By Frankie Notaro

This weekend sees the return of Pitbulls 2s action as they prepare to welcome the Cardiff Canucks to the Pound for the first time this season on Sunday evening. 

The game this weekend against the Cardiff Canucks will be Cardiff’s first game of the season whereas it will be Bristol’s second game after they faced the Peterborough Phantoms 2s a couple of weeks ago. Even though it will be the Canucks’ first game, some of their players have been able to gain some NIHL National experience with the Berkshire Bees. Ian Germanier-Torrado and Josh Poole have both been able to secure 2-way contracts with the Bees and were able to play a game against the Milton Keynes Lightning where Josh was able to pick up the Man of the Match award. 

The Canucks have the chance to have a strong power play unit on Sunday and it will be interesting how they utilise their special teams as the young players on their roster as well as experienced players can easily help boost their opportunities with an extra skater if they use their chances smartly during the game. 

Going into this weekend’s fixture against Cardiff, Josh Poole will definitely be one to watch for the Canucks as he is extremely fast and is able to create chances at any given opportunity. His ability to think on the stop to create chances could easily bring Cardiff more opportunities to take the lead on Sunday evening and will need to be something that Bristol will need to limit him from doing and will need to apply the pressure in crucial times during the game. 

Another player that the Bristol players will need to be cautious about and is no stranger to the Pound is Max Birbraer. The Pitbulls players will be familiar with how Max plays and so will the fans so picking up on his style of gameplay and limiting his possession of the puck during Sunday’s game will help limit the opportunities that the Canucks will have to take the lead and create chances on the night. 

Photograph credit: Luke Miller