Mayhem To Host League Champions

Mayhem's Fiona Naylor (Photo by Blindside Trading Cards)

There were no games in the British Para Ice Hockey League this weekend and all eyes are now firmly on Widnes – for the right reasons, this time - where the Mayhem sledge team will play host to recently crowned league champions Sheffield Steelkings this Saturday 2nd August, 4.25pm face off.

The Mayhem’s last home game – against Peterborough Phantoms on 19th July - had to be postponed due to technical problems with the ice rink but that has now been resolved and Saturday’s game should go ahead as planned.

Sheffield have the only undefeated record in this season’s BPIHL – with just one point having been dropped in an overtime loss against Cardiff that was a 1-1 draw at the end of normal time - and a remarkable “goals against” record of just 4 from 7 games – so they will be keen to keep that momentum going in what will be their last game of the regular season.

The Steelkings are already assured of the league title and can’t be caught on points, but the Mayhem still have a mathematical chance of finishing joint second - or third – in the league, if they win all of their remaining games, so there is still plenty to play for.

Following Saturday’s game, they have a trip away to Peterborough on Saturday 9th August and then must wait to hear when the postponed home game – also against Peterborough - will be played.   

Moralee Division Fixtures: Deeside Dragons / Widnes Wild Rivalry Set To Continue

Alex Parry (Photo by Peter Sheffield) and Matt Barlow (Photo by David Tattum)

The fixture list for the Moralee Division has been announced for the forthcoming 2025/26 NIHL division season.

Whitley Warriors have moved to play in the Scottish National league for the new season and their place in the Moralee Division has been taken by Telford Tigers 2 who move up a league after having won the Laidler Division last season.

Widnes Wild will start their league campaign with three away trips - to Sheffield Scimitars on 7th September, Telford Tigers on 13th September and Solihull Barons on 14th September – before playing their first home game against Blackburn Hawks on Sunday 21st September. 

However, as with every season, the most keenly anticipated dates in the Widnes fixture schedule are the meetings between Widnes Wild and Deeside Dragons, who enjoy a fierce local rivalry going back over a decade.

Because of the relative proximity between the two teams, these games are always robustly competed, passionate affairs.  There has been a regular interchange of players over the years and this season’s new arrivals are likely to add further spice to the meetings between the two teams  

The Dragons squad for the coming season includes former Wild players Phil Pearson, Matt Wainwright, Will Harper and MJ Clancy and they have recently upped the ante with the signings of Matty Barlow and Rhys Edwards.

Barlow has been a long term favourite at Widnes and has scored 54 competitive goals for the Wild in 140 games spread over 3 spells with the club.

Rhys Edwards made his Moralee Division debut with the Wild in the 2022/23 season and made 49 competitive appearances for them over 2 seasons, scoring 25 goals and 27 assists. He spent last season playing in Hull where he split his time between the Jets in the Moralee Division and the Seahawks in the National Division.

Widnes are still working on their roster for the new season but two signings that immediately leap off the page - and who both played for Deeside Dragons last season - are Alex Parry and Oliver (Oli) Howells. 

Parry is a long term Deeside junior and senior player and made his ENL debut with the Flintshire Freeze in the 2009/10 season. Apart from the 2021/22 season when the Deeside rink was closed after Covid, he has played his whole career to date with the Freeze and the Dragons notching up some 280 competitive games at ENL / NIHL level, scoring 91 goals and 130 assists.

Oli Howells has played for the Dragons for the past 2 seasons, scoring 1+6 in 53 games from his defensive role. He is a graduate of the Telford junior development system and, with spells with the Tigers 2, Sheffield Titans and Scimitars and Solihull Barons – as well as his stint at Deeside - has some 137 NIHL appearances to his record since his senior breakout season in 2021/22. 

With all teams playing each other twice at home and twice away during the regular league season, there are 4 league meetings between the Wild and the Dragons for fans to look forward to – spread over two weekends. 

The first meetings will take place over the weekend of 4th and 5th October, with the game in Deeside on the Saturday and the return in Widnes on the Sunday. The second local derby weekend will take place on 10th and 11th January with the game being played in Widnes on the Saturday and the reverse fixture in Deeside on the Sunday.

Deeside Dragons have pre-season home and away challenge matches against Telford Tigers on Saturday 6th September (home) and Sunday 7th (away).

They then start their league campaign away to Sheffield Scimitars on Saturday 13th September and are at home to the same opposition the next day.

