On Saturday 15th April the North Ayrshire Wild u19s team made the long journey north to The Linx Arena in Aberdeen for the Scottish Cup Final where they would be facing off against Fife Falcons from Kirkcaldy.
Wild in their new white and orange kits similar to that of their SNL namesake and Fife in their traditional yellow and blue took to the ice as the rink lights went off in the arena and the ice pad was illuminated in trademark blue to represent Scottish Ice Hockey before the two teams commenced their warm-ups.
With the rink back to normal lighting and final team talks from coaches done, it was time to get this fixture underway.
Wild came out strong from the first puck drop and set about their business in a professional manner with clean crisp passing that was splitting the Fife defensive line time and time again. Although the young netminder between the pipes for Falcons was doing well it was inevitable that something would give with the intensity of the attacks from the North Ayrshire side.
Whilst Fife were having some good puck possession they spent a lot of time chasing down integral Wild players and picking up silly penalties when they didn’t have the puck, this allowed Wild a lot of time in front of the net where they could punish Fife, and they did just that.
With a 2 – 0 lead at the end of the first period, it was still possible for Falcons to get back into the game, however, following the same tactics as the first period North Ayrshire put them to the sword as they took a commanding lead of 5-1 at the end of the second period.
With more guidance and words of wisdom from coach Domenico DeSimone we were ready for an electric third period. From the puck drop Wild were strutting their stuff which frustrated Fife even further as they were pulled from one end of the ice pad to another, unable to stop North Ayrshire Wild from putting another 3 goals passed the netminder in Yellow bringing the game to a close at-
North Ayrshire Wild 8
Fife Falcons 1.
Scorers for Wild were :-
#12 Liam Houston (3)
#4 Antony Curlett (2)
#8 Lewis McCrindle (1)
#10 Jacob Woods (1)
#20 Rocco Murray (1)
Man of the Match #12 Liam Houston
After the game Head Coach Domenico DeSimone had this to say.
” Hazel, Bryan and myself are so proud of each and every one of these players. Since the start of the season they have been relentless in turning up game after game and putting in great performances, but this one was the icing on the cake for us as a team and a club. Fife are a well-drilled team and are not sitting top of the league for nothing, so to defeat them in the manner we have speaks volumes about the character of these players. They were focused on the job in hand and were switched on from the start and set about their job brilliantly. For some of these guys it’s their last season in Junior hockey as they move onto SNL, and to end it as Scottish Cup champions is amazing. We couldn’t be any prouder of them all”
Next up for Wild is a league encounter with Kilmarnock Junior Ice Hockey Club at Auchenharvie Ice Rink on Thursday 20th April.
