Mid-Week Preview

Panthers vs Capitals 2/10/07

The first road trip of the new season could hardly be any harder than this mid-week double header. The Capitals will making the long journey down to Nottingham for a Tuesday night fixture before hitting the road again for a game against the Blaze the following night. Nottingham will be expected to take the points on home ice but hopefully we will have our young British players available so we should be at full strength too. Mid week games have proven to be a nightmare scenario for the Capitals in the past and these two games could prove to be yet another no-win situation for the team. Being positive though we have began the campaign well have been extremely competitive in our fixtures so far. I can't see the Panthers games being any different to what has gone before. We will be solid and difficult to score against. Christiansen will have us set up to hit on the break and will hope that we can take any chances that might come our way. The Panthers game will be another tester as to how far the team has come on since last season but if we are going to win a game on this trip a victory against the Panthers is more likely.

Capitals key-man: J.F Perras - a good result could rest on his shoulders
Panther key-man: Johan Molin - could control the flow of the game.

Blaze vs Capitals 3/10/07

The second fixture of the mid-week double header and it doesn't get any easier for the Capitals. The Blaze have been tipped by many to repeat their success of last season and if they want to do just that they will see the games against the Capitals as must win match ups. So going with that and the many times in the past the Caps have travelled to Coventry mid-week and came away with a thumping will inspire The Blaze. They will will be up for this game. We will have to match their hunger.The Caps will have had a tough absorbing encounter the night before so the players bodies won't be as fresh going into this match 24 hours later. We will hopefully have our three lines to role out to spread out the ice time. We will almost certainly have to keep things very tight at the back for the first twenty minutes or so or we could be on to a hiding. The players will need to really focus on the job that has to be done. We do have quality, experienced players and If each one of them can keep it steady on their shifts we could prove to be a thorn in the Blaze's side. We are capable of stealing something against Coventry this year. A win here would be a spectacular and an almost unbelievable result for the team. Think France vs Scotland. The rest of the league would certainly recognise the Capitals are force to stand up and take note of if we come away with the points.

Capitals key-man: Ryan Crane - A strong showing is a must
Blaze key-man: Curtis Huppe - Blaze's go to guy