Richardson has scored 13 goals for the Panthers this season

Nottingham Panthers forward Bruce Richardson is refusing to write off his side's Elite League title hopes.

Panthers have nine games left to play and are five points behind leaders Coventry, who have two games in hand, with the two sides meeting on Saturday.

"There's still some hope, we are still in that race. The league is not over and I want people to understand that," Richardson told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"The hope is slim, but I believe and I am going to believe until it's over."

He added: "Hockey is a momentum sport and anything can happen during the course of the season and there's still some hope."

Richardson points to a staggering comeback he achieved in 2006-07 playing for the Fort Wayne Komets, to win the United Hockey League regular season title.

Panthers netminder Kevin St Pierre and forward Marty Gascon were also part of that Komet's roster.

"I did it in the past and that's why we have guys like Kevin and Marty on the roster, as they have been in that situation," said Richardson.

"With 20 games left we were 18 points behind and that's a pretty big gap and we came at the end and we won by one point.

"We are not dead until we are dead and Coventry have to win those games, but we made it harder on ourselves."

Panthers go into Saturday's match with the Blaze on the back of Wednesday's shock home defeat to Newcastle at the NIC.

The Vipers were 4-2 down with 10 minutes to go, but staged a late comeback including two goals in the last 90 seconds to win the game 5-4.

"We have got to forget about that one as there's nothing we can do about it now, but we must learn from the mistakes," Richardson said.

"We are not going to dwell on that one and we have to move on with a big game on Saturday."

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