Everyone Active Raiders need to make home a fortress again

Sean Easton’s men slipped to a 5-3 defeat against Swindon Wildcats in the National League last weekend – their sixth loss in nine on their own ice this season.

And they are set to welcome high-flying MK Lightning on Sunday (5.15pm), after visiting their rivals in the first half of another double-header on Saturday (7pm).

“We know MK will be a tough contest back-to-back and it will be made even harder by their new signing,” said Ranson.

“Liam Stewart is a top quality player and would be a huge boost to any team, let alone one sitting right near the top at this stage of the season.

“They’ve got plenty of depth and ‘big name’ players, but that should mean very little to us. 

“We proved we could beat good teams at home last season and really must get back to that as the Sapphire was a fortress last year. Sadly, it seems anything but that this season, which is not good enough. 

“MK are still definitely a team we can beat, if we pressure them and play a relentless game of hockey, as they like to play pretty hockey.”

Raiders were not helped by the departure of Canadian forward Nick Leyer ‘for personal reasons’ late last week.

Leyer had scored 17 points in 18 games, but requested his release to return home and Ranson admitted it was a blow.

“Losing Nick was a big blow, he was a great guy in the changing room, and a brilliant two-way player that was huge in the face-off circle for us,” he added. 

“We can’t dwell on losses or make excuses. We might be short of imports, but we’re not in terms of squad numbers, so again no excuses.”

And they were further hit by the absence of Leyer’s fellow countryman and leading scorer Adam Laishram for the game against Swindon at the weekend.

The Wildcats struck twice in the space of 84 seconds towards the end of the opening period to take control, before the returning Blaho Novak halved the deficit on a powerplay having missed the previous three weekends.

Swindon restored the two-goal cushion with a shorthanded goal, but Riley MacRae raised hopes for Raiders – who saw home-grown forward Brandon Ayliffe make his 300th appearance for the club and extend his record to 272 in a row since February 2018 – early in the final session.

Former Romford junior Glenn Billing netted his second of the night to make it 4-2 with less than three minutes to play, but MacRae replied with a powerplay goal before goalie Ethan James was withdrawn for an extra skater.
Swindon sealed their victory with an empty-net goal in the final minute, with 28-year-old Ranson adding: “I personally have very little to say about the Swindon game.
“We’ve had a great record at home against them since the National League was founded, so I expected to beat them at home but we didn’t. They’re a very beatable team, just we didn’t skate hard enough and pressure them enough. 
“Being without Laish was not ideal, as not many teams can say they have a Memorial Cup-winning quality player on their roster.
“So to then be without that is obviously going to make a difference, especially given he plays hard and makes others around him look better.”
A club statement on the exit of Leyer said: “Nick had an immediate impact with a hat trick in Peterborough in the first weekend and had a following in the fan base for his hard work even when not putting points on the board.
“Raiders would like to thank him for his time and efforts with us and wish him all the best back with family and friends in Canada and hope he is playing again very soon.
“The processes and expense in finding another NBT resumes whilst still hoping that Zach Bennett’s Visa paperwork issues come to an end and rescue us from more searching for a long-term solution.”