Sunday 29th January – Moralee Division
Whitley Warriors 6 – YKK Widnes Wild 1
The YKK sponsored Widnes Wild suffered a 6-1 defeat at the hands of the Moralee Division’s second place team Whitley Warriors away in the north east on Sunday.
In 8 meetings all together, Widnes have never beaten Whitley and Sunday’s game was to be no exception. The Warriors started the stronger of the two teams but it took them until the 9th minute to break down the stubborn Widnes defence. Once the opening goal came, the floodgates opened and Whitley raced into a 4-0 lead by the end of the first period.
Widnes got off to a flying start in the second period with a goal from Rhys Edwards after just 25 seconds but, unfortunately, they were unable to build on this any further. They did, however, manage to slow down the Whitley onslaught but the Warriors went on to restore their 4 goal advantage on 38 minutes and led 5-1 at the second break.
The only goal of the third period fell to the hosts on 55 minutes and Whitley notched up their second win of the weekend – having also beaten Deeside Dragons the night before – to join league leaders Solway on points at the top of the Moralee Division.
With 4th placed Solihull Barons winning away at Nottingham on Sunday, they retain their 5-point advantage ahead of 5th place Widnes in the table.
The YKK Widnes Wild are next in action on Sunday 5th February when they travel to North Wales to face local rivals Deeside Dragons – 5pm face off.
This will be the first Wild trip to the Queensferry rink for almost 3 years due to the Covid lockdowns and delays in re-opening the Dragons home rink after refurbishment and, as such, it is keenly anticipated by both sets and players and fans.
In two meetings so far this season – both played at Planet Ice Widnes - the Dragons beat the Wild 4-6 in an M56 Cup encounter back in October, and the Wild won the first league meeting 8-6 in early November.
However, with 3 Moralee Division games still to be played between the two teams, starting on Sunday - and hopes of a possible M56 Cup decider as well - local bragging rights are very much up for grabs!
You can see a post match interview with Matty Barlow and Calum Ruddick courtesy of Warriors TV HERE
GB INTERNATIONAL GAMES AT WIDNES
The Planet Ice rink at Widnes is set to host more international games as the Great Britain Under 16 girls team takes on their counterparts from Norway next week.
There are 3 games in the series with matches being played on Thursday 9th February (face off 1pm), Friday 10th February (1pm) and Saturday 11th February (7pm). Admission for spectators is free.
The Saturday evening game means that the Widnes Wild league fixture against Solihull Barons that was scheduled for that evening has had to be postponed and will be re-arranged once a suitable date can be found.
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