After an unbeaten pre-season, attention turns to the Autumn Cup this weekend. Doug Sheppard’s side make the trip up to Yorkshire on Saturday where we take on the Leeds Knights before we welcome back last weekend’s opponents – the Swindon Wildcats.

Coach Sheppard gives his thoughts on pre-season, the upcoming cup weekend and players updates.

We were all pleased to be back on the ice again. It’s been a difficult time for all of us. Hopefully hockey nights will raise everyone’s spirits.

Watching your team scoring is always enjoyable, so our pre-season games against Raiders and Swindon gave everyone plenty to cheer about. Lots of players got on the scoresheet in high scoring games, home and away.

One young man, Mikey Power, had come to us on a trial. After strong performances, we were happy to invite him to join the team.

Of course, defending is also important and I’m confident that our goal-tending pair of Adam Goss and  newcomer Curtis Warburton will work well in tandem.

Bayley Harewood is on a two-way contract with us and Cardiff Devils. We will always support young players anxious to develop their careers so it was good to hear how well he performed in the Elite League last weekend.

I’m delighted to have Dominik Gabaj to help with coaching in addition to his playing role. We know we have a tough weekend ahead of us, travelling up to Leeds on Saturday and facing a strengthened Swindon Wildcats team on Sunday.

It might not be another goalfest, but they’re sure to be exciting games.

Doug Sheppard

You can find more information, buy your match tickets or purchase your live stream for this Sunday’s home game against the Swindon Wildcats by clicking here