Team photo on Ice after Moralee Cup win

Written by Paul Breeze
Photos by Geoff White

Widnes Wild have had their best ever season in terms of league performance, having finished the 2021/22 campaign in third position in their first ever season in the NIHL Moralee Division.

It has been a superb achievement for player coach Richard Haggar and his new look team and back room staff – especially as they also won the Moralee Cup, seeing off stiff opposition in the group stage, overcoming Solway Sharks in the semi-final final and then beating Dundee Comets over two legs in a closely contested final.

The Wild entered the season as the new boys in the division but they already had a growing reputation at the higher level after a successful mini season in the “behind closed doors” streaming series saw them secure the North 21 Cup and the National Division 1 Championship Title.

However, a full length league season playing against long established teams was a different prospect all together and Haggar had the daunting task of putting together a squad that would be able to consistently compete at that level.

Many of the old fan favourites from the Laidler Division team returned for the new season and they were boosted by signings from Hull Jets such as Kieran Beach, Jay Robinson and Tom Brierley, along with Sheffield sharpshooter Nathan Britton, Vlads Vulcanovs and Joe Wyatt from Altrincham and, later in the year, Matty Barlow from Bradford.

The Wild also attracted major National Division talent with the signings of Chris Wilcox and Tom Stubley from Hull Pirates and Liam Charnock from Leeds Chiefs and all three have gone on to be key players this season.

In goal, Harrison Walker continued the fine form that he showed in the streaming series games and Evan Coles has been a very worthy back up. The Wild also encouraged youth development with the signing of several under 23 players on two way contracts with Laidler Division teams, all of whom have had the opportunity to play in Moralee matches this season.

In terms of their playing record for the season, it is probably fair to say that Widnes have exceeded most people’s expectations. To notch up home and away wins on a consistent basis against long established Moralee Division sides such as Solihull Barons, Billingham Stars, Blackburn Hawks – and even the fast improving Nottingham Lions - is not to be sniffed at.

The Wild even managed to run eventual league champions Solway Sharks close in their various encounters, taking a point for an overtime league loss at home and then drawing 3-3 away in the cup semi final, which was the only time that the Sharks failed to win in Dumfries all season.

Widnes then beat Solway 5-4 in the home leg of the cup semi-final to set up a fascinating two-legged final against Dundee Comets. The final followed a very similar pattern to the semi with Widnes drawing 3-3 away on Tayside on the Saturday and then securing the cup with a narrow 4-3 win at home the night after.

Back in the league, eventual runners up Whitley Warriors were the only real fly in the ointment this season with four straight wins in four league games – and one of those games went to overtime and a penalty shoot out after a 3-3 draw on Merseyside.

So, following a barnstorming first season in the Moralee Division, the Wild finished in a very creditable third place in the league table – with 35 points from their 28 games.

This left them eight points adrift of second place Whitley and a massive 18 behind champions Solway – but also a good eight points ahead of fourth place Solihull Barons. A final record of 16 wins and three overtime losses at this level is a very impressive achievement and is a great basis to build upon for next season.

In the scoring stakes, Vlads Vulcanovs was the top goalscorer in the Moralee Division with 38 goals in 26 league games while Richard Haggar notched up the most assists – 42 from 28 games.

Peter Gapa from Solway Sharks was the top overall points scorer with 33+34 while Haggar and Vulcanovs finished up third and fourth with 18+42 and 38+21 respectively.

In terms of the Widnes team, Liam Charnock weighed in with 9+24, Tom Stubley with 11 + 21 and Matty Barlow, Chris Wilcox, Dani Haid, Mikey Gilbert, Nathan Britton, Joe Greaves & Jay Robinson all reached double figures.

Joe Greaves ended up with the highest penalty minutes on the Widnes roster with 101 PIM from 16 games, finishing behind Craig Lutkevitch (Blackburn –122 PIM), Zachary Yokoyama (Nottingham - 120 PIM) and level with the Hawks’ Reece Carney Witter.

In the league netminder standings, the Wild’s Harrison Walker finished as the league’s top goalie with a 91.36% save percentage from 27 league matches, narrowly ahead of Whitley Warriors’ Dean Bowater with 91.12%. Evan Coles ended up with a very creditable 83.23 SA%, bearing in mind that he had never played at this level before.

Unfortunately, the end of season play offs did not go the way of the Wild and Widnes were knocked out in the quarter-final by Billingham – who they had beaten four times out of four during the regular season.

A change of format for this season’s play offs saw all eight teams in the Moralee Division take part in a knock-out round to decide the four semi finalists. The pairings were decided by final league placings with first v eighth, second v seventh etc and this saw third place Widnes matched against sixth place finishers Billingham Stars.

Under the previous arrangements, the top four finishers in the league would have gone straight through to the Play Off weekend in Leeds and Widnes would have played Whitley Warriors in the semi final, giving them another chance to get one over on their north east nemesis.

However, quarter-final knock outs it was and, on this occasion a funny thing happened at the Forum as Widnes had a rare “bad day at the office” and Billingham built up a huge 8-1 lead to carry over to the second leg.

That left too much of a deficit to make up in the return game – even for Widnes -and the 3-2 win gave the Wild a victory on the night but they failed to make the play off weekend for the first time in their history – which took a bit of the shine off an otherwise highly impressive and successful season.

The Planet Ice rink in Widnes stages another top level ice hockey event this weekend as the Women’s Trophy Weekend comes to town this Saturday and Sunday, June 4/5.

An incredible 10 games over the two days will see some of the country’s top women players meet in the semi finals of the Women’s Elite League (WEL), Women’s Premier League (WPL) and English Division 1 (D1) on the Saturday, with four finals – including the North v South Under 16 championship game – being played on the Sunday.

The full schedule for the Women’s Trophy Weekend 2022 is:

Saturday, June 4
D1 SF 1- Whitley v Streatham Storm (11.15am)
WPL SF1 - Bristol Huskies v Kingston Diamonds (1pm)
WEL SF 1 - Solihull Vixens v Guildford Lightning (2.45pm)
D1 SF 2- Solway Sharks v Swindon Topcats. (5pm)
WPL SF2 - Sheffield Shadows v Firebees (6.45pm)
WEL SF 2 - Queen Bees v Streatham Storm (8.30pm)

Sunday, June 5:
Division One Final (1.15pm)
Premier League Final (3.30pm)
Under 16 National Final (5.45pm)
Elite League Final (7.30pm)

Admission is free for all spectators across the weekend to watch the best women’s club hockey in the country and see many of the Great Britain players who won their World Championship division earlier this season. The trophy from GB’s win in Jaca, Spain, will be on display and fans will be able to take their picture with the silverware.

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