Season 26/27: Week 7 Preview
BILLINGHAM STARS travel down the M1 tomorrow afternoon for their single National Ice Hockey League Moralee Division game of the weekend, a first game of the season against Nottingham Lions.
Nottingham sit in seventh place in the early League table, two points above the Stars having played the same number of games but won one game more. Lions look strong on their own ice, two wins at the expense of Leeds and Sheffield, plus close losses against Telford and Blackburn show that Billingham will need to bring their A-game if they are to get a second road victory of the campaign. The Nottingham development programme continues to pay dividends, whilst the Lions have shown that they are not averse to bringing in talent from elsewhere as they try to improve on their lower table position of recent seasons. The loss of Alex Rushby has been balanced by the return of veteran Aleš Padělek up front, Daniels Fadejevs also a handy pick-up from Deeside.
Billingham have yet to ice a full bench this season and are unlikely to again tomorrow as injury is almost certain to keep out Andy Finn at a minimum. The final squad will depend upon the return to fitness and health of a few players that had to sit out last week’s defeat to Blackburn, but whoever ices will be leaving it all out there again as the Stars look to start climbing the table.
Fixture:
🦁 Nottingham Lions 🆚 Billingham Stars 💫
🏆 NIHL Moralee Division
📍 National Ice Centre
📅 Sunday 18th October 2026
🕠 Face off 5.30pm
Nottingham Lions:
2025-26 Moralee Division: Eighth
2025-26 Moralee Cup: n/a
Squad changes from 2025-26:
Players out: Alex Rushby (F - Widnes Wild); Regan Kidd (D - Blackburn Hawks); Ethan Wilcox (D - Sheffield Scimitars 2); Ethan Smith (F - Solihull Barons); Matthew Bell (D - Invicta Mustangs); Connor Bennett (F - Widnes Wild 2 )
Players in: George Crawshaw (F - Sheffield Scimitars); Rob McDonald (D - Peterborough Phantoms 2); Calum Russell (F - Sutton Sting); Ben Wood (F - no team); Daniels Fadejevs (F - Deeside Dragons); Aleš Padělek (F - Bristol Pitbulls)
In charge:
Head Coach – Matt Bradbury
Assistant Coach – Paul Glossop
🔗 Nottingham Lions on Elite Prospects: https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/3382/nottingham-lions
Weekend Fixtures:
NIHL Moralee Saturday:
✈️ Hull Jets 🆚 Nottingham Lions 🦁
🐯 Telford Tigers 2 🆚 Blackburn Hawks 🦅 (L/C)
⚔️ Leeds Knights 2 🆚 Deeside Dragons 🐉
NIHL Moralee Sunday:
🗡️ Sheffield Scimitars 🆚 Telford Tigers 2 🐯 (L/C)
🐉 Deeside Dragons 🆚 Solihull Barons ⚜️
🦁 Nottingham Lions 🆚 Billingham Stars 💫
⚔️ Leeds Knights 2 🆚 Hull Jets ✈️