Milton Keynes Lightning take on Bracknell Bees at the Thunderdome this coming weekend aiming to take the sting out of a team which has taken points from two high-profile EPL teams already this season  (Saturday 15 October, face off at 7pm).

Gareth Cox’s side finished bottom of the EPL last season, having won only nine games all season and conceded almost 300 goals – an average five goals per game. However the signing of some key players from clubs who finished in the league’s top spots last season have already given the Bees’ supporters hope of a better season this time around.  Forwards Lukas Smital, Rob Lamey and Martin Masa all joined the Bees from play-off champions Guildford Flames, having jointly been responsible for one in three of the Flames' goals last season.  They were joined by Shaun Thompson, Michael Bowman and Andrew Munroe from EPL cup winners Slough Jets, and Carl Graham and Tom Annetts from fourth- placed finishers Basingstoke Bison.
 
And those signings have already begun to gel, resulting in the last season’s league anchor team beating Slough 5-2 in only their second league fixture of this season, and a 7-3 defeat of Basingstoke one week later.
 
But Lightning player-coach Nick Poole is determined that his side will not become another high-profile scalp.  “How we played against Manchester in our first game says it all about our intentions for this season - we played to a very high standard and it was great to see the intensity and desire.  Juraj (Gracik) and Tom (Norton) have settled in to the Lightning team really well and the whole roster is working well together.
 
“It’ll be a different league this season – there have been some interesting changes for a lot of teams over the summer and particularly so for Bracknell, signing some top class players.  They’ll certainly be a different prospect to play against than they were last season, and we’ll have to be on top of our game.  But we’re a team that plays for each other and if we show the same spirit that we did against the Phoenix, I’m sure the result will go our way.”
 
Milton Keynes Lightning face off against Bracknell Bees at Planet Ice on Saturday 15 October at 7pm