By Frankie Notaro

A one game weekend ahead for the Bristol Honda Pitbulls as they welcome the Berkshire Bees back to the Pound for the second time this season on Saturday evening. Face-off is at 7pm with doors opening at 6pm. 

Berkshire Bees

The Berkshire Bees make the trip to the Pound this weekend to take on the Pitbulls in their only game this weekend. The Bees are coming into this game after their latest win against the Swindon Wildcats, who were at the Pound last Friday. Swindon were unable to secure their 6 point weekend due to the Bees forcing them into an overtime and then securing the 2 points against the Wildcats in a penalty shootout. 

Bees are currently 11th place within the league standings after securing 12 points (30% of the points on offer this season) from the 20 games they have completed. They have been able to win 4 games and have 1 overtime win, however they have also suffered 13 losses and 2 overtime losses. 

Going into this game, the Pitbulls will need to take every opportunity they get close to Max Wright’s net as he was been on a successful run recently and in his latest game against the Swindon Wildcats he managed to stop 59 out of 61 shots against him on the night further securing a 96.72% save percentage from the game. Max has faced 768 shots on goal this season so far and is averaging 4 goals per game so will be a massive part of the Bees game and attempting to keep the score line as low down as possible for the Bees. 

The Bees power play unit has been 15% effective so far this season as they have been able to use 14 out of the 92 extra skater opportunities they have had. Players to watch during the Bees power play will be Marcel Balaz and Liam Morris as between them they have been able to score 8 of the 14 power play goals. In terms of assists during the power play Vanya Antonov and Dominik Gabaj will be ones to limit their passing as they are the Bees players with the most assists during the extra player advantage and can easily make the difference during the play. 

The penalty kill for the Bees this season has been 79% effective as they have been able to see through 50 out of the 63 times they have been down a skater. A key player to watch for the Bees during the penalty kill will be Will Stead. Last time the Bees made the trip to the Pound Will Stead was able to get through the Pitbulls’ defence and get a short-handed goal past Tommy Nappier. The Pitbulls will need to keep a close eye on him as they will create opportunities for the Bees as soon as he finds possession of the puck. 

The Bees have had 845 shots on goal against them in all the 20 games they have completed with there being an average of 42 shots on goal being faced by the Bees’ netminder per game. There have been 85 goals scored against Berkshire from opposing teams across the league. The Bees have been able to get 590 shots on goal against netminders across the league and are averaging 30 shots on goal per game but from this they have only been able to get 45 goals to the back of nets from their 20 games. 

Going into Saturday’s game, the Pitbulls will need to keep a close eye on Marcel Balaz as well as Stuart Mogg. Marcel Balaz is the Bees’ top point scorer this season so far and he has been able to collect 25 points from 13 goals and 12 assists with 5 of his goals coming from power play opportunities. Marcel Balaz is a key player for the Bees when it comes to generating plays for the Bees offensively and by limiting his puck possession on the night the Pitbulls will be able to limit the goal opportunities for Bees on the night. 

Stuart Mogg will be a main part of Berkshire’s defence during the game and will make it hard for the Pitbulls to get past him to get chances to test the netminder in goal for the Bees on the night. As well as his defensive plays, the Pitbulls will need to watch out for Stuart Mogg while the Bees are on the power play as he has an incredible shot from the blueline and has proven he can help lead his team to success as he has already scored a game winning goal for the Bees this season, which was from the game against the Leeds Knights where they won 2-1 at the Slough Ice Arena.