BRACKNELL Bees ace Shaun Thompson is netting the rewards of leading a more healthier lifestyle, writes Dave Wright.

He maintained his impressive scoring run with four goals last weekend as Bees won 5-2 at Basingstoke in the NIHL Cup and before hammering Milton Keynes Thunder 6-2 in the league.

The 30-year-old forward has now scored in four successive games and it was the second time this season he has notched a hat-trick against Thunder.

“Yes, I’m feeling good,” Thompson told the News after coming off the ice on Sunday before revealing the main reasons behind his impressive early-season form.

He said: “During the summer I paid attention to what I needed to do and dealt with it. Now I feel 100 per cent fitter than I did last season.

“I spoke to a lot of guys, like trainers, to get me prepared for the season, and it is paying off.

“It involved training and nutrition. I got help from a coach in strength and conditioning and it’s working so far.

“I am pleased with how it’s going and I want to make sure it stays the whole way through the season.

“I’ve had a couple of bad years and I can’t blame anyone but myself. But I sorted things out during the summer, I’m now in a good place and it’s carrying over to the ice.”

With Thompson and fellow forward Frankie Bakrlik both in red-hot form, the Bees are certainly flying these days, having won three games in a row and rattling up 22 goals in the process.

“It was a really pleasing weekend for us as we were up against two good sides,” said Slough-born Thompson.

“To take two points from Basingstoke with a comfortable score-line is a massive boost for our confidence and we carried that over to Sunday.

“MK worked hard for 60 minutes and were a tough team to beat, but we worked hard ourselves and deserved to win.”

Thompson continued: “There are still bits we need to work on, but if we keep this train rolling we will be tough to play against.

“We should be pushing for four points every weekend.

“We want to be winning games and winning them well, we want to be winning trophies this season.”

Bees will be hoping to extend their good run this weekend when they host Streatham at The Hive on Saturday (6pm) before going to Cardiff Fire on Sunday evening (6.30pm).

The Welsh club were walloped 11-1 by Bees last week, but Thompson reckons it won’t be another walkover in the return fixture when he will playing at the new Cardiff rink for the first time.

He said: “They were missing four guys last week and it will be a completely different challenge for us this weekend, but if we stay focused and play our normal game we should be fine.”