The Dragons will, once again be taking part in the two-legged Welsh Cup competition against Cardiff Fire, hoping to retain the trophy that they won last season.  The away game is on Saturday 20th September and the home tie is the following Saturday 27th September.

Larry & Snip Testimonial Report (Deeside)

Both teams together at Marc Lovell and James Parsons' testimonial game (photo by Deeside Dragons IHC)

The Deeside Dragons gave an emotional send off to long-serving players Marc Lovell and James Parsons with a special testimonial match at Deeside Leisure Centre on Saturday.

The duo retired from playing senior hockey at the end of last season, having both notched up 20-plus years in the ENL / NIHL with the Flintshire Freeze and Deeside Dragons clubs.

Marc Lovell and James Parsons
(Photo by Deeside Dragons IHC)

Two special teams were put together for the event – Team Larry (for Marc Lovell) and Team Snip (for James Parsons) and were made up from a mixture of current Dragons, former Dragons and Freeze players and other former team mates of the pair, with plenty of familiar faces for the fans to recognise.

Original Flintshire Freeze player coach Mark Stokes – now a qualified NIHL referee – also made a welcome return to Deeside to officiate at the match 

As with most events of this nature, the game was played in very good spirits throughout and there were lots of goals generously shared around the two teams - and a lot of humour. 

On this occasion, the taking part was really more important than the winning but, for the sake of sporting completeness, it should be recorded that Team Larry beat Team Snip by 11 goals to 10, thanks to a dramatic late winner scored by Logan Lovell with just 51 seconds left on the clock.

The goalscorers in full for Team Larry were Andy McKinney (4), Marc Lovell, Alex Parry, Charlie Spridgeon, Mark Thomas, Lucas Lovell, Alan Steele & Logan Lovell – and, for Team Snip, Matt Wainwright (2), Scott Barnett (2), Steve Elliot, Aaron Davies, Cade King, Billy Perks and Ella Parsons (2). 

Talking afterwards about the Testimonial game, James Parsons said:

“Seeing so many familiar faces down at the Den last night was really special. I was absolutely blown away by how many people — family, friends, and supporters — came out to show their support. A massive thank you to Shaun Bebbington, Mikey Rowe, Mike Clancy, Matty Compton, and Ian Foster for making it all happen.”

“Getting to share the evening with the legend Larry was a fantastic experience.”

Marc Lovell added:

“It was probably one of the most enjoyable hockey games I have been a part of. It was so good to get so many players together who we have both played with and against over the years on the ice together. I was overwhelmed with the amount of supporters that turned up to support the game and to share the moment with Snipper made it that extra bit special.” 

“A big thank you to all the players who played their part, the coaches who helped out on the day and Mark Stokes and Dave Clancy who refereed for us. But a massive thank you to Shaun Bebbington and the Dragons organisation for organising it all and giving us both a great send off.”

Sledge Hockey 2025: Round-Up #11

The Cardiff Huskies moved up into second place in the British Para Ice Hockey League table after a 5-0 home victory over Sheffield Steelstings, in what was the last league game of the season for both teams.

After a goal-less first period, two strikes in the second and three in the third secured the win for the defending champions.

Tyler Christopher scored 2 for the Huskies and Shannon Couch, Dani Czernuszka-Watts and Josh Davies all added one goal apiece.

The Shots On Goal count was 42-1, with Steelstings netminder Bryan Hackworth doing well to stop 37 of the 42 shots that he faced. In the Huskies net, Nicole Hill picked up a 1-shot shut-out – her first clean sheet of the season.

The Manchester Mayhem’s home game against Peterborough Phantoms that was scheduled to be played on Saturday had to be cancelled because of a technical fault that saw the Widnes rink closed for much of the week.

Following Cardiff’s win on Saturday, the Huskies have now moved above Peterborough into second place in the league table. The Phantoms are 2 points behind but have two games in hand.

The Mayhem have yet to play Peterborough this season and will travel down to East Anglia on 9^th August for their last regular-schedule game of the season. 

Peterborough need two points from their two games against the Mayhem to clinch second place and it is hoped that the cancelled home game can be re-arranged but, with the Widnes rink having been closed and ice time slots at a premium with other teams also needing to reschedule games, it may be difficult to find a suitable date. 

