Wild take the Sting out of visitors to stay top
WIDNES WILD ............................ 6 SUTTON STING........................... 4 THE RTL-sponsored Widnes Wild faced their toughest test to date in the new NIHL North Division Two (Laidler) season and passed with flying colours with a 6-4 victory over Sutton Sting on Sunday night at Silver Blades Widnes.
The Sting have been touted as potential title contenders this season after having spent the past five campaigns up in the North One Moralee Division before opting to drop down to the Laidler this time around and their squad was packed with players with higher league experience.
Widnes opened the game the strongest, however, and outshot Sutton by 26 to 11 during the first period but despite this, it was the Sting who scored the first goal after eight minutes.
Wild’s Latvian import Elvis ● Veldze levelled the scores three minutes later but Sutton scored again on 13 minutes.
The lead did not last long, however, as the Wild were level again within 40 seconds as Mikey Gilbert fired in a superb effort and the score remained at 2-2 at the first period break.
The Wild came out firing on all cylinders for the second period and scored within 18 seconds of the restart with Stuart Brittle finding the net. Two more goals followed from Ollie Barron and Bobby Caunce to put the Wild firmly in the lead at 5-2 with just 24 minutes gone on the clock.
Sutton called a 30 second time-out at this point in an attempt to dampen the Wild’s head of steam, and it worked because they hit back with a shorthanded goal on 28 minutes and another strike some 90 seconds later to pull themselves right back into the contest at 5-4.
They was no more scoring during the second period and the Wild picked up a few defensive penalties as they battled to keep the, by now, resurgent Sting in check.
The game was finely balanced heading into the third period and it really could have gone either way.
Widnes nerves were settled somewhat with a second goal from Barron after 45 minutes to give the Wild a two-goal cushion and they saw out the rest of the game from there.
The victory improved the Wild’s record to four wins out of four and they remain at the summit of the division. ● WIDNES have no game this weekend. They are next in action on September 30 when they visit the Sheffield Senators. Their next home game is on October 1 when they entertain the Blackburn Hawks N2 team with the clash having a 5.30pm face-off.