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By Frankie Notaro 

A one game weekend ahead for the Bristol Honda Pitbulls as they prepare to face the Telford Tigers for their only game this weekend at the Pound on Saturday evening!

Team Recap

The Telford Tigers are coming into this weekend off the back of a one point weekend after they managed to take the Sheffield Steeldogs to overtime last Saturday during their home game of the weekend, but once they hit the road and took on the Romford Raiders on the Sunday evening they suffered a 6-4 loss. Telford currently sit in 9th place within the league standings as they have collected 29 points this season in 39 games from 13 wins and 26 loses so far. The Pitbulls are only 1 point behind the Tigers coming into this game and a win for the Pitbulls will see them go up to 9th place and in a better place to catch-up with the Solway Sharks who are on 34 points coming into this weekend.

Ones to Watch

Going into this weekend’s game against Telford, the Pitbulls will need to be aware of Eric Henderson and Scott McKenzie throughout the upcoming game. Eric Henderson has added a great level of offense to the Tigers’ offensive plays since his debut, which was against the Pitbulls. In just 27 games he has been able to secure 14 goals and 28 assists to total 42 points for the Tigers. He will be a massive part of creating opportunities for Telford on Saturday to limit his ability to make passes and his opportunities on the puck will be crucial to taking control of the game against the Tigers. Scott McKenzie has been a huge part of the Tigers’ roster throughout the years and he will continues to prove his value to the club and during the power play he really shows his skill and this is where the Pitbulls’ defence need to come together and watch out for him breaking into Bristol’s defensive zone not just on the power play but throughout the whole game as he has been able to gather 38 points from 17 goals and 21 assists. He has been able to tally up 6 power play goals and 1 short-handed goal for the Tigers so stopping him will slow the Tigers’ pushes into the zone.

Special Teams

When it comes to the special teams, both teams are quite close in these particular areas but nonetheless these opportunities for both teams could easily change the direction of the game! The Tigers’ power play this season has been 23.33% effective while the Pitbulls’ stands at 22.60%, but during this time two players to keep an eye on for both teams will be Scott McKenzie, as stated in the ones to watch, as well as Tanner Butler. While Scott for Telford is very good at finishing his chances and pushing the puck into the zone, Tanner Butler has an incredible slapshot that from the blueline could easily slip into the back of the net as we have seen him do so many times this season.

When it comes to the penalty kill, Telfords’ stands at 69.28% effective while Bristols’ is 68.78% so from this statistics alone could indicate that it may be a battle of the defences during Saturdays games if it comes to both teams finding themselves in the penalty box. During Telford penalty kill they do not have a highlighted player that could breakaway from a chance to get a short-handed goal but in terms of keeping their defence in check, Rhodes Mitchell-King will be a massive part of this as he is no afraid to put his body on the line in order to make sure the puck does not make its way into the net. But from a Pitbulls perspective, Bayley Harewood will definitely be out to keep his short-handed goals going up as he currently has had 5 short-handed goals and will want to make it 6 if the opportunity comes to his stick.

Don’t forget to check out this week’s interview ahead of this weekend’s game with Bari McKenzie!

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See you in the rink, Pitbulls fans! Get ready to be loud and proud!

Frankie