The situation is complicated by the fact that players and staff from both teams will be involved in the inaugural Women’s Para Ice Hockey World Championships, which will be held in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia, from 26^th to 31^st August - so the domestic league season needs to be brought to a close before then.

Cobras Win Championship Cup At Sheffield RecFest

Cobras with the RecFest cup (Photo by Beth Jones)

The Connah’s Quay Cobras brought home silverware for the second year in a row from the prestigious annual Sheffield Recfest tournament where they won the Championship Cup competition at the weekend.

This tournament is an impressive feat of planning and logistics and featured 15 different teams taking part in 60 short-format games over the two days.

In the initial group games on the Saturday, the Cobras Beat Solihull Jesters 2-0 but lost to Milton Keynes 1-4, Streatham Nightwolves 0-3 and Sheffield Blazers 0-2. This saw them finish the day in fourth place in their 5-team group with 2 points from a possible 8.

For the Sunday games, all of the teams were put into new groups reflecting their relative finishing positions on the Saturday and the Cobras were put in the Championship C Group. They beat Solihull Jesters 6-1, Cleveland Comets 2-0 and drew 2-2 with Birmingham Rockets, setting up a tantalising group decider game against Deeside rink-mates Flintshire Phantoms which they won 3-0 

This meant that they finished in top spot with 7 points from their 4 games, 1 ahead of Birmingham and 2 ahead of Flintshire and brought home the Championship Cup to go with the Plate that they won last year. 

Sledge Hockey: Mayhem v Phantoms Postponed

Mayhem's Felicity Gregory (Photo by Blindside Trading Cards)

The Mayhem sledge team’s home game against Peterborough Phantoms that was scheduled to be played on Saturday had to be cancelled because of a technical fault that saw the Widnes rink closed for much of the week.

Sheffield Steelkings – the Steel City’s A team – have already secured the league title but Peterborough and Cardiff Huskies are in a battle to see who will finish as runners up in the league table. Aside from the obvious pride aspect, final league positions are important as they decide the fixture pairings for the end of season play offs and the higher finishing teams get the easier draw in the semi finals.

With Cardiff beating the Sheffield Steelstings development side 5-0 on Sunday, in what was the last league game for both teams, the Huskies have now moved above Peterborough into second place in the league table. The Phantoms are 2 points behind but have two games in hand.

The Mayhem have yet to play Peterborough this season and will travel down to East Anglia on 9th August for their last regular-schedule game of the season.  Before that, they are also due to play the Steelkings at home on 2nd August at Planet Ice Widnes.  

Peterborough need two points from their two games against the Mayhem to clinch second place and it is hoped that the cancelled home game can be re-arranged but, with the Widnes rink having been closed and ice time slots at a premium with other teams also needing to reschedule games, it may be difficult to find a suitable date.  

The situation is complicated by the fact that players and staff from both teams will be involved in the inaugural Women’s Para Ice Hockey World Championships, which will be held in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia, from 26th to 31st August - so the domestic league season needs to be brought to a close before then.

Mark Stokes To Referee Deeside Testimonial

Referee Mark Stokes
(Photo by Flyfifer Photography)

It’s not very often that a referee gets applauded onto the ice but that is likely to be the case at the Larry & Snip Testimonial game this Saturday at Deeside Leisure Centre as the match referee will be none other than former Flintshire Freeze player coach Mark Stokes.

Following a fascinating career where he played for Sheffield Sabres, Sunderland Indians, Blackburn Hawks, Telford Tigers, Manchester Storm, and Altrincham Aces, Stokes was one of the founders of the Flintshire Freeze club when the new Deeside rink opened in 1998.

He was the Freeze Player Coach for 7 seasons from 1998 to 2005 – guiding the club to the ENL North title in 2003/04 - and stayed on as non playing head coach for two seasons from 2005 to 2007.

Both Marc Lovell and James Parsons made their senior debuts with the Freeze under Stokes in 1999/00 and 2004/05 respectively.  

Stokes is now an NIHL qualified referee and will be wearing the armbands for the long serving duo’s testimonial game. “Team Stripes” for the evening will be completed by Dave Clancy and Mackenzie Wilkes who will be linesmen. 

Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, Stokes said:  

“ I am really looking forward to coming up to Deeside and seeing all the guys connected to the team past and present. I remember Marc joining us when he was only 17 and James a few years later. Both had exceptional skills and ability - and to play as long as they did with their own lives to navigate personally as well is no mean feat.” 

