HAVING so many players away with the Great Britain under 20s squad at the World Championships this week does come at a cost.

We head into the games against Manchester and Peterborough short on numbers and we will also have to change the way that we play because of the amount of ice time that we will all get.

But it is great to see all the lads get this recognition and it shows what is being done here as a club.

What we are losing this weekend is a top four D-man in Callum (Buglass) and top six forwards in Ollie (Betteridge) and Floyd (Taylor).

We are also without the OHA (Okanagan Hockey Academy) boys which we would normally call on.

All this has happened before, though, a few years ago we were without Jamie Griffiths and he was so important to the team and last season we were without Sam Godfrey, Ollie and Floydy.

To see them get this recognition being short on numbers is just a small price to play.

It is good that the youngsters get to play a proper part in a senior team and that is what Ryan (Aldridge) and Steve (Nell) have been trying to do.

After next weekend we have a break before our next match after Christmas.

For me and quite a few of the players it just nice to have a few days off But for players like Jan Kostal and the imports it means that they are able to go home for a week and see their family.

Also for some reason we always kick on after the Christmas break and our season really comes together.

I don’t know if we are doing anything different to what other teams do during the break but it is good and we all come back pretty refreshed.