Telford Tigers were breathing a huge sigh of relief today – after learning that top scorer Scott McKenzie will be back sooner than expected.

A nasty check into the boards meant McKenzie ended up in the Princess Royal Hospital with a suspected broken collarbone during Sunday’s 4-3 defeat at home to Basingstoke Bison.

That was the low point of a sorry weekend that also saw the Tigers go down 6-3 away at Slough Jets on Saturday.

But player-coach Tom Watkins has now confirmed that the shoulder trauma is not the season-ending injury initially feared.

Tests at the hospital confirmed no bones broken and that the 24-year-old has damaged his AC joint which, while very painful, should heal much faster – with the player expected to be out for around three weeks.

McKenzie wasn’t the only casualty against Basingstoke though, with Ashley Stanton forced off the ice complaining of dizzy spells after receiving a sickening stick check to the face.

The game had started positively, with Tigers first to score – McKenzie with a powerplay goal at 4:08 – and even when Bison equalised and McKenzie was hurt, Telford continued to play positively and Andrejs Maslovkis made it 2-1.

Basingstoke’s Wiggins had already picked up a penalty for roughing and clashed with a number of Telford players, but it was his tangle with Stanton at 18:05 that saw him take 16 minutes of penalties – and Josh Bruce scored on the resulting powerplay to send Tigers into the break 3-1 up.

However, the experience and skill of Bison showed in the second period, as they got level and went ahead for the first time in the game in the opening minute of the third period.

The depleted Tigers battled on but with little left in the tank by the end.

And their lack of puck possession meant they weren’t even able to pull goalie Martin Clarkson in the hope of a last-gasp equaliser.

Man of the match Clarkson said: “The team played really well and we couldn’t get closer. We skated well for two periods but the lack of depth hurt us in the third period and that’s where the mental mistakes creep in.

“With only two imports and a very young team we are doing very well.

“We have come on so much from where we were at the start of the season when we lost to them 6-0.

“If we can take that into next week, we have two games where we are in with a chance of points. We are still in the play-off race.”

Saturday saw Slough Jets fly to a 5-1 lead in the first period, despite being outshot by Telford, with Scott McKenzie scoring Tigers’ shorthanded goal at 16:08.

With the game pretty much settled, Slough gave more ice time to their fringe players and back-up netminder, adding just one goal to their tally in the second period.

Tigers man of the match McKenzie scored at 28:40 and 54:58 to make it 6-3.

By CAROLINE GARBETT