10:30am Saturday 13th March 2010
Blackburn Hawks head coach Gary Buckman hopes victory over Flintshire Freeze today will be enough to secure silverware for the local ice hockey aces.
Hawks, top of the English National Ice Hockey League (North Cup) table, complete their campaign with a game against the Welsh outfit at the Blackburn Arena this evening (face-off 5.45pm).
They are firm favourites to claim the points, as Flintshire have lost all six games in this season’s cup competition.
And the trophy will be theirs, unless Sheffield Spartans win away at both Solihull Barons and Telford Titans in their final two games.
“The lads have had a good break and should certainly be up for it,” said Buckman.
“There is a close rivalry between ourselves and Flintshire, who are battling for promotion to ED1, so they won’t concede the points easily.
“But hopefully we can get the job done and win the cup outright.”
Hawks complete this weekend’s double header with a trip to Nottingham Lions tomorrow night.
The Lions all but surrendered the league title following a 4-3 defeat away to Whitley Warriors last weekend and Buckman believes that this could be a good time for the two teams to meet.
“I’d like to go to Nottingham and get the points,” he said. “We’ve had three close games against them this season, losing two by just the odd goal.
“Hopefully, if everyone gels together, we can end the season with a flourish and come away with four points.”
Buckman’s cause hasn’t been helped however, with a number of his senior stars unavailable for action.
“We’ve got a bit of a sickness bug going round the camp at the moment and we only had nine players at training on Thursday night, so we will have to assess a few before today’s game,” he added.
“Chris Arnone serves the second of the two-match ban against Flintshire today, but should return against Nottingham tomorrow. But Lance Derbyshire is still out.”
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