“They both have given a lot to the Deeside area and deserve this farewell and I am certainly proud to see them at the end of their hockey career. Unfortunately I wont be lining up on the ice with them as I will be playing a different role in the game, so am really looking forward to it.”

The Larry & Snip Testimonial will take place on Saturday 26th July at Deeside Leisure Centre.  Doors open at 4.30pm and face off is at 5.15.

Tickets cost £10 for adults, £4 for children and £8 for concessions and can be bought in advance HERE

Deeside Testimonial Will Be A Family Affair

Families play a big part in ice hockey and this will be clearly demonstrated at Saturday’s testimonial game where there will be THREE generations from each family involved on the team benches.

Team Larry - Marc Lovell’s team - will have his father Barry Lovell as Head Coach for the day and Marc’s two sons Lucas and Logan both as players.  Barry was a manager with the various Deeside junior teams while Marc was playing up through the age groups.

Both Marc’s sons are Junior Dragons players. Logan played for the Under 10s team last season and also played up with the U12s and Lucas played for the Under 12s.  

Team Snip will feature James Parsons as captain, his father Keith Parsons - who was one of the original Dragons players when the team first started up in 1974 - as Head Coach, and James’ daughter Ella, who plays for the Junior Dragons U10 team.

The two teams for the night have been made up from a mixture of current Dragons, former Dragons and Freeze players and other former team mates of Lovell and Parsons, so there should be plenty of familiar faces on view.  (See more HERE) 

The Larry & Snip Testimonial will take place on Saturday 26th July at Deeside Leisure Centre.  Doors open at 4.30pm and face off is at 5.15.

Tickets cost £10 for adults, £4 for children and £8 for concessions and can be bought in advance HERE

Mayhem To Face Phantoms This Saturday (UPDATE 17/7: GAME OFF!)

Mayhem's leading goalscorer Karl Nicholson (Photo by Blindside Trading Cards)

Update 17/07/2025:  Please note that Saturday's game has been called off due to a technical problem at the Widnes rink.  Attempts were made to try and find an alternative venue - but to no avail.  There are hopes that the game can be rescheduled.  

The Mayhem sledge team may be out of the title race for the 2025 British Para Ice Hockey League season – the crown was won by Sheffield Steelkings at the weekend – but they may still have a say in who finishes second in this year’s standings.

The Mayhem have two games yet to play against Peterborough Phantoms,  who lost out to Sheffield at the weekend, ending their own title ambitions,  but can still finish in the runners up spot if they win their remaining games.

The other team in the mix for second place are last year’s champions Cardiff Huskies who have had a disappointing campaign by their usual standards and currently sit in third.

This coming weekend will be a crucial one as Cardiff play the Sheffield Steelstings (development team) in their last game of the season on Sunday, while the Mayhem are at home to the Phantoms at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday (6.30pm face off).

The Mayhem are then at home to the Steelkings on Saturday 2nd August before travelling away to Peterborough on 9th August in their last game of the regular season.

GB international player Karl Nicholson is the Mayhem’s leading goal-scorer so far this season with 9 goals from 5 games, while Anthony Booth is second with 5 and the team will need all their players to be on top form as they take on the league’s top two teams in their closing games of the season.   

Sledge Hockey 2025: Round-Up #10

The Sheffield Steelkings secured the 2025 British Para Ice Hockey league title with a 2-4 win away to closest rivals Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday.

Peterborough had been the only team left in the league with a chance of overtaking the Steelkings but they will now have to make do with battling for the runners up position, along with last year’s league Champions Cardiff Huskies.

Although the league title may be sewn up, there is still plenty of sledge hockey yet to be played with 4 games to go in the regular season and the play off weekend at Lee Valley in September.

This weekend sees the Manchester Mayhem take on Peterborough on Saturday 19^th July at Planet ice Widnes in the first meeting between the two teams this season (6.30pm face off)

Sunday sees Cardiff host bottom club Sheffield Steelstings in the Welsh capital in what will be the last league game for both teams. (6.15pm start).

Wild Women Promoted to Division 1

Auld Acquaintance – Wild Women puck drop against Solway Sharks in 2019 (Photo by Paul Breeze)

The Widnes Wild women’s team have been promoted following their league title win last season and will play in Division 1 of the WNIHL for the forthcoming season.

