Joe Johnston has warned that his side will adopt an aggressive style of hockey in preparation for this weekend’s tie against Milton Keynes Thunder.
Streatham Redskins host the Buckinghamshire-based outfit for the first time since they were comprehensively beaten by the Thunder 9-4 in last season’s quarter final play-offs.
However the Redskins remain unbeaten this term after a number of bullish performances, which Johnston attributes to be the reason behind Streatham’s great start to this campaign.
“I think that aggression is going to be key to our game this season,” he said.
“We’ve lost some flair players this year but some the guys we’ve signed will add a bit of intimidation and aggression into the side so I don’t think that’s going to go out of our game at all.
“People are going to come here and know that they will be in for a hard a game as its going to be an aggressive performance from Streatham.”
Following last weekend’s victories against London Raiders and Bracknell Hornets the home side will be further boosted by the return of Adam Wood who has completed his two-game suspension.
Wood’s 6’5” frame will no doubt add to the physical presence that Johnston alludes to, and along with Chris Wiggins, who stands at one inch taller than Woods, the duo will certainly make up an intimidating forward line.
Last week’s mystery man, who played in the unnamed number four shirt, can be confirmed as Kamil Kinkor, whose late registration meant that his details could not be officially disclosed at the time of play.
The 24-year-old Czech who arrived last week from Serbian side Beostar made an impressive start to his Redskins career with four assists in the two games he played.
Despite appearing to benefit from increased physicality within the team, Streatham must remain cautious about the number of penalties they concede.
The two power-play goals given away to Bracknell in last Sunday’s match allowed the visitors back into the game and made for a nervy last 10 minutes in which Streatham were briefly on the back foot at 3-2 down.
This fact does not seem to trouble Johnston however, as he insists that Stretham are more than adept at dealing with the power-play situation.
“Part of our journey is that we’re going to get a few penalties out there,” he added.
“We took a lot last year but we’ve got a good penalty killing unit so we’re kind of used to it, but that side of our game is kind of engrained in us.”
See if Streatham Redskins can make it three wins from three when they look to turn the tables on Milton Keynes on Sunday evening.
Face-off is at 6:45pm.
