If last night was Tom and Ferras vs the Eagles, then tonight at times seemed to be Cowley vs Bracknell. He was on incredible form, and really deserved man of the match.
Bracknell went into the game with a full squad, Brian Greer starting in nets. Cobras appeared to have no absences, but Rob Trumbley was benched for the entire match. Cowley started for them.
The game got off to a scrappy start, and both teams had a couple of half chances. It was the Cobras who were to get on the score sheet first. Brian Greer was able to block a shot, but couldn't cover it in time, and Mulvenna was there to steal it and tap past the helpless keeper at 5:32. Bracknell were totally useless through this period, and the defence was absent without leave again for the second. A shot was put in on Brian, he again blocked it but the rebound bounced out to Randy Smith, and Greer could only watch as he put the puck away. Twice more the Cobras were allowed to skate through on goal without so much as a check coming in from the Bees defence, but Brian was able to make excellent last ditch saves to keep Bracknell in the game.
At 14:12 Chris Norton was sent to the box for Interference. The powerplay was going quite slow, Bracknell just passing in circles, and the Bees looked to have lost the initiative when the puck was turned over. However, Shayne McCosh was able to stop the clearence and play it around the boards. From there it came to Junks, whose flick found Pelly on top of the crease for the one-timer past Cowley. Bees were back in the game. They looked to be holding on for 2-1 when, in the last minute, Brett Stewart was allowed to skate back and forth through the Bees zone twice, before sending a pass to LaScala in front of the goal, whose shot gave Greer no chance. So, the first period ended 3-1.
Bracknell came out for the second obvioulsy having had a rollocking from Jim, and playing much tighter for it. They were creating more chances too. early on, Dale Junkin was sent through 1-on-1 on a break out of the zone. Unfortunately, the shot wasn't special and produced a routine glove save from Cowley. The Cobras were on the powerplay six minutesinto the game, and looked to have scored their fourth. A good pass left Greer out of position, but he was able to dive and just get a skate tip too the shot. Later, on another breakout from Bracknell, Cosher found DeCosty to the left of the goal. He played it back to Jeff, in loads of space at the top of the slot, but the first time shot once again found the puck nestling in Cowley's pads.
After the half way point, and Bracknell went on the powerplay again. Shayne McCosh sent the puck through the crease to Pelly. Cowley went down and Pelly tried to go round him, but his backhand was just wide. Soon after a second good chance led to a minor scuffle, with players exchanging belated Christmas cards, and this was the roughest it was to get all night.Bracknell continued to improve, and had a few more chances. At one point Cowley went down for the save, the puck went back....and nobody shot, despite Cowley down for seemingly an age (having a rest perhaps? Must be his age :-D). Eventually, a shot was sent in, but it hit a player's leg and missfooted Cowley, who was glad to watch it trickle past an unawake DeCosty and just wide. Into the last minute, and it looked like Bracknell would never be able to beat Cowley. The Bees had other ideas, however. Dale stole the puck in the Bees end, brought it out, and played it forward to the rushing Todd Kelman. Todd, with plenty of time, was able to take a couple of strides over the blue, before belting it from the top of the right circle and straight past Cowley. He never even moved. The second period ended 3-2, with Bracknell on top.
The first chance of the thrid period fell to Newcastle when again players were allowed to attack the goal unharrassed. Once more Brian was able to kick the puck clear, and we survived. Shayne was sent to the box at 44:49, but Bracknell were able to kill the penalty well. Straight from Cosher stepping on the ice, the Bees went on the attack. The puck was sent down the ice, Pelly was behind the net and was able to find Colin Ward unmarked in front, who roofed iot through a crowd. Less than a minute later, and Bracknell took the lead. The puck was well won on the boards by Pelly. Junks was behind the net, and his pass out was met by the fast arriving McCosh. He shot the puck first time hard and low, giving Cowley no chance.
Three minutes later the Bees were again killing a penalty, with Todd in the box. It took the Cobras only 15 seconds to restore parity. A face-off in Bracknell's end was won by the Cobras, the puck came to Majic in front of goal, andd he made no mistake. Shortly later, Brett Stewart was put in 1-on-1, deked Brian and sent him to the floor. He skated past but, with an empty net, sent his backhand wide. this was greeted by chants of "How wide do you want the goals?" from us. Seconds later, the tables were turned. Bracknell won a face-off and Matty found the puck outside the crease. Cowley went down, but Matty's momentum carried him past the post. He turned, came back, and backhanded over the net from a yard out, with Cowley still floored. Chants now of "How wide do we want the gaols?" :-) A long delay was caused after a hard hit on Randy Smith. He looked to be in real pain, and seemed to be that old back injury again. However, I think he was back later in the game, so hopefully it wasn't too serious. The last minute arrived and, with overtime looming, both teams tried desperately for goal. However, despite several scrambles, neither team could score, and so we were faced by an extra ten minute wait for the toilets.
Bracknell had some great chances to score, but Cowley was really up for it now. For the Bees, Decosty found himself with an open net, but was tied up by a defender, Tommy was just stopped on a wrap-around, and Dennis was stopped well on a break away. Most of the pressure was in the Cobra's end, but a few times they break out and caused some dodgy scrammbles in our end, and Brian was forced to make one brilliant save at full stretch. With two minutes left, the puck was sent forward for Dennis to chase. Cowley came out and cleared, but Dennis arrived aa second later. A magnificent hip-check saw Cowley floored for a good minute, and plenty of complaints from the Cobras fans. He was out of his crease and played it, so he was fair game :-pp :-) There were some more half chances, but neither team could score, and the final score was 4-4.
On the whole, I think a fair result. Bracknell were terrible in the first period, and lucky to score at all. We tightened up and improved as the second went on, and by the third we were on top. However, despite dominating OT, we just couldn't do it. The defence were terrible all night. Cobras were allowed to skate through unoppossed all night. We have some great attacking d-men, and some great cover men like Matty, but we need a couple of guys willing to put more physical presence in. Even Scotty wasn't really up for that. Dale got MOM for the Bees and Majic for the Cobras. However, I thought maybe Tom or Cosher deserved it for us, and Cowley definitely for the Cobras. On the down side, Chief had a really poor game by his standards and did very little of any class.
Oh well, another point. Can we make the semis?