KIND-hearted Widnes Wild players and fans were out in force on Sunday morning to support the charity Santa Dash that was held in aid of Halton Haven Hospice.

The Wild have chosen the Hospice as their charity for the season and, despite having had a long journey back from an away game in Scotland on Saturday, Widnes players Jay Robinson and Harrison, Wild mascot Penguin mascot Pukka the Penguin and host of other team volunteers and supporters took part in the 3km fun run across the famous Jubilee Bridge from Widnes to Runcorn to help raise funds for this very worthy cause.

WILD JUNIOR ACADEMY: Blackburn U14s 1 – Wild Academy U14s 3.

The Wild Academy Under 14 team moved up to third place in the league table after a 1-3 win away to Blackburn on Saturday.

This was a very entertaining game to watch and could have gone either way. Widnes took the lead with just 30 seconds left to go in the first period with a short handed goal from Jared Knowles.

Blackburn equalised early in the second period but the game was decided by two quick fire goals just 30 seconds apart on 19 minutes from Knowles again and Sophia Green to give Widnes a 1-3 lead.

The remaining 26 minutes remained goal-less with Finn Ogden putting in a good performance in the Wild net. Saturday 11th December: Wild Academy U16s 6 – Leeds U16s 7 The Wild Academy Under 16 team lost their top of the table clash against Leeds U16s by the narrowest of margins, falling to a 6-7 defeat at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday.

Leeds started the game the better side and were 0-3 up before Widnes scored their first goal through Cody Ogden on 10 minutes. A Liam Yarwoood strike just 15 seconds before the buzzer narrowed the score to 2-3 at the first break but Leeds re-established the two goal cushion with a goal 3 minutes from the restart.

Two quick goals from Nathan Wilson briefly put Widnes level at 4-4 but another response saw the visitors take a narrow lead into the final period.

Two more goals early in the third put Leeds 4-7 ahead and two later markers from Liam Yarwood – to complete his hat-trick - were not enough to overturn the deficit.

Wild Academy U18s 7 – Sutton U18s 15 The Wild Academy Under 18 team lost ground on the teams at the top of the league table with a 7-15 home defeat to Sutton U18s at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday.

Sutton took the lead after 90 seconds of the game but Ben McLellan equalised on 5 minutes and the Wild youngsters gave as good as they got in the earlier stages. However 4 unanswered goals in the first period and two more early in the second put the game beyond the reach of the Wild and by the time that Reid Ryan scored a short handed goal for Widnes, they were already 1-7 behind.

A burst of three goals within 90 seconds of each other – from George Plevin, Jake Meehan and Luke Mullarkey – gave the Wild some hope but Sutton countered again and the score was 5-11 after two periods.

The third period saw Widnes goals from Cody Ogden – playing his second game of the day having also played for the Under 16s immediately beforehand - and Adam Case but 4 more strikes for Sutton meant that the visitors were able to go back to Nottinghamshire with a comprehensive 7-15 victory.

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