Ice Hockey
Weaver – Crunch time for Coventry Blaze

Buy photos » Blaze captain Jonathan Weaver ended a run of 37 games without a goal on Sunday evening. (S) Photo by Mark Tredgold

BLAZE captain Jonathan Weaver is calling on his team mates to put in a performance this weekend as they prepare for a double-header against Elite League leaders Belfast Giants.

Blaze are 13 points behind Belfast, with two games in hand, but can eat into that with a positive outcome over the double-header, which starts at the Odyssey Arena this evening and concludes at the same venue on Saturday.

Captain Jonathan Weaver said: "The season is more than halfway through and it is getting to the stage where you can’t afford to lose too many more times.

"It’s crunch time for us now and they are four-point games as we don’t want to fall further behind Belfast this weekend.

"We have a good record against Belfast this season, I don’t know why that is, it happens in sport. We have matched up well against them and had some success. Hopefully that will continue."

Giants won 5-2 at the Skydome on October 9 but Blaze produced a fantastic 3-0 victory at the Odyssey Arena on October 22 before a 4-3 home success after penalty shots on November 6.

And Blaze coach Paul Thompson says his side are excited by the prospect of taking on the league leaders and cutting the gap on the top four.

"Back-to-back games in Belfast are always special, we are looking forward to it and we are excited by the challenge," Thompson added.

"They will be energised by the return of Paul Deniset, who is a quality player and without a doubt will help their team.

"We have had some good, tight games with Belfast this season and we will need to work really hard again this weekend.

"We have three tough games in three nights and anyone thinking Stingrays will be a pushover on Sunday couldn’t be further from the truth. They never need any motivation playing us."