With home games lined up four weeks in a row, the Predators used that to their advantage and reeled off three impressive victories, over last year’s champions Grimsby Ice Bears, the Runners Up Sheffield Ice Tigers and local rivals Newcastle Coyotes.
The game with the Coyotes was something of a miss-match with the Predators firing on all cylinders, while their opponents, making their debut in the competition this year, were missing several key players. But you can only beat what is put in front of you and the Predators, who were missing some key players of their own, made sure they took the bragging rights in the first Tyneside derby of the season.
Even the TV cameras were there to capture the action and thanks to Billingham Stars TV you can watch the full game on YouTube here:
The following week though, the Predators faced their toughest test of the season, and lost their only league game on home ice to the very impressive looking Don Valley Vikings. The home side gave it a good go though and despite being on the penalty kill for much of the opening 38 minutes, limited their rivals to very few clear cut goal scoring opportunities. Indeed, had it not been for a crazy couple of minutes just before the second intermission the Predators may even have been able to take something away from the game, but some unlucky bounces on at least three of the Vikings’ goals and further penalty trouble, conspired to take the game away from them. However, there were still plenty of positives to take from the game. Firstly, their penalty killing unit must now rank as being the best in the league, given the amount of practice they were able to have, while their comeback in the third period where they stopped the Vikings rampant offense and even pulled a goal back, and could have had others, was something to be proud of. The Predators can certainly be hopeful when they face the Vikings in the return game at iceSheffield next month of getting a positive result, given the way they played.
You can also watch the full game here:
Last weekend they got back to winning ways with a straight forward win over the Sheffield Ice Tigers, meaning that just after the halfway point in the regular season, only the unbeaten Don Valley Vikings are above them in the table.
Sheffield Ice Tigers game can be watched here:
Last weekend saw the Predators join their Tyneside-based neighbours Durham Dragons and Whitley Bay Islanders in taking part in the Nottingham Masters Tournament for over 35s. It was meant to provide some competitive action for the Predators before going back to Cup action against the Coyotes this coming weekend. However, we got the news the Coyotes are unable to fulfil that fixture and have now in fact pulled out of the competition altogether.
That leaves just four sides in the tournament now, with only two games left outstanding. Both involve the Predators with trips to the Steel City to take on the Don Valley Vikings and Sheffield Ice Tigers before the playoff finals weekend is due to take place in early September. With a scarcity of games in between those clashes, the club will be looking to fill out their fixture list with a few more games.
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