BLACKBURN Hawks hope to have virtually a full complement of players at their disposal for two tough away tests this weekend.

The local ice hockey stars face Kingston Jets in the English Cup tonight, before travelling to Sheffield Spartans tomorrow, where they will be hoping to end a run of seven successive league defeats.

Injuries, bans, holidays and work commitments meant that Hawks were without five first-team regulars for last weekend’s loss at Nottingham, but general manager Andy Slater has received a timely boost as his side seek to get their season back on track.

“Everyone is available for selection except for Anthony Kinder,” said Slater. “Anthony is back skating again and has been doing some light training this week, but he is not fully fit to play. Other than that, we’re okay.

“We have been slow off the mark this season, but over the last few games, even without key players, the team has been working hard.

“We feel we are going in the right direction and that things will soon start to turn around.

“There is a long way to go until the end of the season and plenty of time for us to catch up.”

Hawks kick off this weekend’s double-header with a familiar journey over to Humberside later today.

After picking up their only league win of the season away to the Jets on the opening weekend, Hawks suffered a 5-3 defeat there a fortnight ago, but will be looking to bring back the points in the cup competition this time round.

“Now that we’ve got a new goalie in net, if we play like we did last time, I’m very confident we can come away with the win,” said Slater. “Last weekend’s game against Nottingham was a real baptism of fire for our new netminder, but without him I’m sure we would have been looking at a double-figures defeat. So he should really give us that edge in games like today’s.”

Sunday’s trip to Sheffield however is expected to be a different encounter altogether.

“We’ll be in for an almighty battle,” added Slater. “Sheffield are very strong and have been for years.

“They’re well drilled, well organised and well coached. They also have players from the juniors waiting in the wings to make the step up, so they always have a very strong squad to choose from.

“But with a full squad of our own, anything can happen and we’ll go there looking for a good result.”