Peterborough Phantoms are seeking a fast start as competitive season starts with a Friday night fixture at Planet Ice

The city skaters open their competitive season with a Friday night League and Cup match against the Bracknell Bees at Planet Ice (7.30pm). They then travel to face the Basingstoke Bison for another League and Cup contest on Saturday.

Phantoms won and lost one of two closely-fought challenge matches against MK Lightning in their final warm-up action last weekend.

Forward Nathan Pollard told the club website: “We’re really looking forward to starting this week. We want to put a marker down and show what we’re about from the start. We set ourselves very high standards/targets and we need to do everything we can to achieve these.

“Both Bees and Bison are very hard working, physical teams. Bracknell are very direct and have picked up some good players in the off season. They will be stronger than last year so it will be a good battle.

"Basingstoke are very strong at home and come out hard from the first shift so we need to make sure that we outwork both of these teams and play the way that makes us successful and hard to play against.

"It was a good pre-season for us as we put in some really promising performances. The youngsters got lots of ice time and the new guys look great and seemed to fit right in with the team.

"As a team we want to be in the mix for every trophy available. Slava (coach Koulikov) has built a really strong team with plenty of depth and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can all achieve together this season.

"It was a good pre-season for us, we played against two strong teams, and put in some really promising performances. The youngsters got lots of ice time and the new guys look great and seemed to fit right in with the team. We’re all excited to get the competitive games started now.”