Last season's Widnes Wild Ladies team (photo by Geoff White)
WILD LADIES TEAM
The Widnes Wild Ladies team play their first home league fixture of the season when they take on the Whitley Bay Beacons this Sunday 16th October at Planet Ice Widnes – 4.15pm face off.
The Wild women have an exciting new-look team for the season with several new signings adding useful experience to the roster and being further boosted by the return of former Widnes players Sav Sumner and Lucy Kirkham.
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 are playing in the new WNIHL Division 2 North this 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 from Kingston (Hull) and Leeds.
Whitley have yet to play a league game this season while Widnes lost their first game 8-4 away to Solway Sharks two weeks ago, although they did have to travel without the services of a regular netminder.
The Beacons were league champions last season but the Wild Ladies team won the title when they last played at this level in the 2019/20 season so Sunday’s game should give an early indication of how this season’s title race may shape up.
YKK WIDNES WILD
The YKK sponsored Widnes Wild are away to Billingham Stars this Sunday 16th October (5.30pm face off) in a game that counts towards both the league standings and the qualification group for the Moralee Cup.
Widnes won all four meetings with the Stars in the Moralee Division last season but came unstuck over two legs in the Play Off quarter final so will be keen to get a result up in the north east on Sunday.
The Stars have had mixed results in recent weeks, beating last season’s league champions Solway Sharks 5-4 at home in overtime but losing 9-3 away to Solihull Barons in their last match. The Wild have won their last two league games – beating Solihull 5-1 two weeks ago and Nottingham 4-1 in their last game.
Following Sunday’s game, the Wild have another away trip the following Saturday 22nd October when they make the trip north of the border to Dumfries to play current league leaders and last season’s league champions Solway Sharks. They are next at home on Sunday 23rd October when they take on Billingham at Planet Ice Widnes, 5.30pm face off.
WILD JUNIOR ACADEMY
The Wild Junior Academy have two games at the weekend - both on Saturday 15th October. The Academy Under 12 team take on Kingston Under 12s away in Hull - 12.30 face off – while the Academy Under 18 team are at home to Sutton Under 18s at Planet Ice Widnes, 6.30 pm start.
Admission to all Academy home games at Planet Ice Widnes is free and spectators are encouraged to come along and cheer on the stars of the future.
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