Ice hockey fans will be packing Ryde Arena this coming weekend to see if the Wightlink Raiders can stretch their unbeaten run to 21 games as they take on old foes Romford, themselves on a 13 game winning streak.
Double wins over the weekend mean Jeremy Cornish’s team are now nine points clear of second placed Chelmsford, but it’s fourth placed Romford who are the form team in the league and who could still steal the title if they extend that form to the end of the season.
Raiders turned on the style
Saturday saw the Bristol Pitbulls in town and Bristol player coach Richard Hargreaves gave his old team a fright as the Pitbulls twice took the lead before a rampant Raiders turned on the style for the second half of the game.
Alex Murray top scored with a hat trick with Steve Gosset, Nathan Taylor, Robbie Brown and Richard Facey getting a brace each. Other goals came courtesy of Dom Hopkins, Stewart Tait and Jason Gorrie as the Raiders completed a 14-3 win.
Away to Cardiff Devils
On Sunday it was a tough looking trip to a resurgent Cardiff Devils, fresh from a bruising encounter in Chelmsford the night before.
At the end of the second period the game was delicately poised with only a Jason Gorrie goal separating the teams. But the third period came alive with Cardiff matching the Raiders all the way before eventually losing 4-2. Robbie Brown and Alex Murray hit the 2nd and 3rd goals before Jeremy Cornish scored an empty net goal 30 seconds from the end after Cardiff pulled their netminder to chase the equaliser.
Raiders favourite to win league trophy
An incredible run of 20 games unbeaten means the Island team are still favourites to win the league trophy but with two games left against a flying Romford the battle is actually closer than the league table suggests.
A Romford win at Ryde Arena on Saturday would change the dynamics dramatically and they’re already the only team this season to get a win on the Island.
As many as 100 away fans are expected to travel down from Essex for the game so the atmosphere should be highly charged inside the rink.
Face off on Saturday is at 6pm. On Sunday the Raiders travel to bottom of the table Swindon.
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Nicky Craft
