HULL Pirates are a very powerful team and, this season, they are doing extremely well – we’ll need to be on our guard on Saturday.

Offensively, they’re one of the best teams in the league. They’ve scored a lot of goals and have players that are proven to be able to put the puck in the net.

To be honest, I think they’ll be one of the top teams in league this season.

I’m biased, but I believe we have one of the best defensive units in the league. That’s something Aaron Nell has been building in the past few years.

He has been keeping a core group of players. With Renny Marr in goal, we are confident going into every single game.

Renny has been superb for us this season and he was fantastic for us last season as well. For a netminder of his age, I think he is absolutely fantastic – and he has a very bright future ahead of him.

The quality of the league has jumped up from last year, you can tell that by just coming to watch a game.

The speed and skill level of the game has increased dramatically. The likes of our import forward, Tomasz Malasinski, re-joining the league proves that.

I think the gap between first and last place this season will be a lot smaller than last season.

I’ve said it in a previous interview, but I’m sure we’ll be kept waiting until the last few weekends – if not the final weekend – to find out who will be crowned champions.

A couple of good runs could steal the title

This is a busy period for us as a club.

We have a lot of games coming up over the Christmas break and I’m relishing the prospect of facing teams that are up there in the top half of the table with us.

When the weather gets a bit awful outside, it certainly helps us add bums to seats.

Crowds can come and enjoy some decent ice hockey in the dry.

The fans this year – and I sound like a broken record by saying this – have been incredible.

Week in, week out, they are so dedicated to supporting their club.

Every week, we boast by far the best following in the division.

To have that support really does drive us forward.