconds after that. This frantic phase was rounded off with another Blackburn
goal straight from the restart to level the score at 3-3 at the midway point of
the game.
The
score was still 3-3 with the clock ticking down to the last minute of the
period but a goal from former Dragons import Jakub Hajek with just 32 seconds
left handed the Hawks a narrow 4-3 lead with 20 minutes left to play.
The
third period played out goal-less, despite numerous chances for both teams, and
Blackburn were able to hang on to secure the play off title to go with their
league championship crown.
The
Dragons did come home with one trophy, however, as top scorer Jake Witkowksi
was named Moralee Division Player of the Season in the official NIHL league
awards.
Despite
Saturday’s defeat, the Dragons still have plenty to be pleased about this
season. It was their first appearance in
a play off final for 10 years - and their most successful league campaign since
2016 was rewarded with the runners up position in the Moralee Division.
They
also won the Moralee Cup for the first time and the Welsh Cup for the second
year in a row, making plenty of new friends along the way.
