NIHL Week 8 Preview
Friday 1st November:
The Romford Raiders welcome the MK Lightning to the Sapphire for the first time this season, last time these two team met, the Lightning were winners on their own rink but this will be a lot tougher with the Raiders only losing once on home ice this season. Last season the Lightning struggled at the Sapphire but with some new faces in the team, they will be hoping they can perform a bit better.
Saturday 2nd November:
The Hull Seahawks take on the Peterborough Phantoms for the first time this season up in Hull. This will be the first of two games between these sides this weekend. The Phantoms come into this after losing on Wednesday night against the Tigers. They will be looking for there first win away in four. While Hull are still undefeated at home but also lost midweek to the Steeldogs.
The Swindon Wildcats take the long trip up to Dumfries this weekend to face the Solway Sharks in a double header! The Wildcats will be looking to bounce back after a tough weekend losing to MK and Bristol. The Sharks on the other hand have won their last two home games with a combined goals of 14.
There is another double header this time between the Bristol Pitbulls and the Sheffield Steeldogs. The Pitbulls are at home on the Saturday and are coming off the back of three wins in a row. The Steeldogs also come into this game in good form after beating the Seahawks 5-2 during the week. The Steeldogs will be looking for revenge after losing to the Pitbulls 5-3 earlier in the season.
The MK Lightning will look to extend their unbeaten league streak at home as they welcome the Berkshire Bees. The Bees are struggling a bit at the moment, without a win in their last three games. Set to be another big crowd at Planet Ice Milton Keynes!
The Telford Tigers face the Leeds Knights in another double header this weekend, The Tigers come in to the game after beating the Phantoms at home on Wednesday. The two new imports, Henderson and Thomson both getting two points. The Knights did beat the Tigers 6-4 a few weeks ago but it will be a tougher test this time round.
Sunday 3rd November:
The Steeldogs then play the Pitbulls at home and are come into the game after beating MK and the Seahawks at Ice Sheffield. The Pitbulls won in this fixture last time out and are in even better form since then. Walker Sommer is coming off the back of scoring another two goals on Wednesday night and someone the Pitbulls need to try and keep quiet.
The Wildcats face the Sharks for the second time in Dumfries and will look to replicate what they did last season winning all three up in Dumfries. But the Sharks have improved so it will be a big test for the Cats.
The Knights will look to carry on their momentum from last weekend after dispatching the Steeldogs 7-0 at the Castle. Matt Bissonnette is currently sat in second in point scoring in the NIHL behind Sobchak.
The Phantoms will look to bounce back against the Seahawks and no better place to do that then on home ice. Slava’s side have won their last 6 games at home making it a tough challenge for anyone.
And finally we have the Bees who host the Romford Raiders who secured a big away win in Telford last weekend. Zachary Yokoyama has fit straight into the side scoring twice and adding four assists last weekend. However it will be a tough test for the Raiders as the Bees are always a threat on their home ice.
