It’s a more traditional two game weekend for the TSI World Bracknell Bees this weekend as they take on Milton Keynes Lightning on the road on Saturday night before returning home to entertain Basingstoke Bison on Sunday night.
Both this weekend’s opponents are teams the Bees have already faced this season, running out victors over Milton Keynes in Berkshire while being edged out by Basingstoke Bison in Hampshire.
It’s not been as successful a start to the season for the Lightning as they’d have hope for having recorded just one win in their seven outings. As was evident at the Hive there is talent in the roster and it’s a matter of time before that talent clicks but for now the Lightning will be looking to get their second-tier return back on track.
Tomas Kana has been a great signing for the Lightning this season and leads their scoring with 6+6 followed by Russ Cowley with 2+7 but Head Coach Lewis Clifford will be looking for others to join in with the scoring and ease the burden on the club’s top two scorers.
Goaltending is taken care of by Jordan Lawday.
The Bees and Bison sit mid-table with Basingstoke one table place ahead by virtue of one point while the Bees have a game in hand making Sunday a virtual four-point swing game depending on Saturday’s results for both teams.
Ashley Tait has been the main offensive threat for the Bison so far this season recording 4+7 from eight games with Adam Jones sitting just behind with 3+7. With a healthy dose of Bison in the top scoring charts they don’t share the same problem as the Lightning with a greater depth of scoring options.
Alex Mettam guards the nets for the Bison and is no stranger to the Hive.
Head Coach Doug Sheppard looked ahead to the weekend’s challenges: “It might be a traditional week with two games this week but unfortunately this will be our third week running with only one training session. The players will once again be training in Everyone Active gym at the Bracknell Leisure Centre. We have a huge weekend as we try to climb the league table and secure a spot in the Cup semi-finals.”
Bees play at 7pm on Saturday in Milton Keynes with the Sunday home game at the Hive against the Bison facing off at 5.30pm.
