Everyone Active Raiders relishing climax to play-off group

Raiders head to MK Lightning on Saturday (7pm), before hosting a return meeting at Romford's Sapphire Ice & Leisure Centre on Sunday (5.15pm).

And all four teams in group B are still in with a chance of making it to the final four at Coventry Skydome the following weekend.

"Every single game this weekend in our group is huge," said Clements, who leads the side with head coach Sean Easton in Poland with Great Britain under-18s.

"A single mistake could see your season over in an instant - it's what play-off hockey is all about.

"We will go to MK undaunted at what we need to achieve, it's a one-off game against the league runners-up.

"We will go there and give our all and see where we are come Sunday."

Beaten twice by Telford Tigers on the opening weekend of the post-season, Raiders kept their hopes of a return trip to Coventry alive with a four-point haul against Swindon Wildcats last weekend.

They did not get off to the best of starts at the Link Centre, falling behind with only 40 seconds played, but Adam Laishram levelled in the fifth minute and Zack Milton struck on a powerplay midway through the opening period to give them a 2-1 lead.

Laishram claimed his second early in the middle session, but the hosts hit back just past the game's midway point.

And Raiders killed off a major penalty in the final five minutes of the match after Milton was ejected with a spearing penalty to claim a 3-2 victory, despite being outshot 41-24.

"What a weekend that was claiming all four points against Swindon who finished the regular season in third place," added Clements.

"Saturday we played the perfect road game, we frustrated Swindon and when we had an opportunity we took it.

"It could have been a lot different late on after a call on Zack, which we thought was harsh. And so it was proven as the league overturned what would have meant 'Milts' missing Sunday's return game in Romford.

"We defended the five-minute penalty really well with Ethan [James] making some important stops to see us see the game out."

Raiders fell behind again on home ice the next night, as former Romford junior Glenn Billing netted in the ninth minute.

And they were left with a mountain to climb after conceding twice more with only seven minutes of the second period played.

But defenceman Tom Relf fired home his first goal of the season to give the hosts hope and Jake Sylvester cut the deficit to one heading into the final frame.

Raiders drew level through Coy Prevost, who then set up Sylvester for the go-ahead goal in the 47th minute.

But Swindon squared matters once more and Raiders killed off a tripping minor against Prevost as the match went to overtime.

Neither side could find a winner during the five-minutes spell of 3-on-3 and a penalty shootout followed.

James saved the first effort from Wildcats player-coach Aaron Nell, before Laishram beat Renny Marr.

But the next six attempts failed to find the net before Billing levelled and Milton was denied, which led to sudden death.

Leading scorer Laishram converted for a second time to edge Raiders in front, before Tomasz Malasinski missed to the delight of Clements.

"Sunday we started slowly and found ourselves in a hole in the second period falling behind 3-0," he said.

"But as we have proven so many times in the past, these players don't give up on anything.

"We got oursleves back in the game and even took the lead 4-3 in the third.

"It was a shame we couldn't see the game out and having to concede a point to the Wildcats as we went to a shootout.

"Ethan kept us in it with some saves, Adam Laishram gave us the win with two outstanding penalty shots."

All of which means Telford top the group with six points, one ahead of Swindon, with Raiders in third place on four and MK Lightning, somewhat surprisingly, propping up the table with three.

Regular season champions Leeds are favourites to progress from group A, with Peterborough and Hull battling it out in their head-to-head meeting this weekend for second place.