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| The D2 Dragons celebrate their play off semi-final win away at Sheffield (Photo by Keith & Jenny Davies) |
Saturday 4th April 2026 – Play Off S/Final (1): Deeside D2 Dragons 6 – Sheffield Titans 2
Sunday 5th April 2026 – Play Off S/Final (2): Sheffield Titans 4 - Deeside D2 Dragons 1
Deeside win 7-6 on aggregate
The Deeside D2 Dragons play off fairytale continued
as they beat highly rated Sheffield Titans 7-6 on aggregate in the Laidler
Division semi final, winning 6-2 at home on Saturday and then losing 4-1 away
on Sunday
In the home game on Saturday, the D2 Dragons put in
what was arguably their best performance of the season. Cody Ogden fired them
into the lead on 10 minutes and they never really looked back from there.
A second Ogden goal on 14 minutes extended the lead
and a fine breakaway strike from Rhys Howells gave the Dragons a well-deserved
3-0 lead at the first period break.
Sheffield scored 73 seconds after the restart but a
James Parsons goal just 17 seconds later restored the 3-goal cushion. Goals
from Stewart Cutting and James Shaw followed for the Dragons and they led 6-1
at the second interval.
The Titans scored again just 23 seconds into the
third period but that was the last goal of the game and the Dragons were able
to take a 4-goal aggregate lead into the away leg on Sunday.
The away game against the league runners-up at
their home venue was always likely to be a lot tougher and Sheffield raced to a
3-0 lead by the end of the first period.
The Dragons steadied the ship, however, and top
scorer James Shaw fired in the only goal of the second period on 32 minutes to
leave them leading 7-5 on aggregate with 20 minutes left to play.
Sheffield threw the proverbial kitchen sink at the
Dragons during the final period but were only able to score one more goal and
Deeside managed to hold on to book their place in the play off final.
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| Finn Ogden was the Dragons' MVP in both matches against Sheffield (Photo by Paul Breeze) |
Young netminder Finn Ogden put in an heroic performance in the Deeside goal for the second night in a row – turning away 48 of the 52 shots that he faced - and was rewarded with his second MVP award of the weekend.
The D2 Dragons will now face treble-chasing Sutton
Sting, who beat Billingham Buccaneers 13-5 in the other semi final, in the play
off final at Sheffield next Saturday.
