Widnes Wild – Solihull Barons

Recap

The Direct Taxis Solihull Barons rounded off their long away run, with a defeat in Widnes, a result which sees the Barons hang on to third place in the Moralee division but brought the Wild within a point of Solihull with a game in hand.

The Wild were up for the match and were the first to get on the scoresheet, Josh Reynolds with the goal on a powerplay after 7 minutes. Eight minutes later and dangerman Vlads Vulkanovs doubled the Wild lead, though this was quickly countered by Paul Stanley following support from Andy Hayward.

The second period saw the two sides trading a pair of goals each, the Wild extending their lead to two then being pegged back by the  Barons. Andy Whitehouse and Daniel Mulcahy netting for the Barons while Vulkanovs and Richard Haggar ensured the Wild retained their advantage heading into the final period.

With ten minutes of the final period to go Widnes took their chances well as Matt Barlow got number five and Vulkanovs rounded off his tally with a hat-trick and a short handed goal. Tom Soar netted for Solihull with eight minutes to go but Harrison Walker stood guard in the Wild net and there would be no late rally for the Barons.

The Barons will next meet the Wild on the 5th of March this time at home in a tie rescheduled from January. Before that however we have the return at long last to home ice this weekend and the clash with league leaders the Solway Sharks. The two sides met a week or so ago in Dumfries with the Barons pushing the Sharks all the way to overtime. With home ice advantage can the Barons edge the upset on Sunday ? Hope to see you all there for what promises to be a cracker ! Face-off 5:30pm.