Belfast Giants will hope to cut into Coventry’s substantial lead in the Elite League by claiming two wins on the road over the weekend.
The Giants are now 10 points behind the leaders although Steve Thornton’s side have four game in hand on the Blaze.
Sheffield, Nottingham and Manchester have also moved ahead of the Giants although Belfast have games in hand.
Nottingham host Belfast on Saturday (1900 GMT) while the Giants take on Manchester on Sunday (1800).
Belfast have not played for a fortnight because several of their squad were involved in Britain’s Olympic qualifying series last weekend.
In their last game, Belfast were surprised 6-3 at home by lowly Hull and Steve Thornton’s team cannot afford any slip-ups this weekend if they want to get back into title contention.
However, wins on Saturday and Sunday could see the Giants jump up to second in the table – if other results go their way.
Another big game over the weekend sees Sheffield facing the leaders in a top-of-the-table clash.
Sheffield are currently six points behind Coventry but the Steelers have two games in hand on Blaze.
Belfast Giants crashed to a surprise 6-3 home defeat against Hull Stingrays in Saturday’s Elite League clash.
Konstantin Kalmikov put Stingrays ahead and while Colin Shields levelled, Kalmikov then struck again for Hull.
Things went from bad to worse for the Giants as Steve Slonina and Matt Reynolds hit further Hull goals.
Andrew Martin and Evan Cheverie fired Giants goals in the final period but the margin never got closer than two goals as Hull also hit the net twice.
Jason Kostadine and Matt Reynolds scored Stingrays’ two final goals
339 blog：Belfast Giants v Coventry Blaze tag： Sport cat：
The Belfast Giants hope to continue their winning form when they face Coventry Blaze in the Elite League at the Odyssey Arena on Friday night.
Steve Thornton’s men moved up to third in the table by beating Edinburgh Capitals 5-2 in their last match.
The Giants could be without Bobby Robbins and Andrew Martin who both missed last weekend’s games.
Paul Deniset is also an injury worry after coming off during Saturday night’s game against the Capitals.
On Sunday the Giants are away to Hull Stingrays.
The Belfast Giants hammered Basingstoke Bison 7-1 in Sunday night’s Elite League clash to join Coventry Blaze in second place in the league standings.
Mike Burgoyne, Bobby Robins, Evan Cheverie, Mark Morrison, Jason Rushton, Colin Shields and Davy Phillips all got on the scoresheet for the Giants.
Belfast and Coventry both leapfrogged Nottingham in the league but are still 10 points behind leaders Sheffield.
The Steelers beat Edinburgh twice over the weekend to maintain their lead.
Despite trailing the leaders by 10 points, the Giants have two matches in hand over their Sheffield rivals and must play the Steelers once more.
Belfast’s next fixture is away to Coventry Blaze in the first leg of their Challenge Cup semi-final on Wednesday night, followed by back-to-back league games against Newcastle Vipers next weekend.
Devon-based Welsh competitor Breeze, 28, was the only British weightlifter to compete at the Beijing Olympics.
And following her injury-hit 15th place in the 63kg category her sport has seen its funding for the London 2012 Games cut by more than half.
“If I do get cut then I’m not sure where I’m going to be,” Breeze said.
Breeze won gold for Wales at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games and added: “It’s a devastating blow to be told that we’re going to be receiving less money than we were originally told in the build-up for the London Games.”
And she said that the sports faces a difficult situation as it has less funding to try to produce better athletes.
British trio Johanne Brekke, Sharon Lee and Michelle Smith won gold in the prone team event at the European Shooting Championships in Croatia.
Brekke was the team’s top scorer, tying for first place in the individual match with 593 but missing an individual medal after the tie-break.
She ended up in fifth, with Smith 11th on 591 and Lee finished 13th on 590.
Finland and Germany claimed silver and bronze medals respectively at the event in Osijek.
