I'm afraid I couldn't make any notes again, so it's all from memory...
Soon into the match, Bracknell had the first good chance, when a shot was dropped by Greco, and the puck slid tantalisingly wide of the pipes. Ooooh! Some pressure by the Steelers, but they just can't get any decent shots in on Bernie. And, after 6:23, Bracknell broke towards Greco, Matty storming out of the zone and finding Ferras. He took the puck over the blue and then drop passed it for the Chief to smash home. Doubt Greco even saw it :-) Again, the game continued to go mostly in Sheffield's favour, but they still couldn't find the final play. A dodgy line-change by the Steelers gave Bracknell a chance to rush forward, Shane McCosh drives to the net, the puck is cleared as far as the point, but only to Junks, who belted it over Greco's shoulder. Steelers press again, and Bernie is forced into some good saves, but they just can't break through, and the first period ended 2-0 to the Bees.
Bracknell felt slightly agrieved after Beaulieau was called for 2 mihutes unsporting - the Bees had had possesion of the puck and been in a good position at the time the whistle was blown. They couldn't do anything with the powerplay, and shortly afterwards DeCo was sent for 2 minutes. Once more, Sheffield piled forward, and, with several men in front of the net, Courtnay was able to touch home the puck, after a square pass by Shudra. Bad defending by Bracknell, who failed to clear their lines again. However, this didn't open the floodgates. Indeed, it was the BEes who were to go on the score-sheet next. Steelers were clearing their zone, sent the puck down the ice, but a missed pass fell to Junks. He saw Todd Kelman still retreating from the last attack, and totally alone, and was able to find him inch-perfectly. I did wonder at the time whether it was two-lines or not, but as no-one appealed, I assume not. Kelman was therefore 1-on-1 with Greco, and he finished clinically, shooting low past the hapless keeper. And so, Bracknell finished the second period 3-1 up and on a high.
How it was all to change! Two minutes into the third period, Mike Ware was able to scramble the puck home, and reduce the deficit by one. Less than a minute later, Nicky Chinn evened up the match, and Bracknell looked dead-and-buried. Worse was to come. Greco saved twice whilst without a stick, with Bracknell never really pressuring him. Then, in the 45th minute, Bernie went out to send a puck round the borads, but it only went as far as a Steeler. The puck was squared to Tommy Plommer, who had no trouble placing it past the still returning Bernie.
Just under ten minutes left, and Bracknell once more went on the attack. Colin Ward was on the puck, but fell clutching his face. Boniface had no intention of calling it, but justice was served when the puck was cleared only as far as the blue-line, and Todd Kelman sent his second of the match whistling into the twine. Bracknell pushed forward, looking for anopther goal, and were caught out. With all their players over the red-line, Nicky Chinn picked up a cleared puck and had no trouble out-skating Bracknell's defence to slide it past Bernie. 5-4 to the Steelers, and there were less than 3 minutes left. With 51 seconds still left on the clock, Bracknell won a face-off in Sheffield's zone, and they pulled Bernie in favour of the extra skater. The tactic paid off. Junks won the face-off, and sent the puck to the Chief. He took two steps before smashing it goalwards. Yeeeeessss!!!! He looked pretty happy with that one! :-)
So, once more against the Steelers, we were into overtime. A few poor chances went to both sides, but it wasn't until 63:39 that a goal scoring chance popped up. Junks had the puck just outside the Steelers zone, and saw Tommy Gomes surging forwrds, clear off any markers. His pass found Tommy, who was now 1-on-1 with Greco. The first shot was blocked by the keeper, but he could do nothing to prevent the puck bouncing back out to Gomes, who made no mistake with the second chance.
So, 6-5 to Bracknell, but it was a close-run thing. For the first two periods the Bees looked class, and outplayed Sheffield without any struggle. To be fair, Sheffield weren't playing badly, just that they couldn't find that final play. They were, however, keeping Bracknell pinned in their own zone for longish periods. Somewhere, Bracknell lost control. They came out in the third period, and just lost the plot. admitedly, Sheffield suddenly looked hungry, but some of the goals were still very bad defending. Bernie was natrually furious at himself for Plommer's goal. however, this is a different team to yesteryear. Rather than giving up, they battled away and pulled out a result. Congratulations to the Chief (now defintely back to old form). When someone is needed to take responsibility, there's no better player than good old Chiefy.
Boniface had a bad game, again. He missed several important calls, and then gave sympathy calls afterwards to appease the crowds. And he refused to call anything in OT, despite at one point a Steeler effectively sitting on Colin Ward. Again, he was watching Wardy get smacked in the face by Plommer's stick, but refused to call it. The man, in my own opinion, is a moron, and shouldn't be reffing under-12 matches, let alone Superleague games.
But I'm not going to finish off on such a sour point. The game tonight was great, very tense in the final few minutes, and it could have easily gone either way. All credit to both sides for putting on such a thriller, and it's a pity Steelers had to lose, after coming so close. Unfortunately, they just didn't play the full 63 minutes 39 secs.