The time has finally come as this weekend is the start of league action. They will face the Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday at the Slough Ice Arena for their home leg of the weekend and take the trip to Telford to take on the Telford Tigers for their away fixture of the weekend.
Bees IHC vs Peterborough Phantoms
Last season the Phantoms were an extremely focussed team and chased their goal of ending the season with at least one piece of silverware, which they did. Throughout the whole of last season they proved themselves to be league title contenders and in games against the Bees it was always a tense game whenever the Phantoms were in town.
Over the offseason the Phantoms did lose some of the stand out players from their roster like Luc Johnson and Glenn Billing who both decided to make the move to the Swindon Wildcats for this season as well as losing Ralfs Circenis to the Bristol Pitbulls. However, losing these players has given to Phantoms the chance to branch out and bring in new young british talent to boost their roster for this season with signing the likes of Billy Thorpe and Leo Markey on full-time contracts this season – two players who will no doubt be a part of a bigger plan for the future with the Phantoms and Peterborough will definitely be keen on keep these two in the roster for many years to come.
The Bees will have to be aware of the return of Luke Ferrara who has recently made his return to Peterborough after 8 years away in the Elite League as well as having the chance to travel to France and Poland. This experience that Luke Ferrara holds will be useful to how the Phantoms may change their gameplay to help better the style in which the team plays.
Telford Tigers vs Bees IHC
The Telford Tigers had an interesting last season. After a very good start to the season the team were hit by injuries to a number of key players which hampered their defence of their league title.
The Tigers over the offseason saw a few players step away including Brodie Jesson, Charlie Webb, Tom Carlon and Corey Goodison. Another loss to the Tigers in the upcoming season is Jason Silverthorne who has taken the decision to take time away from hockey. But through all these losses Telford have made some additions to the lineup that brings in a new breeze of experience through Harry Ferguson who prior to joining the Tigers was signed with the Glasgow Clan. They also added Matthew Bloor and Zaine McKenzie – both who have had recent EIHL experience in playing with the Nottingham Panthers.
Ones to watch for the Telford Tigers this weekend will be forwards Finley Howells – who in last seasons matchups against the Bees managed a total of 8 points – and Rhodes Mitchell-King in defence – who season in games against the Bees managed a total of 4 points but played a massive role defensively for the Tigers.
The Bees will go into the weekend without Adam Rosbottom and Liam Morris who are both week-to-week due to injuries sustained last weekend.
