This Saturday sees two Mixed Plate semi-finals taking place, with Vikings B taking on Harlequins A and Saracens Sabres going up against Valkyrs B.

Vikings, having won the league quite convincingly, take on a Harlequins side who have had an inconsistent season but have shown flashes of brilliance at times this year.

Vikings go into the game as favourites having earned two wins against Harlequins already, but the latter cannot be underestimated as shown in first game between the two that only ended 1-0 to Vikings.

Saracens Sabres and Valkyrs B take each other on in a match up that has seen reversed results between the two in the league so far this season.

Saracens just about edge the odds in this game after becoming the only team so far this season to take a point off Vikings B and have beaten Valkyrs in their most recent fixture as well. However, if both teams can field their strongest sides there is no way that a result can be predicted.

Fans and spectators alike will be looking forward to a mouth-watering fixture, even if their fingernails aren’t.

This year also see the introduction of an under-16 tournament and this weekend has two groups (AM and PM) of four teams, with each team in the groups playing each other once.

Whoever finishes top of the two groups at 5pm on Saturday at the NSC will take their place in the final on December 15 on mixed hockey’s finals day.

Although they have been unable to compete in the league because of player availability, the great news is that Castletown have been able to enter an u16 side.

In order to make the groups even, Vikings have mustered all the players they could to be able to field a second team as well. Castletown will come into this tournament as the dark horses because, with no league form to go by, there is no predicting how they will fare.

In the PM group both the top two in the league will lock horns again and although Valkyrs are slight favourites, Harlequins came agonisingly close to the title last week and will want revenge this Saturday as they aim to top the group and take their place in the final.

This weekend was also supposed to see the other MHA Mixed Cup semi-final between Ramsey A and Valkyrs A. However, owing to Ramsey men’s involvement in the England Hockey Championships on Sunday, this game has been moved to next Tuesday from 8.30pm at the NSC.