The YKK sponsored Widnes Wild have two home games this weekend, taking on Nottingham Lions at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday - face off 7pm - and then Deeside Dragons on Sunday – 5.30pm face off.
Following on from their two wins last weekend – away at Deeside and Sheffield - this weekend represents a good opportunity to get a winning run together as they head towards the back end of the regular season.
Saturday’s opponents, Nottingham Lions, are currently second bottom of the Moralee Division table with just 5 wins from 26 games. The Wild beat them 2-5 down in the Lace City back in September and then 4-1 at home in October.
The away game scheduled for the 8th January was called off with Nottingham claiming non availability of players, as several of their roster were away playing abroad, but the EIHA have taken a dim view of this and awarded the three league games that the Lions missed during this period to the opposition.
Deeside are in 7th place in the league table – 9 points behind the Wild who are in 5th and just 1 point behind Blackburn Hawks in 6th. The Dragons have played fewer games than everybody else due to a late start to their league season and have three games in hand over Widnes and Blackburn.
The Wild have beaten the Dragons twice this season so far 8-6 at – 4-7 away last Saturday and 8-6 at home in November – but Deeside won 5-2 in Queensferry three weeks ago and also took the M56 Cup game 4-6 back in October so, with two wins each to date, there’s a lot riding on Sunday’s match.
At the home game on Saturday, the Wild will be holding a bucket collection to help raise funds towards the medical costs for Josh Richardson the Deeside player who is intensive care in Thailand after being involved in a motorcycle accident while on holiday.
Anybody who is not able to attend the game but wants to make a donation can do so via the Go Fund Me page set up by Bradford Bulldogs’ manager Joanne Gibson (CLICK HERE). Richardson was a Bulldogs junior and senior player for a number of years before joining the Dragons last summer.
Sunday’s game will see the Wild show their support for Mental Health Awareness and the Planet Ice rink will be decorated with ice hockey shirts that have been brought in by players and fans to represent how many people take their own life across the world.
According to State Of Mind Sport – an international charity that harnesses the power of sport to raise awareness and promote mental fitness - over the course of a 60 minute game of ice hockey approximately 90 people worldwide take their own life.
For anybody who is not able to attend the games this weekend, the Wild’s broadcasting partners BASN are livestreaming all home league games this season over the internet. Online viewing tickets can be booked to watch the game HERE
WILD JUNIOR ACADEMY
The Wild Academy Under 12 team are at home to Leeds Under 12s this Saturday 25th February at Planet Ice Widnes, 4.20pm face off.
The Under 16s game against Billingham that was scheduled for later that same day has been postponed due to the Wild NIHL game against Nottingham being played that evening.
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