The Wild Women struggled last time they were in this division but it is important to strive to play at the highest level you can and the competition has been regionalised into North and South sections since then. This means that they no longer have to face difficult away journeys to places such as Swindon and Chelmsford.

They will however, have to undertake 4 away trips north of the border to Scotland where they will renew auld acquaintance with Solway Sharks Ladies – who play in Dumfries – and Caledonia Steel Queens, who are based in Edinburgh. 

The other teams making up Division 1 North for next season are Sheffield Shadows, Kingston Diamonds and Nottingham Vipers, making for a 20 game schedule with 2 home and 2 away matches against each team.

The league programme will run from September to May, with end of season play offs being held for the top teams at the end of May.

***

In order to support their campaign in the second tier of women’s ice hockey next season, the Wild Women are keen to hear from potential sponsors who can help them out financially - or in some other way. 

The Wild women have sponsorship packages available to suit all budgets - from individuals up to large companies – and anybody interested in offering support for the new season is asked to contact the team via their social media or by email to: widneswildwomen@gmail.com

***

Following their promotion to Division 1, the Wild Women are keen to attract new players for the 2025/26 season and are offering trial opportunities at their weekly training sessions during August.

The sessions run on Tuesday evenings from 9.30 to 10.30pm at Planet Ice Widnes from 5th August and players must be aged 14 or over and have their own insurance or be covered by EIHA trial insurance.

Anybody interested in taking part is asked to fill out the Summer Training form, which can be found on the Widnes Wild Women’s Facebook page .

Players with higher league or international experience are especially welcome.

Deeside Testimonial For Long Serving Duo

Marc Lovell and James Parsons (Photo by Billingham Stars IHC)

The Deeside Dragons club are holding a special testimonial match on Saturday 26^th July at Deeside Leisure Centre to honour the long service of Marc Lovell and James Parsons, who both retired from playing at the end of the season.

Marc Lovell was a Deeside junior player, graduating to senior hockey with the Flintshire Freeze in the 1999/00 season, and has some 600 competitive appearances at ENL / NIHL level or higher to his credit.

As well as 20-plus seasons with the Freeze and Dragons at Deeside, he also played one season with Manchester Phoenix in the Elite League and 3 seasons with Telford in the EPL.

James Parsons was also a Deeside junior, made his senior debut in 2004/05, and went on to play over 500 competitive matches at ENL / NIHL level with the Flintshire Freeze and Deeside Dragons, notching up over 700 points over a 20 year period.

Aside from a season at Blackburn in 2021/22 when the Deeside rink was closed after Covid and a few loan appearances in the EPL with Telford Tigers and Manchester Phoenix, he has played his entire career at Deeside.

The Testimonial game will be contested between two teams that have been put together especially - “Team Larry” (after Lovell’s club nickname) and “Team Snip” (for James Parsons). Each team will have a mixture of current and former Dragons on their bench, along with former team-mates, other friends from the world of ice hockey, and family members.

Special one–off playing shirts have been designed for the occasion and a number of them will be raffled off at the game to help boost the testimonial fund.

Tickets for the Larry & Snip Testimonial game cost £10 for adults, £4 for children and £8 for concessions and can be bought in advance HERE . 

The two teams for the match will be as follows:

Team Snip (James Parsons)

Netminders; Phil Pearson, Grahame Bird

Defence: Steve Fellows, Ollie Lomax, Matt Wainwright, Billy Perks, Cade King, Karl Bacon

Forwards: Aaron Davies, Jared Dickinson, Filip Supa, Gary Dixon, Scott Barnett, Andrew Chappell, Geoff Wigglesworth, Steve Elliot, James Parsons, MJ Clancy, Ella Parsons

Head Coach: Keith Parsons

Assistant Coaches: Mike Clancy and Des Founds

Team Manager: Bruce Morton

 

Team Larry (Marc Lovell)

Netminders:  Matt Compton, Phil Crosby

Defence: Mike Jones, Dave Costelloe, Ryan Jones, Kenny Williams, Gary Shaw, Marc Lovell, Mark Thomas, Logan Lovell 

Forwards:  Andy McKinney, Dan Mackriel, Alan Steele, Pete Founds, Alex Parry, Jason Hewitt, Jase Parry, Charlie Spridgeon, Ross Kennedy, Paul Davies, Lucas Lovell

Head Coach; Barry Lovell

Assistant Coaches: Phil Kennedy & Steve Parry

The Larry & Snip Testimonial will take place on Saturday 26th July at Deeside Leisure Centre.  Doors open at 4.30pm and face off is at 5.15.  

