(Image permission: David Morrison)
LANCASHIRE, UK – Billingham Stars face a tough weekend double-header as they bid to kick-start their season in Moralee D1.
The Stars travel to Hull Pirates on Saturday before returning to home ice to face Blackburn Hawks the following day.
Two wins from their first 11 games of the campaign have left the Stars eighth in the table, but netminder Mark Watson believes there’s been signs of improvements in recent weeks.
“It’s been a really tough start to the season for us, and at times we’ve been struggling with injuries so have often played short-benched,” he said.
“Having said that I feel as if we’ve put in a few good performances over the past few weeks and are playing with more confidence than we were a month or so ago.
“We’ve got a tough weekend ahead of us against Hull and Blackburn, however we are more than capable of putting in performances to take points from both teams.
“We’ve taken the league leaders Sheffield to overtime, which not many teams have been able to do in the league, and lost by the odd goal in so many games.
“If we can cut out the odd mistake there is no reason why we can’t turn those narrow defeats into victories and get back to winning ways.”
Telford Tigers 2 are also in action twice over the weekend as they face Sheffield Senators and Blackburn Hawks 2 in Laidler D2.
The Tigers conceded a late goal to lose 5-4 at Hull Jets last weekend, before bouncing back with an impressive 4-3 victory at Sutton Sting the following day and defender Simon Harrison believes the team can take plenty of heart from those two performances.
“It was disappointing to not come away with at least a point against Hull – our performance was up and down throughout the game, but it was hard to take conceding in the last few seconds,” he said.
“Against Sutton it was a must-win game for us and I felt it was some of the best hockey we’ve played this season. The guys worked hard and kept things positive on bench.
“For the weekend coming Sheffield and Blackburn are games we need to take points from and if we keep the performance going from the Sutton game we shouldn’t have any problems.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Moralee D1
Saturday
Hull Pirates v Billingham Stars
Nottingham Lions v Solihull Barons
Sunday
Billingham Stars v Blackburn Hawks
Nottingham Lions v Deeside Dragons
Solihull Barons v Solway Sharks
Whitley Warriors v Sheffield Steeldogs
Laidler D2
Saturday
Bradford Bulldogs v Blackburn Hawks 2
Coventry Blaze NIHL v Hull Jets
Telford Tigers 2 v Sheffield Senators
Sunday
Altrincham Aces v Bradford Bulldogs
Blackburn Hawks 2 v Telford Tigers 2
Deeside Dragons 2 v Hull Jets
Sutton Sting v Coventry Blaze NIHL
NIHL National Cup
Saturday
Peterborough Phantoms v Sheffield Steeldogs
Solway Sharks v Blackburn Hawks
Sunday
Telford Tigers v Swindon Wildcats
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