HULL Stingrays' Matty Davies must think coach Sylvain Cloutier has delivered an early Christmas present this year. The 23-year-old forward provides the jam in the middle of a fine looking sandwich of Jereme Tendler and Guillaume Doucet.
Tendler needs no introduction to Rapid Solicitors Stingrays fans, having racked up nearly 200 points since his arrival in 2010.
On the other wing is new signing Doucet, who has already netted five points in his first four league and cup matches.
Together the trio have already suggested they have enough in their armoury to trouble the Elite League's best.
And that suits Hull-born Davies, now in his fifth season with the club, down to the ground.
He said: "I felt good coming into this season and I like the team Sylvain has put together.
"It's a little different to the teams in the past.
"It's a little bit more skilled and faster up front which suits me, that's my type of game.
"I'm all for that type of hockey and I have worked hard to come into this season ready and hopefully I can have a good year.
"Guillaume is looking like a very good player.
"Tendz is Tendz, Derek Campbell and Jason Silverthorn are clicking together again like they did before, that's good for the team and hopefully those two can keep going.
"Things are looking good with three good lines, we just have to get those results."
Davies set a new career high of 39 points in 52 League games last season and, alongside Messrs Tendler and Doucet, has every chance of exceeding that tally.
Ask him what his points-scoring target is this season, and Davies is adamant there isn't one, he has bigger fish to fry.
"My aim is to win the Gardiner Conference and I'll be doing all I can to help the team," said Davies.
"We just missed out last year but I felt we had a good year really, we only just missed out.
"Our away form let us down in the end, but our team is stronger this year."
Stingrays have already opened their Gardiner Conference account with a cracking 5-2 win over the side that topped the standings last season – Braehead Clan.
Tonight's visitors are the team who finished bottom – Edinburgh Capitals.
Ironically, in the overall Elite League standings the Capitals finished ahead of all the Gardiner teams, thanks to their points garnered from games against the Erhardt Conference outfits.
"It's a must-win tonight, as all our Conference home games are, that's why it was so important we beat Braehead," said Davies.
"The Challenge Cup is nice but at the end of the day although it's important, there's no two ways about it, we have to win our Conference matches."
While Davies is adamant tonight is vital, tomorrow is equally so.
Lose against Coventry to make it no points from four games and Stingrays chances of reaching the cup quarter-finals will be minimal.
"We know it will be tough, as it always is down there," said Davies.
"Coventry is always a battle, there's lots of history between the two teams, and it's always interesting when we go there.
"We did alright there last year and it's encouraging to know we can do that and compete with those teams."
Sylvain Cloutier previews Stingrays v Edinburgh TONIGHT is a must-win game for us against Edinburgh as we want a really good home record in our Gardiner Conference. Last year we had that, and you saw how important that was at the end of the season with all five teams separated by two or three points from top to bottom. All the Conference teams were good at home, so we need to get those points against Edinburgh, particularly when you look at next month's fixtures. It will be a big month for us. The first weekend, for instance, we've got Dundee Stars back to back and they've made a great start. Once we get tonight out of the way we'll start to focus on our Challenge Cup tie at Coventry tomorrow. We've got five group games left to get the six points I think we'll need to book our place in the quarter-finals. True, three of those matches are at home, but it will be a tough task to beat Nottingham, Sheffield and Coventry, so we really need to sneak something on the road. Once again we've got to make sure we take our chances when they come along and improve our defensive zone. In past seasons our guys have tended to shoot from anywhere, but this year they're probably more experienced and pick their shots more. We've got Derek Campbell, Jason Silverthorn, Carl Lauzon and Matty Davies, although Matty could shoot more, plus Jereme Tendler and Guillaume Doucet. These guys can bury any good chances, so we've got a lot of different options. Teams can't think about just shutting down Tendz any more, there's now three or four guys to look out for. We wanted that this year, hopefully it will help us win our Conference.