DOUG SHEPPARD says reaching finals night in Coventry is a big incentive for his Bracknell Bees side this weekend.
Bees overcame Romford Raiders 6-3 on aggregate in the NIHL South 1 play-off quarter-finals, their first post-season victory for 11 years, to set up a semi-final showdown with league champions Swindon Wildcats, who thrashed Invicta Dynamos 24-5 to reach the last four.
Sheppard’s men will host their neighbours on Saturday evening (6pm) before making the short trip to the Link Centre on Sunday (4.15pm) with both sides looking to reach the Britton Conference final against either Peterborough Phantoms or Basingstoke Bison.
And as well as that, the winners of the semi-finals will also take part on the Final Four weekend in Coventry next month, along with some of the best NIHL sides from across the country.
“That’s definitely our goal,” head coach Sheppard told The Wokingham Paper.
“You want to give yourselves a chance, you want to get there and you want to be in the big dance and anything can happen when you get there.
“We definitely want to give ourselves that opportunity and our fanbase the chance to go up there and cheer the guys on in Coventry.”
He added: “Swindon were the best team over the course of the season but it’s the hottest team and the team that is playing best that can win the last trophy of the year with the play-offs.
“We matched up pretty well with Swindon this year.
“They do have a different look with (Jonas) Hoog, we’ve only seen them a couple of times with him in the line-up.
“But I feel confident against any team in the league, as long as we’re bringing our best and playing the way we can.”
Sunday’s performance against Raiders certainly showcased that point.
Facing the same side who had knocked them out of the quarter-finals 12 months ago, Bees were locked at 1-1 after the first leg in London.
But three goals in the space of as many minutes in the second period at The Hive took the game away from the visitors, eventually winning 5-2 on the night to cruise through.
And Sheppard was pleased with what he saw.
“I think for whatever reason we came out in London on our back foot a little bit,” he said.
“But after the first period in London, I think we played two really good periods up there and then possibly our most complete 60 minutes of the year on Sunday.
“We didn’t really want to change a whole lot (ahead of the second period on Sunday). I thought we were going really well and their goalie made saves in the first period. We finally got a few breaks and the goals all came at once.
“It just came from hard work and getting to the gritty areas.
“We’ve been getting our grade A chances and they just haven’t gone in. That second period was a bit of a break out for us.”
While it has been a long time without success for Bracknell Bees, Sheppard is well-accustomed to getting his hands on trophies.
The Canadian won the treble at Basingstoke Bison last season before switching to Bracknell and he brought a number of that successful side with him.
And he feels the current squad available has what it takes to end the Bees’ wait for success.
“Most of the guys have got play-off experience,” said Sheppard.
“The guys that came from Basingstoke have obviously won trophies but the guys that stayed from Bracknell are all experienced guys.
“They’ve had it before and bringing in guys like (Edward) Knaggs, he has experience in the play-offs and even the guys that came from Streatham have won trophies before. It was at a lower level, but it’s still the same thing.
“We’ve got a lot of experience. We’ve got a young team, but a team that has been through it before.”
He added: “We’ve got to come out with a good strong performance on our home ice and go into Swindon giving ourselves a chance.
“We’d love to have the lead (after the first leg) but our team has won some tough games on the road so whatever the outcome, we just want to make sure we’ve got a chance to win it in Swindon on Sunday.”
