Essential Info

Faceoff: 7pm Saturday
Doors Open: 6pm
Tickets: bit.ly/AirtheBear or 01908 540020

Match Preview

Sheffield Steeldogs make their second league visit to Planet Ice on Saturday with Smith Milton Keynes Lightning anxious to get back on the winning track.  There are no serious injury doubts for Lightning who expect to ice a full strength side except for Brandon Stones who continues his recovery.  It’s sure to be a great evening as MKL will continue the annual tradition of Air the Bear, which sees teddies being thrown onto the ice on the scoring of the first Lightning goal.  More details here!

Lightning’s three match winning run was ended at Hull Pirates on Sunday with the hosts sealing a 5-3 victory with two third period goals. Steeldogs arrive in Milton Keynes on the back of their own three match winning streak – albeit all of them by a single goal margin.

The Yorkshire club’s first league game in the city came in early October and it was an encounter Lightning will probably want to forget, having gone down 5-0 – all of the goals scored in the latter half of the match. Since then MK and Steeldogs have met at iceSheffield when Lewis Clifford’s men ran out 3-1 victors, Liam Stewart in his second outing for the club scoring the first two goals.

Steeldogs who go into the weekend in sixth place in the league are led in the scoring stakes by Nathan Salem with 33 points – 15 goals and 18 assists. He is followed by Bradford born Kieran Brown who has collected 33 points from 18 outings – including nine goals and 24 assists.

Neither feature any higher than 11th in the National Ice Hockey League scoring chart which is led by Hull’s Jason Hewitt with 52 points.

Unlike a number of NIHL teams Steeldogs have had an unchanged line-up since the start of the season, player coach Ben Morgan having confidence in his charges with the team handily placed with 25 points.

Can ‘DISCO’ Stewart repeat the feat of four goals in a match as he did in last Saturday’s 52- success against Telford Tigers? Will he get his wish and fill Block 7?  And can his partnership with recent recruit Robin Kovar continue to flourish?

On Sunday there will be the chance of quick revenge for Saturday’s losers with Lightning visiting iceSheffield at 7pm.

Photo: Mel Dickens