Raiders bench coach Lewis Jones admitted it felt good to end 2024 with back-to-back wins over Berkshire Bees in the National League.
Having snapped a five-game losing run in the league with a 4-0 victory over Bristol Pitbulls before Christmas, Raiders skated to a 6-3 success in Slough on Saturday.
And they followed that up with a 5-3 triumph on home ice at Romford’s Sapphire Ice & Leisure Centre the following night to move back up to fifth in the table.
Jones said: “It’s good to get a four-point weekend, that’s the most important thing.
“Going into the new year on a three-game winning streak is really important.”
Tommy Huggett gave Raiders the lead in Slough, but the hosts hit back to level just before the break.
And powerplay goals either side of Andrew Shewfelt’s effort, as Raiders enjoyed a man advantage, put Bees 3-2 up, before Jake Sylvester levelled.
Tyler Nixon, Tjay Anderson (powerplay) and Shewfelt (empty net) struck in the final period to seal the points for the visitors, with Jones adding: “I felt we started quite well – first period was good, second period we didn’t really play great.
“I was happy to come out of that 3-3 at the end of the second, too many penalties, some odd calls here and there but we ground out a win, it was good to get the two points.”
Bees led 3-1 at the halfway stage of Sunday’s return meeting, with Shewfelt netting again for Raiders in front of a sold-out 1,200-strong crowd.
Sylvester struck either side of the second break to square matters up once again – and now sits sixth in the club’s all-time scoring charts on 375 points (204 goals, 171 assists) – but play was then held up after Raiders player-coach Adam Laishram suffered a nasty cut to the wrist and went off to hospital.
Shaun Miller put Raiders in front with less than 10 minutes left, then added an empty-net goal with 34 seconds remaining.
“Not a great start from us, a little bit sluggish in the middle period again, but character to come back,” said Jones, who saw Owen Rider backstop the side to both wins with Ethan James unavailable.
“Once Laish goes down hurt, which was obviously pretty horrible for both teams to see that, it took the sting out of the building a little bit.
“We just had to get the job done in the end and we made sure we got the job done for him.”
Raiders start 2025 with a three-game weekend as they play host to leaders MK Lightning on Friday (7.15pm), then visit Swindon on Saturday and welcome the Wildcats in a quick return on Sunday (5.15pm).
Having upset Lightning in the cup semi-finals, Jones is hoping Raiders can enjoy more success.
“We know they don’t always like coming here,” he added.
“We’ve got a pretty good record against them so far this season so we’ll have some confidence with that and the cup stuff.
“But it’s a new game and we’ll just go and prepare the same way we do, watch some video, look at what we’ve not done great and work on that in the week and hopefully be ready for what is going to be a long and taxing weekend for us.”
By Lee Power
@Recorder_Power
Sports editor