DEESIDE DRAGONS made the most of a flying start to stretch their winning run to six games.

Dragons, looking forward to what will be a competitive end-of-season play-offs, maintained their stunning run of form in NIHL Division One North with a 5-4 success away to Widnes Wild.

Perhaps it should have been more comfortable from a Deeside perspective, but there was plenty of excitement for the large Dragons’ following that made the trip.

The visitors were on top from the off and Ross Kennedy set up Brodie Jesson for the opener.

This was soon followed by captain James Parsons making the most of good work from Petr Valusiak and Alex Parry to double the advantage, while Jakub Hajek made it 3-0 prior to the end of the first period.

Deeside managed to preserve their healthy three-goal cushion at the end of the second period.

Jared Dickinson set up Andy McKinney to make it 4-0 to the away side, while the Widnes faithful did have a goal to celebrate before the end of the period.

Cade King popped up with Dragons’ fifth goal, however the rest of the third period went the way of the Widnes side.

They pulled three goals back to set up a tense finish, but Deeside maintained their advantage through until the end.

Assistant head coach Matt Compton said: “In the first 10 minutes, we were excellent. If we had carried on, we would have come out of the period six-or-seven up.

“But we took our foot off the gas and it turned into a scrappy game, especially the second period.

“Around half the game, we were killing penalties, which killed our momentum.

“There were a few calls that were 50-50 and the ref can only call what he sees.”

Highlighting improved game management, Compton added: “We have just got to be a little bit more disciplined.

“It’s six wins in a row and sometimes you just need the experience of chiselling out a win. We did work hard and we did well.”

Meanwhile, there was a large Deeside following off the ice and Compton added: “We had a lot of fans there and it was really good. Our fans were much louder than the Widnes fans!”

Billingham Stars were confirmed as league champions courtesy of their 3-0 triumph at Hull Jets.

Other results: Sheffield Scimitars 3 Blackburn Hawks 9; Billingham Stars 2 Solihull Barons 3; Blackburn 7 Nottingham Lions 1; Whitley Warriors 6 Hull Jets 1.

Ice Sheffield will be the venue for the NIHL Division One North play-offs, which will be held on the weekend of April 6 and 7 - and Dragons’ head coach Mike Clancy is looking forward to them!

Clancy told Billingham Stars TV: “I’m pretty excited. The league’s been the most competitive I’ve ever seen it.

“Billingham have been a stand-out team all season and now coming towards the back end of it, probably suffering a little bit on injuries like other clubs did earlier on in the season.

“But, look, I think these play-offs coming up will be the best play-offs we’ve seen at this level.”