Revenge mission for Lady Vipers

May 26 2007 By The Journal

The Lady Vipers take on the side who deposed them as champions in the first of today's Women's Premier League Play-Off semi-finals in Sheffield.

The Newcastle-based 2005-06 champions will be out for revenge against Slough Phantoms. "We'll be ready for them," warned Vipers coach Sean Alderson. "They are a good team, you can't take that away from them, but we know what we have to do. We've shown on more than one occasion this season what we can do and if we play like we did in Guildford, they have something to worry about."

Slough's last game was a 6-1 defeat to Bracknell and they are expected to be without a number of key players, whereas the Vipers welcome back some of those who missed last week's 2-2 tie with Guildford Lightning. The winners play Guildford or Bracknell in tomorrow's final.

Meanwhile, the Vipers have fought off competition from Coventry Blaze to land former London Racers captain Mark Gouett. The news is a timely boost for the Newcastle club, who have already lost skipper Jonathan Weaver to the Blaze and may yet see Shaun Johnson join them too.

Gouett, a 28-year-old defenceman has joined from Central Hockey League side the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.

"I am delighted we've been able to pick up a player of Mark's calibre," said coach Rob Wilson. "When you have teams such as Coventry after him that tells you what a good player he is.

"We're bringing in a guy who is a very good defenceman but also a very mobile player who has a bit of a mean streak. He makes the easy plays, protects his netminder and does the simple things right.

"He may not go rushing up and down the ice but he's someone that will bring leadership and become an integral part of our jigsaw."

The Vipers offered the 6ft 1in Canadian further education as part of the package which brought him to Tyneside but Gouett said Wilson's presence on the bench was also a key factor.

"I've played with a couple of guys who've played under Rob and they all had great things to say about him," he said. "He's a players' coach, he looks after his guys and knows you have to go that extra mile to win. I am looking forward to the new season and hopefully a successful 2007-08 on and off the ice."

STUART RAYNER