London Raiders return to Bracknell Hornets on Saturday looking for revenge for last weekend’s disappointing 8-5 defeat.
Danny Hughes and JJ Pitchley weighed in with a couple of goals each to help Hornets to their first win in eight NIHL1 South games, but Raiders’ defenseman David Oliver believes they can secure a different result this week.
He said: “We outshot Bracknell, with their young netminder making some big saves. It was a very open game and with the big ice it takes us a bit of time to get going.
“It will only help us this Saturday going back to Bracknell. If you look at the stats from the game it shows that three key players for them hurt us.
“If we stop them and get past the netminder we will walk away with the win.”
Raiders return to home ice on Sunday against Oxford City Stars and Oliver is hoping the team can secure the points they need to seal a play-off place.
“I’m sure must fans around the league would agree that Oxford have been one of the teams of the season,” he added.
“Oxford come with hard-working players who won’t stop until the end, but if we work hard as a team and play the game simple I’m sure we can make it very hard for Oxford to go away with anything on Sunday.
“We haven’t got too many games to go now and we need to build for the play-offs. Wins on Saturday and Sunday will put us in a good place.”
Chelmsford Chieftains travel to Cardiff Devils NIHL on Saturday knowing that a win will seal a fourth successive title.
Chieftains reached the final of the D1S Cup last weekend after completing a 7-1 aggregate victory against Wightlink Raiders and Head Coach Sean Ashton praised his team’s form.
“I am obviously pleased to be in the final, but I’m more delighted in the way we played over the two legs,” he said.
“Without doubt on Sunday we played the best hockey that we have played all season and I feel the lads fully deserved their win.”
WEEKEND FIXTURES
NIHL1 South
Saturday
Bracknell Hornets v London Raiders
Cardiff Devils NIHL v Chelmsford Chieftains
Solent Devils v Invicta Dynamos
Wightlink Raiders v Streatham Redskins
Sunday
Invicta Dynamos v Chelmsford Chieftains
London Raiders v Oxford City Stars
Streatham Redskins v Solent Devils
Wightlink Raiders v Bracknell Hornets
NIHL2 South
Saturday
Chelmsford Warriors v Peterborough Islanders
Haringey Racers v Slough Jets
Lee Valley Lions v Invicta Mustangs
Sunday
Cardiff Fire v Basingstoke Buffalo
(Image permission: John Scott)
