It's now time for the Sting's "Big Earners" to show their "worth".  Club Boss Gary Apsley looks ahead to the final eight games of the season as the Sting mount their final challenge on Solway Sharks and try to secure a play-off place and gain a seat in Division 1 next season.

Sutton's seniors are moving in to the final stage of the 2011/12 ice hockey season and Coach Ian Johnson is keen to make sure that as a minimum 2nd place is secured to earn the Sting their first Play-off place as they chase a spot in English National League Division 1.  Sting boss Gary Apsley knows that 2nd place is there for the taking and on current form it's the Sting who will have to lose the runner-up slot rather than their nearest rivals taking it from them.   Apsley said. "There's seemingly a lot of speculation going on with some teams in our league about Sutton Sting and to be honest most of it makes me laugh!  Every week I hear that one coach or another is having a pop at us saying we're 'this' or 'that' and I just don't get it.  Why don't they concentrate on their own team rather than worrying about what we're doing?'

One such team is Flintshire Freeze who appear to be obsessed with the Sting which Apsley thinks is "bizarre".  Apsley added. "The Freeze's Coach, Carl Creamer, has us in his sights.  He seems to me to be always talking us down yet our last meetings have seen us record 9-2, 11-3 and 10-3 victories against them.  I'd love to see the Freeze reach the highs of last season and if they do it will make for a great contest when we play them next on 4th March on Desside."

Looking at the remaining fixtures it certainly looks like Flintshire have to tougher run-in with two road-games at likely League 'Champions' the Solway Sharks and very interestingly two road games at Fylde Flyers who are not an easy team to beat on their small ice surface over at Cleveleys.  Along the way the Freeze will have to contest with Hull, Bradford and Sheffield who after the Sharks have proved to be difficult to break-down and Apsley would not be surprised if the Senators turned-up to play hockey and produced winning performance against the Freeze.  But it's not just Sheffield who have to opportunity to upset the Freeze but also Hull Stingrays are a strong unit and with a home and away clash with Flintshire to come, the Stingrays have the ability to thwart the Freeze's hopes of a play-off place.

But it's not Flintshire that Sting Coach Ian Johnson is concerned about with 3 wins from 3 games and a 22 goal advantage over them Johnson knows that Flintshire are going to need a major turn-around in fortunes to stop his free-scoring forwards from wreaking havoc on the Freeze net, especially with their young back-up between the pipes!  For now, Johnson is concerned with the Solway Sharks and his efforts are being concentrated in spoiling the Dumfries "party" that is playing-out north of the Border.  Speaking ahead of this Saturday's clash with the current league-leaders Johnson is keeping excitement at bay, he said "Even though I'll be missing Simon Offord and Ryan Gee, I'm taking a stronger Sting side to Solway on Saturday than the team that went there last October.  We have Tommo and Natty on the roster now and those two boys will add extra strength and determination to the team and to be honest we'll need it at the Ice Bowl because the Sharks are proving to be a class-above this league."

So far this season the Sharks have maintained a 100% winning record with 20 from 20 for 256 goals and only 36 against.  The Sharks also lead the Northern Cup league from Blackburn Hawks who interestingly beat the Sharks 3-2 only last month, a point not lost on Johnson who added. "When we went to Solway we gave them a fright and ran them quite close although some very difficult issues ultimately affected our game and we lost 8-5.  At Sheffield we were too tense and I've been working on our attitude with the boys so that we are better prepared mentally for the challenge that Solway present to us.  Not only that but we've also taken our training to another level and combined with our off-ice regime I think we are as well prepared as we can be to try and compete with Solway."

The Sting take the trip to Scotland on Saturday lunchtime and with Thomas Jeffery and Nathaniel Rose on the bus Solway will be facing the strongest Sutton team this season.  Naturally the Sharks remain firm favorites and they are unlikely to be worried about the threat posed by the Sting although Johnson and Apsley both will be expecting the Sharks to keep their sights set on maintaining a 100% winning record in ENL D2 North and that might put extra pressure on the home team.  Apsley has a theory.  "The Sharks are a great side and they have enjoyed a fantastic run of results.  But they have shown they can be beaten.  Blackburn Hawks are a mid-table ENL 1 team and with the Sharks' quality they ought not to be getting beat by such teams especially if they want to realise their own ambitions.  So for me, this is a potential weakness and we need to go to Dumfries and rip-into the sharks soft underbelly and see what happens."  It will take more than a few bold words to cause upset in Solway but the Sting might just have something up their sleeves to do what many will think is the unthinkable and grab both points!

The trip to Solway comes off the back of a great week-end for the Sting who comprehensively beat Bradford Bulldogs and comfortably beat Sheffield Senators who are another team who seem to be talking-down the Sting.  Once again Apsley is "amazed" by the negativity surrounding his team although negative comments about Sutton are not usually far from Apsley's earshot.  "I'm told Sutton has 'financial clout' which is difficult to compete with", said Apsley after the Sting ran-out 5-1 winners over the Senators last week-end.  He went on "All this talk about us being 'Sheffield Sting' and we're paying 'thousands' of pounds in wages is absolute twaddle.  Where do these people think we get the money from?"  Apsley laughs at some of the none sense being published about the Sting and puts it down to nothing more than envy.  Johnson agrees and said "It's true we have some Shffield based players on our roster and some folk struggle to understand why these boys want to play for us.  It's easy!  We have a great Club, a great team spirit and a great group of guys who are all having a great time playing hockey the way they want to play it."  The Sting have to face the Senators again in the final game of the regular season and Johnson hopes that by that game the play-off place will have been secured, but he's not taking anything for granted.  He said. "looking at our run-in it's not inconceivable that our game at Flintshire on 4th March could be the decider for 2nd place in the league.  If results go our way that game could even be irrelevant and I'm sure Flintshire's Coach knows this all too well."

Apart from the games already mentioned the Sting have two games each against Fylde and Lancashire and one more game against the Bulldogs who have not been the force they were last season.  So looking at the remaining fixtures and the current form of the teams Apsley thinks the Sting have just enough to have the likes of Flintshire worried.  But with eight games to go there is till plenty of chances for upsets to be caused and so Sutton Sting will need to keep focussed.