Thanks, as usual, to Bobblehat for the report...
Well, what a game. It all started fairly routinely with both sides coming close in the opening minutes. A flick out by a Bees' defender as they went for a line change nearly spelt disaster at 3 minutes. Normally on a line change the puck is driven deep into opposition territory. This time a little tap out and off went the Bees. Result, 5 Panthers on the ice in possession, and no Bees at all. Luckily, the oncoming bees did manage to tie up a couple of Panthers, but this still left 3 bearing down on Bernie. I closed my eyes. Peering through the cracks in my fingers I gave a great cheer as Bernie pulled off a great save from one of the advancing Panthers. Pheeew. This seemed to galvanise the Bees into action as at 4min 49 secs the Chief was put through on a 1-on-1 with O'Conner, and after a delightful deke he made no mistake, with assists going to Whistle and Ferraccioli. At 7min 13 secs the Chief repaid the compliment to Joe as the best move of the game saw some great interpassing between the two with Joe finishing off the move in some style. Its a pity you can't get an assist when you score, as it was Joe's pass to the Chief that split the Panthers defence and he was then on hand to take the return. Some good old end to end stuff then ensued with both sides again going close but no goals resulting. At the 13 minute mark somehow Derek Laxdale managed to get his stick caught up in the Bees net and with Bernie's help(?) it stayed there until the danger passed. A good passing move from the Panthers led to their goal at 16min 21secs. Greg Hadden (what a tricky skater he is) put the puck beyond Bernie's right hand from passes from Jamie Leach and Jim Mathieson. And that's how the first period ended with the Bees looking good for their 2-1 lead.
Disaster struck early in the second period. When it looked as though Bernie had saved the day the puck somehow trickled over the line and the Panther's were on level terms. Blake Knox was credited with the goal at 21min 05 secs with assists going to Randall Weber and Paul Adey. There was great dissent with the refs decision amongst the Bees, so much so that Scott Campbell managed to get himself a two minute unsportsmanlike penalty. The good old Bees penalty killing swung into action, and a loose pass out from behind the Bees' net somehow eluded a Panther on the Bees' blue line and headed towards the panthers' Zone. The Chief gave chase along with a Panther, and Scott O'Conner came out of goal to intercept. He tried to flick the puck away from the advancing Chief, but missed it completely. The Chief then took the puck around the netminder and, with a panther in hot pursuit calmly slotted it into the empty net at 22min 15secs. (That makes two SHGs for the Chief in two weeks.) It was the sort of moment that made your heart go out to the netminder, but your mouth shout something different :o) This unsurprisingly took the stuffing out of the Panthers for a while, and they had only just got back to something like their normal play when the Bees went on a powerplay of their own whilst Jim Mathieson was serving a 2min roughing penalty given at 34min 4secs. Dale Junkin was left alone in the slot to convert the easiest of chances after good passing work from the Chief and Colin Ward at 35min 33 secs. So the period ended with the Bees on a high and 4-2 up.
The final period started again with a bang from the Bees with Joe Ferraccioli getting his second of the evening. The Chief passed to Rob Stewart who dummied two Panthers before passing to Joe who committed O'Conner before putting the puck high into the goal for number 5 at 43min 56secs. Better was to come as the Bees again went on a powerplay as Blake Knox went in for holding at 44min 34secs. Dave Whistle got on the end of a pass from our Joey and made no mistake at 46min 9 secs, despite frantic attempts to dislodge the goal. Leedle Tom Gomes got a further assist for this goal. Some 2minutes after this goal, Bernie had to be at his sharpest to thwart what seemed like 5 or 6 shots within the space of seconds to deny the Panthers a further goal. O'Conner's nightmare game continued at 53min 33secs as Rob Stewart fired in a speculative shot from the Blue line that somehow found its way between the Netminder's pads. The game then fizzled out as the Bees were more than content at 7-1 and the Panthers skated around trying not to look too embarrassed.
Well an unexpected final scoreline, but on the night the Bees came out to buzz and the Panthers kept their roar at home. Gill I'm sorry we didn't get to meet in the bar afterwards, I would have given you a consoling hug. To paraphrase a previous comment of mine, my heart goes out to the Panther's fans, but my head tells me its two more points nearer a possible semi place.
Finally, a few lines that I learnt many many years ago and which may be of use in the current climate.
Try to be gracious in victory and dignified in defeat.