Sledge Hockey 2025: Round-Up #9

The Sheffield Steelkings gave their league title hopes a huge boost with a 5-0 win over Manchester Mayhem at iceSheffield on Saturday.

The Mayhem team travelled short of a number of regular players and only had the minimum 5+1 available. This meant that everybody had to remain on the ice for the whole game with no line changes so it was always going to be a bit of an uphill struggle against the league leaders.

Three goals for the Steelkings in the first period pretty much killed the game as a contest and one more in both the second and third period saw them romp to a 5-0 victory.  

The goals were shared among 5 different scorers - Ben O'Brien, Jake Oakley, Daniel Clarke, John Plummer, and Matt Clarkson – and netminders Jonathan Gill and Andrew Jackson backstopped the Kings to their 4th shutout of the season.

On Sunday, Peterborough Phantoms beat the Steelstings development team 0-9 at iceSheffield to move into second place in the league table. 

The BPIHL’s top scorer for the season so far Gary Farmer scored 7 goals,  with D-Jay Hall and Callum Shakespeare contributing the others.  Daniel Lee recorded a 3-shot shut out for his third clean sheet of the season.

The weekend results mean that the Steelkings are now three points ahead at the top of the league table with 11 points and 2 games left to play.

Peterborough Phantoms move into second place with 8 points from 5 games, level with Cardiff Huskies, who have played 2 games more.

Last season’s champions Cardiff are now out of the title race as they only have one game left in the regular season so Peterborough are the only team able to catch Sheffield and possibly snatch the crown from them.

The Phantoms take on the Steelkings this Saturday 12^th July in what will effectively be a title decider for this season’s league championship.  If Sheffield beat Peterborough in that game, they will be uncatchable in top spot.

Andrew Chappell Joins Dragons NIHL2 For New Season

Andrew Chappell
(Photo by Karen Booth)

The Deeside Dragons NIHL2 team have announced another returnee from last season’s Deeside Ducks team as they continue to build their roster for the forthcoming 2025/26 Laidler Division season.

Andrew Chappell is a highly experienced player and long term Deeside favourite, having played some 250 games at ENL / NIHL level over a 20 year period with the Flintshire Freeze and Deeside Dragons.

He made 7 appearances for the Ducks team last season, scoring two goals – one of which was the all-important match-winning goal in the 1-0 home victory over Coventry Blaze – and one assist.

Talking about his return to the Laidler Division team for another season, Chappell said:

“I’m really excited to get going on a new season. I’m sure there is some life left in the old legs. I can’t wait to make some improvements on the results we had last year and move up towards the other end of the league table.”

Coach James Parsons commented:

“Having Chaps back within the D2 setup is a massive boost for the team. His knowledge and experience will be invaluable in helping the younger players develop. Not only that, but he can still play the game at a high level.

“He is one of those players who contributes at both ends of the ice and always puts the team first — exactly what we want in this group. He also pops up with the occasional top-shelf goal.” 

Leeds Launch Para Ice Hockey Team

Plans have been announced to set up a new para ice hockey team in Leeds.

The “Leeds Locomotive” club are holding an open taster session on Sunday 27^th July at the Planet Ice rink in Leeds.

Anybody interested in taking part or wanting more information is asked to email the club at: LeedsLocomotive@gmail.com

Match Report: Sheffield Steelkings 5 – Mayhem 0 (BPIHL)

Mayhem Captain Mark Colquitt (Photo by Blindside Trading Cards)

Saturday 5th July 2025 – BPIHL: Sheffield Steelkings 5 – Mayhem 0

The Mayhem sledge team lost out 5-0 away to league leaders Sheffield Steelkings in the British Para Ice Hockey League at iceSheffield on Saturday.

The Mayhem team travelled short of a number of regular players and only had the minimum 5+1 available. This meant that everybody had to remain on the ice for the whole game with no line changes – compared to the player-rich hosts, who had a better populated bench with 9 outfield players and two netminders - and could give their players regular breathers.

The Steelkings were looking for a win to reinforce their own title ambitions so this game was always going to be a bit of an uphill struggle for the Mayhem. Three goals for the Steelkings in the first period pretty much killed the game as a contest and one more in both the second and third period saw them romp to a 5-0 victory. 

