YKK WIDNES WILD VS LEEDS KNIGHTS D1 2/3/25

Widnes get important win against Leeds: “It’s not over yet”

The Wild secured a hard-fought 5-4 win in overtime against play-off spot rivals Leeds
Knights in the NIHL 1.

It was a battle for points as the sides were closely matched and equalizing goals were quick
to come.

1^st period: 1-1

Leeds opened the scoring with a goal by #27 Jake Wigginton, but Widnes quickly evened out with a goal at 13:22 by #12 Luke Alston with assists from #18 Jonathon Williamson and #70 Ross Chalmers.

2^nd period: 1-1
the second period saw Widnes captain #17 Andrew Hopkins score at 31:28, assisted by #16 Michael Gilbert and #44 Dani Haid.

Leeds were quick to follow up with a power play goal by #78 Fritz Heinzle at 35:49, making it 2-2 at the end of the second period.

3^rd period: 2-2

The pressure was on in the last period, and Widnes #20 Berwyn Hughes scored a quick goal
at 50:20 with an assist from #39 Matthew Barlow.

Leeds equalized at 52:18 with a goal by #23 Michael Danecko and got the lead at 56:53
thanks to a power play goal by #34 Owen Dell.

With less than 2 minutes left Widnes #16 Gilbert managed to score an equalizer, assisted by
#55 Owen Rae and #44 Haid, sending the game into overtime.

Overtime: 1-0
Widnes #39 Barlow scored the winning goal less than a minute into overtime, with assists
from #77 Ben McLellan and #8 Flynn Massie, giving the Wild their 5-4 win.

Words From The Captain:

Andrew Hopkins said: “It’s been a while since we had that winning feeling,
so it’s nice to finally get it done in overtime, it’s a pity we didn’t get it done in regulation.”

This was a critical win for the Wild’s play-off qualification hopes:

“If we’re going to make the playoffs, Leeds is the only team that statistically we can catch at
so it was a lot of pressure but we all knew that going into this weekend”

Hopkins said, “We still have to pick up another two wins, if not three, to get us that chance to get to the
playoffs but we’ll give it our all to try and get there, it’s not over yet, it’s still achievable.”

Hopkins also praised the team’s improvement: “Now that we got a more consistent line up we have been able to put better performances together and the players have grown in confidence.”