By Frankie Notaro
A big weekend ahead for the Bristol Honda Pitbulls as they welcome the Swindon Wildcats to the Pound on Friday evening for their final home fixture in 2024, which is also a sellout, and then the Pitbulls make the trip to Shropshire on Sunday evening for their final away fixture of this year against the Telford Tigers.
Team Recap
The Swindon Wildcats have been slowly but surely crawling their way up in the league standings and are currently occupying 3rd place. They have been able to do so after securing 38 points in 28 games by winning 15 wins and then 2 overtime wins while also suffering 11 losses. Swindon are going into the Friday fixture after a loss last Sunday night to the Milton Keynes Lightning after previously beating them in overtime the night before, Aaron Nell will be desperate to make sure this does not turn into a streak of misfortune for the Wildcats and make sure they get back to winning ways as soon as possible.
The Telford Tigers find themselves back in the fight for 8th place within the league standings as they are currently in 9th place after collecting 24 points in the 31 games they have completed so far this season. The Tigers are going into this weekend of fixtures after a mixed weekend of emotions previously as last Saturday they found themselves struck by a 10-6 loss against the Sheffield Steeldogs but then returned to home ice last Sunday and took the 2 points against the Solway Sharks to balance the weekend.
Ones To Watch
Last time the Pitbulls faced the Wildcats was at the Pound on the 15th November where the Wildcats took the 2 points. Based on the recent match-up against the two sides, going into Friday’s fixture Balint Pakozdi will be a key part of Swindon’s roster as last time he visited the Pound he was able to get 2 goals for the Wildcats with one of his goals being scored only 23 seconds into the game. He will be quick to find opportunities that catch the Pitbulls off-guard and this will be something that Bristol will need to be aware of going into this game.
Another player who the Pitbulls will need to be cautious of is Glenn Billing as he proved himself to be extremely useful to the Wildcats in creating opportunities as we saw at the Pound last time with him being able to pick-up 2 assists on the night.
For the Tigers, the last time they faced the Pitbulls was in the Halloween-themed night where the Pitbulls skated away with the 2 points in a shootout victory. Going into this fixture, the Pitbulls will need to keep an eye out for Eric Henderson who has been able to secure 27 points in 19 games from 9 goals and 18 assists. The first interaction the Pitbulls had with Eric was on his debut for the Tigers and since this game he has been able to gel into the lineup more, and this has allowed him to know his role in the team now. By limiting his possession of the puck, this will limit the amount of opportunities the Tigers get on the night to get the puck to the back of the net.
Special Teams
The Wildcats’ powerplay unit for this season has been very successful for them as it stands at 33.03% effective when they have had 109 extra skater opportunities this season. A player who seems to thrive on the power play for Swindon is Glenn Billing as he has been able to get 8 powerplay goals this season. Someone who is not far behind Glenn is Aaron Nell who has been able to get 7 pucks to the back of the net during the extra skater advantage.
On the other side in terms of the penalty kill unit, it has been 77.17% effective for the Wildcats after they have found themselves on the penalty kill 92 times so far this season. However, even though the Wildcats have been short-handed, they have also been able to get the puck to the back of the net 4 times with Aaron Nell scoring 3 and then Luc Johnson getting the other short-handed goal. This will be something the Pitbulls will need to watch-out for and make sure they do not fall victim to during their powerplay opportunities.
For Telford, their powerplay unit for this season has been 23.16% effective after they have found themselves on the powerplay 95 times in the games they have completed so far. Scott McKenzie has been the Tigers player to score the most powerplay goals as he currently has been able to get 5 pucks to the back of the net during the powerplay for the Tigers so limiting his puck possession during the Telford powerplay will be vital on the night.
The penalty kill unit for the Tigers has been 69.67% successful so far this season, as they have found themselves short-handed 122 times during this season. 4 short-handed goals have been scored by the Telford Tigers during the games they have completed that have been scored by Harry Ferguson, Scott McKenzie, Eric Henderson and Danny Rose.
