After ending the losing streak last Sunday evening against the Telford Tigers, the TSI World Bees prepare themselves as they face a busy week ahead of games as they face the Swindon Wildcats Thursday evening; Sheffield Steeldogs on Saturday evening and then face the Raiders IHC next Tuesday at home and away on Wednesday. 

Swindon Wildcats- 21st December

The Swindon Wildcats are currently 5th within the league standings after completing 20 games, winning 12, losing 6 and taking 2 of the 20 games to overtime but then losing. The Wildcats have recently just come off of a 6 game winning streak after an overtime loss against the Leeds Knights last Sunday. They have secured 65% of the points that have been on offer to the Wildcats this season so far.

The execution of the power play unit at Swindon’ is roughly 33% effective through only being able to use 28 power plays out of 84. Their penalty kill is roughly 78% effective and this will be a big part of the Wildcats’ game going into Thursday’s game against the Bees but no doubt Aaron Nell will want to keep improving this statistic going into the New Year.

Swindon have had 611 shots against them and are averaging around 30 shots on goal against their netminders. They have also been able to have 653 shots on goal on opposing teams netminders and are averaging 31 shots on goal per game. There have been 3 short-handed goals scored against the Wildcats but Russell Cowley has been the only Swindon player who has been able to score a short-handed goal for the Wildcats in the 20 games completed this season. There have been 78 goals scored against the Wildcats this season out of the 611 shots against them this season and the Wildcats have been able to score 96 goals. 

Going into the game against the Wildcats, the Bees will need to keep an eye on Tomasz Malasinski who is the top point scorer at the Wildcats at the moment as he has gathered 44 points from 20 goals and 24 assists. He has proven himself to be a big part of the Wildcats’ power plays as he has been awarded 11 assists while they have had a man advantage while also has scored 3 game winning goals for his team, so from an offensive perspective the Bees’ defence will need to try attempt to try to limit this chances of getting near the Bees goal. In defence for the Wildcats, Tyler Plews will be a big part of their game and he has managed to collect a total of 8 points but provides a bigger role within the team apart from providing goal.

Sheffield Steeldogs- 23rd December

The Steeldogs are only 1 place above the Bees in 7th and have the same amount of points as the Bees as they are also on 20 points. Sheffield have accumulated these points from 23 games as they have won 10 games and lost 13, they have not managed to take any games to overtime up to this point of the season but have managed to secure roughly 43% of the points on offer to them. Sheffield are coming into this fixture after also just breaking a loss streak however theirs was a 4 game loss streak but ended it last Sunday against the Raiders after a 4-2 win at Romford. 

The power play unit at Sheffield is currently roughly 22% effective after being able to successfully use 15 out of 69 chances where the Steeldogs have found themselves with a man advantage. Steeldogs’ penalty kill is roughly about 76% effective after being able to kill 63 out of 83 points in their games where they have been found short-handed.

There have been a total of 890 shots on goal on their netminding duo in their 23 games completed and are also averaging around 39 shots on goal per game, we can only assume this will be something that Jason Hewitt will want to try to decrease and have a big improvement on defence going into the second half of the season.  Vlads Vulkanovs has been the only Steeldogs that has been able to get the puck to the net while being short-handed but there has also been 1 short-handed goal scored against Sheffield.

From games previously played between the Bees and Steeldogs, Jonathan Phillips will be someone the Bees will need to limit his chances of getting close to the Bees goal. This is after the last time the Steeldogs made the trip down to the Slough Ice Arena he managed to secure a hatrick in only one period of hockey. He has also managed to secure 32 points in 23 games from 10 goals and 22 assists while managing to score 3 power play goals and 2 game winning goals. In defence, the Bees will need to watch out for Lee Haywood who has collected 6 points but is extremely talented when shutting down players and neutral zone turnover and can easily be a big part of their lineup.

Raiders IHC – 26th+27th December 

The Raiders find themselves just below the Bees at time of writing this as they are on 17 points in 24 games after 7 wins, 1 losses and taking 3 games to overtime but then losing. They started to pick up the pace after being on a 3 game winning streak but that came to an end after losing to the Sheffield Steeldogs.

The power play unit at Raiders is strong as it stands at roughly 28% after being able to use 26 out of 92 man advantages they have had this season, while their penalty kill is around 73% effective as they have been able to successfully kill 72 out of 98 times where they have found themselves short-handed.

There have been 845 shots against the Raiders so far this season on their netminders and they are averaging roughly 35 shots on goal against them per game while Bees are averaging 31 shots on goal per game. On the other side, the Raiders have managed a total of 852 shots on goal against opposing teams’ goalies and are having around 36 shots on goal a game. There have been no short-handed goals scored by the Raiders in the 24 games completed by them so far by other teams have managed to score short-handed goals against the Raiders 7 times this season and this will definitely be something that Sean Easton will want to stop from rising.

Going into the games against the Raiders after Christmas, the Bees will need to limit Adam Laishram’s chances to get close to the Bees’ goal as he has collected 43 points from 20 goals and 23 assists while scoring 2 power play goals and 1 game winning goal for the Raiders. Bees will also need to watch out for Jake Sylvester as he has managed to collect 26 points for the Raiders from scoring 15 goals and gaining 11 assists but is a massive part of the Raiders’ play making to build up to create chances.