The 2022-23 season will begin in earnest this weekend when six teams begin their SNL campaigns on Saturday night.
Champions Kirkcaldy Kestrels will make their way to North Ayrshire Wild to begin the defence of their title and will hope to continue an impressive league record where they won 11 of their 14 regular season games.
For Kestrels, they’ll look to get back to winning way after losing both games in their pre-season double header to Dundee Tigers last week.
Kestrels’ forward Andy Finlay, on the club’s Facebook page, says his team need to step up and called for improvement.
“We’re looking forward to the first league game this weekend,” he said. “We know we’ll need to be at our best – North Ayrshire have built a good squad and it’s a tough place to play.
“Last weekend has shown us that we need to up the effort and fitness levels if we want to compete for silverware in the season ahead.
“We have the talent and a good blend of youth and experience – if we work hard and take learning from the coaches there’s no reason we can’t be up there fighting for trophies.”
Wild boosted their ranks on Thursday with the signings of Dillon Robertson and Lewis Smith and both players should feature against the SNL champions.
Aberdeen Lynx and play-off champions Dundee Comets kick off with what looks to be a tasty meeting between the two sides to start the campaign.
Last season saw both teams finish in second and third respectively in the standings and a victory for either will be a good early season advantage.
Saturday’s third game of the night will take place at the Galleon when Kilmarnock Thunder play host to Dundee Tigers.
The Tigers will be buoyed by their two shutout wins over Kestrels and head to Ayrshire full of confidence after hitting six without reply against the team who were top of the pops in the last campaign.
SATURDAY FIXTURES:
Kilmarnock Thunder vs Dundee Tigers (5.30pm, The Galleon)
North Ayrshire Wild vs Kirkcaldy Kestrels (6.30pm, Auchenharvie)
Aberdeen Lynx vs Dundee Comets (7.15pm, Linx Arena)
