Aldridge braced for 'do or die' weekend (From Swindon Advertiser)

Aldridge braced for 'do or die' weekend

6:00am Friday 9th December 2011 in Ice Hockey By Andrew Warren

SWINDON Wildcats head coach Ryan Aldridge is preparing his players for a ‘do or die’ weekend as they prepare to meet Bracknell Bees at the Link Centre tomorrow night (face-off 5.45pm).

Wildcats will be looking to win back-to-back matches for only the second time this season following last weekend’s 8-1 win at Peterborough, against a Bees side sitting only one place and one point behind them in the English Premier League table.

“This game is vitally important for us and the ambitions we have,” Aldridge told the Advertiser. “We know what they are capable of and we have done our homework, so we know what to expect.

“They have a lot of imported players which means they only have one good line, and once that is off the ice we can start to get at them.

“They have lost a good young defensive lineman in Sam Wallace and that has really hurt them, so we will have to take advantage of that.

“If we play like we did last weekend we will have no trouble coming away with the result, but I will be telling the players it is do or die for us, because we must win.”

Despite not being able to record a four-point weekend so far this season, Aldridge is convinced his side has what it takes to string a run of wins together and move up the table.

“We know what they guys have to offer, and after seeing them hit eight past Peterborough we need them to do the same tomorrow,” he said. We base our play on a good all-round team defence, but we have created a lot of chances recently so that has been very pleasing.

“We need to keep doing the things we talk over in practice, and I know we will be okay.”

Wildcats only have one game this weekend before beginning a busy Christmas schedule, which Aldridge admitted was a welcome relief for his team.

“I think it is starting to get to the point where the players need a break and the games have been building up on us,” he said.

“The extra day without a game will do us all good on Sunday, without any travelling too, so they can relax, especially close to Christmas.

“Over Christmas and new year we have five home games out of six, and they are going to be very important because we need to take advantage of them.

“We have other games to focus on, but once they are done we will focus on the festive games because that will be a vital spell.”