The YKK Widnes Wild faced the Whitley Warriors for the final time this season in league action on Saturday, ending with a 1-5 defeat. Wild were once again without the Kilmarnock Thunder 2-ways, lining up with 17+2. Meanwhile Whitley were missing some key players, so called upon 3 u-18s to boost their squad.

Widnes were first on the offence after winning the initial face-off, but failed to catch netminder #23 Ryan Wardell cold. Whitley soon overturned the puck and #16 Lewis Crisp put one past Luca Tessadri at 1:37, assisted by #31 Adam Finlinson and #11 Shaun Kippin. The Warriors soon doubled their lead at 3:58 with a strike from #11 Kippin, assisted by #31 Finlinson. The 1st penalties of the game were given at 7:16 when #39 Matt Barlow received 2min roughing and #44 Kyle Pow sat 5min for fighting after Wardell covered the puck.

Whitley then extended their lead to 3 goals 4on4 at 8:57, with a snipe from #5 Matthew McDonald, assisted by #31 Finlinson. However, Widnes reduced the deficit soon after on the PP at 10:27 after Kyle Carruth fired the puck home from point, assisted by Owen Rae and Matt Barlow. Both teams continued to create chances in the 1st period, including Luca denying a 1on1 for Kippin late on but the score remained 1-3 to the visitors.

Widnes continued to apply pressure on Wardell in the 2nd but he kept the Wild offence at bay. Whitley received their 1st power-play of the game at 24:15 when Bailey Thomson headed to the box for 4 minutes for high-sticking. The Wild defence prevented the Warriors from scoring and were helped when Adam Finlinson received a delaying the game penalty at 25:39, putting play 4on4.

Both teams soon returned to full strength but failed to find the back of the net for much of the 2nd period. Whitley’s #17 Adam Robinson grabbed a goal at 35:43 to push the game further from the grasp of Widnes, assisted by #51 Oliver King, posting the score at 1-4 after 40 minutes.

Widnes looked for an early goal in the final third, but couldn’t capitalise on their chances. Both netminders claimed a shutout in the final period, after a relatively low SOG tally – 5 on Tessadri and 6 on Wardell. The remainder of the game lacked firepower from either side and it looked like the score would stay at 1-4. Widnes called a timeout at 57:22, and decided to pull netminder Tessadri just over a minute later at 58:54 in a last ditch attempt to claw back a goal. However, unfortunately the risk didn’t pay off and Kippin claimed his 2nd of the game with an empty-netter at 59:39, assisted by #24 Harry Harley to finish the game at 1-5.

MVPs were awarded to utility player #20 Bez Hughes for Widnes, and defenceman #5 Matthew McDonald for Whitley.

Officials – Cunningham, Shields, Fraley

STATS –

Widnes Wild: Kyle Carruth 1+0, Owen Rae 0+1, Matthew Barlow 0+1

Whitley Warriors: Shaun Kippin 2+1, Lewis Crisp 1+0, Matthew McDonald 1+0, Adam Robinson 1+0, Adam Finlinson 0+3, Oliver King 0+1, Harry Harley 0+1

Sunday 10th December

The YKK Widnes Wild travelled down to the National Ice centre, to face the Nottingham Lions on Sunday night, and claimed a 2-5 victory. There were some changes to the lineup from the previous night; Defencemen Johnathon Williamson, Owen Rae and Tom Jackson (injury) were unable to ice. However, Flynn Massie was added to give Widnes a squad of 15+2, compared to Nottingham’s 20+2.

Widnes started on the offence immediately, looking to seek an early lead. The Wild continued to claim possession of the puck and continued to pressurise the Lions defence. Kyle Carruth then opened the scoring at 5:54, after skating down the wing alone and flicking the puck backhand into the net, assisted by #46 Alex Mitchell and #39 Matthew Barlow. Goodman quickly recovered and prevented the Wild from extending their lead in the opening 20 minutes. Meanhile, Widnes netminder Luca Tessadri kept the Lions’ offence at bay at the opposite end to finish a quickly-played 1st period at 0-1.

Nottingham’s #67 Harry Rushby gave Widnes their first powerplay of the game, early in the middle period at 22:04 for tripping. Captain #9 Luke Thomas then commited the same penalty at 22:45, leaving Widnes 5on3 momentarily. The Lions managed to kill the initial penalty, but #5 Rhys Edwards doubled his side’s lead at 24:04 on the PP, assisted by #16 Mikey Gilbert and #40 Joey Coulter. Shortly after, Nottingham were given their 1st opportunity on the PP at 24:51 after Harper sat 2 minutes for tripping.

However Wild retained their lead and extended it further minutes later at 28:12. This time, it was #20 Bez Hughes who sniped the puck from the blue line to send Goodman’s bottle flying, assisted by Barlow and Edwards. Shortly after, Nottingham opted to switch #30 Oli Goodman for #59 Deacon Hardy in goal who grasped the game well to leave the score at 0-3 at the end of the 2nd period.

Widnes went a player down for the opening minutes of the final period after Hughes received a 2min slashing penalty at 40:00, but Nottingham failed to capitalise. The Wild seemed to tire in the 3rd period and the Lions soon found a way back into the game. With just over 10 minutes left to play, #4 Connor Glossop claimed Nottingham’s first goal assisted by #14 Toby Fisher at 49:20. The lions continued to press and reduced the deficit to just a single goal, after Zach Yokyama was left alone at point to fire the puck past Luca, assisted by Fisher at 55:40. Widnes returned on the attack immediately and were given a chance at 58:43 when Yokoyama received a check-to-the-head call. Seconds later at 59:07, Britton launched the puck into the bottom corner to re-claim a 3 goal lead, assisted by Gilbert and Coulter on the PP. The Lions then decided to pull Hardy in favour of an extra man in the dying minutes. However, Bailey Thomson soon punished them at 59:29, claiming his 1st goal for the Wild, sealing a 2-5 win for Widnes.

MVPs were awarded to forwards #17 Flynn Massie for Widnes, and #4 Connor Glossop for Nottingham.

Officials: Walker, Astill, Fraley

STATS –

Widnes Wild: Rhys Edwards 1+1, Kyle Carruth 1+0, Bez Hughes 1+0, Nathan Britton 1+0, Bailey Thomson 1+0, Matthew Barlow 0+2, Mikey Gilbert 0+2, Joey Coulter 0+2, Alex Mitchell 0+1, Will Harper 0+1

Nottingham Lions: Connor Glossop 1+0, Zach Yokoyama 1+0, Toby Fisher 0+2

Article written by Fleur Tobin