For the record, the brave Mayhem team of 6 were: Dan Hartshorn (NM), Mark Colquitt, Tom Kimm, Karl Nicholson, Anton Tomlinson and Felicity Gregory. Despite the disparity in numbers, they put in a plucky performance and managed 8 shots on goal over the course of the game, compared to the Steelkings’ 24.   

The win means that Sheffield are now three points ahead at the top of the league table with 2 games left to play.  

Last season’s champions Cardiff Huskies are now unable to catch them as they only have one game left in the regular season so Peterborough Phantoms – who match the Huskies on 8 points following a 0-9 win against the Sheffield B team - the Steelstings - on Sunday - and also have a game in hand, are the only team able to catch Sheffield and possibly snatch the title from them.

The Phantoms take on the Steelkings this Saturday 12th July in what will effectively be a title decider for this season’s league championship.  If Sheffield beat Peterborough in that game, they will be uncatchable in top spot. 

Despite Saturday’s loss, the Mayhem are guaranteed a place in the end of season play offs as bottom club Sheffield Steelstings – the Steel City’s development side - are unable to overtake them with the league games that they have left.

The top 4 teams in the league table qualify for the play offs, which will be held over the weekend of 13th and 14th September at Lee Valley in East London – which is a new venue for para ice hockey.

The Mayhem are next in action on Saturday 19th July, when they take on the Phantoms at Planet Ice Widnes. The game faces off at 6.30pm, which is later than usual, due to another match being played beforehand.

Wild Review 2024/25

Ice hockey fans can re-live the drama and excitement of the past season in a new book called “Wild Review – Season 2024/25” that has been compiled by niche publishers Ice Hockey Review.

The book covers the up-and-down season of the Widnes Wild NIHL men’s team and the successful Division 2 North title winning season of the Widnes Wild women’s team and includes all the news stories and match reports from both league campaigns.  It has full sets of player statistics for each team and is illustrated with photos throughout. 

For Mail order link CLICK HERE

Sledge Hockey 2025: Round-Up #8

The Sheffield Steelkings moved to the top of the British Para Ice Hockey League table after their 0-7 win over Sheffield rink-mates the Steelstings on Saturday.

The Steelkings are now 1 point ahead of erstwhile leaders and defending champions Cardiff Huskies at the top of the table with two games in hand and the league’s only unbeaten record.

The Kings goals came from Daniel Clarke (2), Paul Brown (2), Jonathan Plummer (2) and Bill Hardy (1).

The Steelstings were out-shot by 30 to 1 over the course of the 45 minutes and Kings’ netminder Jonathan Gill picked up a 1-shot shut-out – his third clean sheet of the season.

This weekend’s fixtures see the Steelkings at home to Manchester Mayhem on Saturday - 6.10pm face off - and the Steelstings at home to Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday, 4.40pm start.

Mayhem To Face League Leaders.

Karl Nicholson is the Mayhem's top scorer with 9 goals so far this season (Photo by Roksana Oniszczuk)

The Mayhem Sledge team were without a game at the weekend and are preparing to face new league leaders Sheffield Steelkings in their next game away in the Steel City this Saturday 5th July, face off 6.10pm.

The Steelkings moved to the top of the British Para Ice Hockey League table after their 0-7 win over Sheffield rink-mates the Steelstings at the weekend.

Sheffield has two sledge teams – the Steelkings, who are the main “A team”, and the Steelstings, who are a development side aimed at nurturing younger and less experienced players.  

The Steelkings are now 1 point ahead of erstwhile leaders and defending champions Cardiff Huskies at the top of the table with two games in hand and the league’s only unbeaten record.

Following Saturday’s away game the Mayhem are next in action on Saturday 19th July when they take on Peterborough Phantoms at Planet Ice Widnes.  That game faces off at 6.30pm, which is a later start time than usual due to another game going on beforehand.  

Join The Wild Women for 2025/26

Widnes Wild Women in celebratory mood (Photo by Wil Evans)

Division 2 North champions the Widnes Wild Women are keen to attract new players for the 2025/26 season and are offering trial opportunities at their weekly training sessions during August.

The sessions run on Tuesdays evenings from 9.30 to 10.30pm at Planet Ice Widnes from 5th August and players must be aged 14 or over and have their own insurance or be covered by EIHA trial insurance.

Anybody interested in taking part is asked to fill out the Summer Training form, which can be found on the Widnes Wild Women’s Facebook page HERE.