Our visitors this weekend are coming to the Link Centre for the first time this season, we welcome the Bees IHC for our league fixture and another renewal of the rivalry we share together.
The Bees are once more led by head coach Doug Sheppard who is at the helm for his 4th consecutive season, this will be the 2nd season where he has coached the Bees playing out of Slough following the sad demise of the Bees original rink in Bracknell.
In goal the Bees have gone with the same starter as last year, Adam Goss. It’s up in the air with who’ll be backing Goss up this weekend, with the announcement that Dan Weller-Evans has left the Bees this week. Goss has developed from promising young goalie into fully fledged NIHL starter quality in recent seasons and on his night he’s as good as anyone in the league.
The biggest re-signing that the Bees made this summer is getting top quality import Dominik Gabaj to commit for another year and he will have a huge weight of expectation on his shoulders this upcoming year. Supporting him is a new signing to the league, Brendan Walkom has signed with the Bees after finishing his studies while playing in the NCAA college system over in the US. Walkom has made a good start to life in the UK and is scoring at just over a point per game. An interesting fact about him, he is the son of former NHL referee Stephen Walkom.
In defence is where the Bees could potentially struggle this year, their top 2 pairing is of a high standard for the NIHL National, with Stuart Mogg and Harvey Stead back for another year but outside of that pairing the Bees’ defensive depth is slightly lacking.
In the forward ranks, joining the imports is talented youngster Juha Lindgren who is currently having a real breakout year at this level, he’s currently on pace to score 81 points this year.
The Bees are focused defence first, with a forward group that is made up of hardworking/grinder type players rather than skill guys who will light up the scoreboard night in and night out.
