Shropshire Star

Old rivals poised for double date

Head coach Tom Watkins is relishing the prospect of resuming Telford Tigers’ rivalry with old foes Peterborough Phantoms.

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Tigers and Phantoms do battle as the NIHL Autumn Cup gets under way tonight with a clash at Planet Ice Peterborough before tomorrow’s Telford Ice Rink return leg.

Watkins will also go up against his former Great Britain Under-20s No.2 Slava Koulikov for the anticipated meeting.

“It’s really exciting,” said Watkins. “We’ve had a great rivalry over a number of years with Peterborough with some massively intense games.

“With back-to-back games you develop a great rivalry. They will be very, very competitive and feisty.

“Slava and I have played together since teenage years, since we were 12 or 13, we speak regularly together, all hockey.

“They were the thorn in our side when we lost a play-off semi-final (2015), when we dominated but their goalie came up trumps.”

Tigers beat Phantoms 4-1 in last year’s semi-final in the Final Four play-offs. The Autumn Cup rivals play in the South 1 Division this season, with Tigers in the north.

Watkins has no fresh injury concerns from the side that stuttered in a league defeat at reigning champions Sheffield Steeldogs last Sunday.

Hull Pirates, Swindon Wildcats and the Steeldogs make up the Cup north group. The top two sides progress to a semi-final.

He added: “Too many individuals made mistakes (last week) and we need to improve on that. Every game is a priority. I tell the players we’re in every competition to win them.”