Thanks to Bobblehat for the report...
This could be subtitled Tom Gomes, Joe Ferraccioli and 17 anonymous skaters v Eagles.
The game started fast and furious and at 1min 30sec Bernie had to be at his sharpest to foil Steer who was through on a 1-on-1. After this there was frantic action for about 2 minutes around the Eagles goal but Dopson stood firm. At 5min 30sec St Piere was alone at Bernies left hand post but shot the puck wide when it seemed easier to score. For me the writing was on the wall as early as the 6th minute as it seemed obvious that the Eagles were very much up for this one and the Bees seemed to have left their skating boots, enthusiasm and ideas in the dressing room. The game was end to end, but it seemed that good fortune favoured the Bees in defence, whilst good defending and lacklustre passing kept the Bees out at the other end. On a rare dangerous looking raid at 7min 30 secs by the Bees, the Chief brought an excellent save from Dopson. At 8 minutes 52 secs Steer was fed the puck directly in front of Bernie and the puck was goalward bound until Bernie pulled off a reaction save and blocked the shot. Bauba and Campbell had a bit of huffing and puffing at the 10 minute mark, but it was so innoccuous that Carson ignored them completely. A few seconds later, Bauba again was involved in a little incident which saw him in the crease, called correctly but late by Carson, but which Bernie took great exception to, and pushed and poked at the Eagles player long after tyhe whistle had gone. All Bernie got for this was a word from Carson along the lines of "I saw it, I called it so there is no need for you to take that sort of action". Why Bernie was not penalised only Carson knows. Eagles attacks were looking much sharper and although the Bees' defence was coping it seemed only a matter of time before a goal came, and at 18min 24 secs Mark Woolf finished off a good passing movement invoving Montanari and Parco. Bernie was very unlucky here as he was unsighted but just got his stick to the puck but could not prevent it from going in. So the period ended with the Eagles 1 up and looking good for their lead.
The second period started with the Eagles camped in the Bees defensive Zone for what seemed an eternity, and during which time they scored two goals. The first from Kummu at 22min 41 secs following a rebound from a good Bernie save, and the second a real snorter of a slapshot from Mark Woolf at 26min 14 sec after the puck was fed back to him following a face off. Bernie did not move as the puck whistled over his right shoulder. The Bees now three down and nowhere to go and looking down and out. Then at 28min 46 sec DeCosty came briefly out of anonimity to put the Bees on the scoreboard with a shot through Dopsons five hole from assists by Tom Gomes and Shayne McCosh. The Bees then seemed to step up a gear - they couldn't step down - and on a powerplay caused by Shawn Bryrom's hooking penalty they did evrything bar score. Two moves stand out. The first was when that non stop Tom Gomes wriggled passed all the Eagles defenders and only a super stop from Dopson prevented the goal of the season. Shortly after this the Bees moved the puck around quickly and sweetly and after 5 spot on first time passes the Eagles defence was turning every way, a final shot again brought a tremendous save from Dopson. That was the excitement over for the Bees for the period as they then went back in their hive. A score then would almost certainly have changed the look of the game and possibly the result. However after Carson had decided that the Chief had elbowed an Eagle (when in reality the Eagle had ducked down on impact of a check and collided with the Chief's elbow) this left the Eagles with a five on three and they made no mistake at 33min 07 secs when Groleau converted a pass from Montanari. So it was 1-4 going into the final period with the Bees all but dead and buried. (Looking at my notes written at the time I see I put down "the bees' hearts are not in this game" at least 5 times during that period).
The third period began much as the second ended, with Bees' passes going astray and a general lacklustre approach and I was expecting a hatful of goals from the Eagles. This worry looked like becoming reality as on their powerplay the Bees conceded a shorthanded goal. From the outset of the powerplay onlookers must have been confused as to who had the extra man, as time and time again the Eagles found themselves an extra man over inside the Bees' blueline. It was from one of these raids that an innocuos looking shot had Bernie flapping and his halfhearted clearance fell straight to an Eagle. The result was that at 49min 53 sec the Eagles scored their 5th goal as Montanari put away an easy chance from passes by Wolf and Catenaro. It looked all over at 54min as Biette was through on Bernie but the netminder made amends for the previous goal and stooped at point blank range. With that same man, Biette, in the bin for Interference, at 55min 38 sec Brian Pellerin (again emerging from the black hole that most of the Bees players were in) put away a Powerplay goal after some nice interplay from Crawford and Junkin. The Bees then all emerged from their hive and for the remainder of the game played as if they really meant it. This new found approch had its reward just 49 sec after the previous goal as Jeff Johnstone put away a pass from Derek DeCosty at 56min 19 sec. It was all Bees after this and Bernie was taken off with 30 sec left but it was all too little too late, and in the end the scoreline flattered the Bees.
So 3-5 at home and not a very good display of enthusiasm. The Eagles entered this game thinking they could win it, the Bees didn't enter the game at all until the last 5 minutes and a short 2 minute spell in the second period. Someone in the bar after the game remarked it looked as though the Bees were taking it easy in order to go flat out on Sunday against the Cobras in order to increase their chances of an Expresso playoff spot. I know that Jim would not have done this but a casual observer could have been forgiven for thinking just that. Of course it just may have been that the Eagles were so superior that they made the Bees look poor, but in reality the Eagles did just enough to win with some in hane against a Bees side that looked lost from the first face off.