NIHL Week 7 Preview
Saturday 26th October:
The weekend's first game sees the Berkshire Bees look to bounce back at home against the Hull Seahawks after losing to the Pitbulls last Sunday. The Seahawks will also be looking to return to winning ways away from home after losing 7-5 to the Telford Tigers. However, they will have to try to do that without Canadian Import Johnny Corneil as he is serving a three-game ban.
The Milton Keynes Lightning will look to keep their home league streak alive as they face the Swindon Wildcats who beat them at Planet Ice Milton Keynes in the playoffs at the end of last season. The Wildcats return to two-game weekends after having one-game weekends the past three weeks. They will hope Jake Bricknell can carry on his goalscoring form after scoring a hat-trick last weekend.
The Solway Sharks will be looking to make it back-to-back home wins after comfortably beating the Peterborough Phantoms last weekend in Dumfries. However, the Romford Raiders will look to get back to winning ways after losing both games last weekend. Ethan James didn't start last Sunday so he will be well-rested to be back starting.
The Bristol Pitbulls have a big game at home against the Telford Tigers who are coming off the back of securing 4/6 points last weekend. There has been a lot of movement for the Tigers as they brought in two new import Canadians: David Thomson and Eric Henderson. Zachary Yokoyama was released by the club.
The final game on Saturday is the Yorkshire derby as the Leeds Knights welcome the Sheffield Steeldogs to the Castle. Kieran Brown will be back in the Knights lineup after serving his two-game ban last weekend whilst Henry Adams will miss the game as he serves the final game of his ban for the Dogs.
Sunday 27th October:
It does not get any easier for the Steeldogs as they then face the table-topping MK Lightning. But they will try to take some confidence into the game after winning at home last Sunday against the Sharks. The Lightning on the other hand will come into this game with a lot of confidence after coming of the back of beating the Knights in the castle for the first time since 2022.
The Hull Seahawks then play the return game against the Berkshire Bees up North. The Seahawks are still yet to lose at home and will be looking to keep the streak going. Marcel Balaz was out of the lineup on Sunday with an injury so will interesting to see if he returns this weekend. The Seahawks will miss Corneil due to his ban.
The Phantoms will look to make it 6 home wins in a row as they host the Solway Sharks in Peterborough. Janne Laakkonen is coming off the back of getting 6 points in one game last weekend against the Raiders while Ferrara also scored a hat-trick. The Sharks are struggling to get a win away from home at the moment but this would be the perfect momentum builder.
The Telford Tigers will look to get revenge on the Romford Raiders after they got beat fairly comfortably two weeks ago in Romford. But with the changes Tom Watkins has made to his team, this could spark some positive reactions. There will also be the home debuts of the two new Canadians.
And finally, the weekend finishes off with the South West derby as the Swindon Wildcats host the Bristol Pitbulls for the first time this season. The Pitbulls are coming off the back of an impressive 3-2 away win against the Bees with goaltender Tommy Nappier showing his quality. The Pitbulls narrowly lost to the Wildcats on penalty shots in pre-season and have caused some trouble to the Cats the last few seasons.
Photo Credit - Leeds Knights
