WEEKEND PREVIEW

The Wild beat Solihull 5 times out of 6 last season (Photo by Geoff White)

The YKK sponsored Widnes Wild will be keen to put last weekend’s disappointing home defeat to Whitley Warriors behind them as they take on the Solihull Barons this Sunday 2nd October at Planet Ice Widnes – 5.30pm face off.

The Barons have two wins from their 3 league games so far this season, having beaten Sheffield Scimitars 7-1 at home and Blackburn Hawks 3-4 away. Their only defeat to date has come at the hands of Whitley Warriors who beat them 4-2 up in the North East.

The Wild have one win from three starts with a 2-5 win away in Nottingham and home and away defeats to Whitley.

Widnes won all 4 league encounters with the Barons last season and exchanged results in the cup qualifying group.

This Sunday’s game has double significance as the first meeting home and away between all the teams in the league this season also counts towards the Moralee Cup qualifying table and the Wild will be keen to defend the trophy that they won last season.

As usual, after the game, two Wild players will be available to meet with supporters for photos and autographs. This week the two players will be Bez Hughes and Mikey Gilbert.

Please note that this will now take place in a new location in the corner of the rink by the entrance to the changing rooms - and not down by the café as was the case in previous years.

For anybody who is not able to attend the game, the Wild’s broadcasting partners BASN are livestreaming all home games this season over the internet.

Online viewing tickets can be booked to watch the Solihull game here: Live Stream | YKK Widnes Wild

WIDNES WILD LADIES TEAM

The Widnes Wild Ladies team play their first game of the new WNIHL season this Saturday 1st October when they travel to play the Solway Sharks Ladies team in Dumfries – 4pm face off.

In the wake of an eventful year in the Women’s Premier League and a subsequent rebranding of the leagues during the summer, the Wild Women will be playing in the new WNIHL Division 2 North for the new season.

It is an 8-team league with each team playing all the others once home and once away and the new division will see the Ladies’ team renew acquaintances with previous adversaries such as Solway, Whitley, Telford, Sheffield and Grimsby - with new teams coming from Kingston (Hull) and Leeds.

This will only be the third time that the Wild Ladies have travelled north of the border and they have yet to lose a game on Scottish soil. Their last visit in March 2020 ended in a 2-4 victory that secured the Division 1 North league title for the Widnes team.

The first home game of the new season will be on Sunday 16th October when they take on last season’s Div 1 (N) champions Whitley.

WILD JUNIOR ACADEMY

There are two games for the Wild Academy teams this weekend.

On Saturday 1st October, the Academy Under 18 team are at home to Nottingham U18s at Planet Ice Widnes - face off 4.20pm.

On Sunday, the Academy Under 14 team are away to Leeds U14s – face off 3.50pm.

Admission to all Wild Academy home games at Planet Ice Widnes is free of charge and spectators are encouraged to come along and support the Wild stars of the future.