The early pressure went to Manchester, with much of the play in Bees' zone. This was increased after 1:40, when DeCosty was sent to the box for holding the stick. As usual, Wiklander was the Storm's danger man, and he was only kept out by two good Matty Cote blocks plus a lucky bounce of Bernie's chest, after a nasty deflection. Bracknell weren't able to create many chances, even after going even strength, and it looked like Storm would get their first goal just over four minutes into the game. Ruggles picked up the puck on his blue line and skated down the ice, supported by Morin, with only one defender to cover. Bernie came out of his crease and the obvious thing to do would be to pass to Morin for a tap in. However, Ruggles elected to shoot and saw the puck nestle nicely at Bernie's feet.
A minute later Wiklander and Pellerin decided to exchange Unseasonal Greetings, and both left the ice, with Wiklander getting an extra two minutes. So, Bracknell on the powerplay. A few good chances were created, and Bracknell should have scored soon into the advantage. Good work from McCosh on the blue line kept the puck in, a quick pass from Junkin in the corner found Davie Whistle alone in the slot with time. However, he took a first time shot and Hrivnak made a very good save. Shortly after, the puck was again sent across the crease from the corner, but no-one could reach it to score. Whistle found Junkin to the right of the goal, but with his back turned. He spun around and took a shot that bounced just wide of the pipes.
Bracknell were again on the powerplay at 11:20, when Stephen Cooper was sent for Crosschecking after a heavy hit on Reggie behind the net. Some neat play by Bracknell was stopped by the Storm and the puck iced. Reggie picked it up in our zone and played it out. A couple of quick passes saw the puck sent over the blue line, where it was aimlessly flicked by Flinton. He just left it sitting free, and Miller didn't have time to react, before Reggie surged over the blue (I kid you not), take one stride free of the defenders, then blast it past Hrivnak. Nice goal! A minute later Bracknell broke from their zone and Johnstone carried the puck accorss the blue. Both defenders were on him and Colin Ward, on the right side, so when he flicked it left across the length of the ice, Greg Burke was totally unmarked and 1-on-1 with Hrivnak. However, his shot went straight to the Storm's keeper.
There was a long delay when Hoffman hit the ice, bleeding from the chin. Originally, it appeared to me he had hit a Bees player, gone down and cut himself on the ice. however, watching one of the replays on Sky, he was hit by Ferras's stick, so it should have been 2+2 powerplay to Storm. Mind you, as only one replay in three showed it clearly, I can understand Kirkham missing it. Bracknell went two up on 15:22. Neumeier's block was lazzy, and a Bee was the first to pick up the loose puck and take it over the blue line. A few passes around the boards saw it reach Todd Kelman on the edge of the left circle. He ripped a shot away, which was flicked down by Johnstone, standing in front of Hrivnak, and into the net. A well worked goal.
Thirty seconds later and Bracknell scored their third, and probably best goal of the match. Matty blocked a shot in the zone, and sent it up the ice. He was the first to charge onto the flick on deep into Storm's zone. Despite being held against the boards by Hoffman, he was able to send it into the slot, where Pellerin was all alone and in on Hrivnak. Hrivnak dropped to block the shot but, in an excellent play, Pelly dropped the puck back to the trailing McCosh, who was able to lift it over Hrivnak for the third. Storm's defence on this was absolutely terrible. Not only was Pelly unmarked in the slot, but Cosher was un,marked three foot behind him. Hrivnak did his best, and the replay shows his glove only an inch or two from the puck, but once he was committed to Pelly's shot, he didn't have a chance. Bernie, who was having a solid match, had to make a good save on the eighteen minute mark when Jablonski sent an excellent shot staright to the top corner. Bernie was able just to reach out an arm and glove it comfortably. Inside the final minute, Ferras skated through the Storm's defence, but had been pushed wide, and his weak shot was easily blocked by Hrivnak. And so, that was how the first period finished, Bracknell most definitely on top.
Storm obviously wanted to come out firing, and they scored within four minutes from....you've guessed it, Brebant once more getting on the score sheet. Sustained pressure in the Bees zone saw DeCosty ice the ouck. from the face-off, Bees won the puck, but then lost it in the zone. Maltais flicked it to Brebant who one-time it past Bernie in a vicious shot. Storm back in the game. A penalty on Pelly for Hooking at 24:37 gave the Storm a chance to increase the lead. Fisrtly Wiklander took a shot from the blue, which was blocked but the rebound fell to Ruby in the slot. With Bernie already down, he should have done much better than send it over the crossbar. Then Ruggles found himself in the slot with a lot of attention from defenders. He was still able to turn and back hand the puck towards the net, but Bernie made a good reflex svae to block the shot. Just as the powerplay had ended, however, Storm thpught they had scored. The puck came to Woodcroft just outside the crease, and his second attampt was trapped under Bernie's pads, but was it over the line. Well, even the replays couldn't decide, and so I suppose Kirkham was right not to give the goal, as he couldn't be sure. Looking from behind the net, Bernie gloved it then dropped it in his pads. It was very hard, however, to tell if his glove was just behind the line or not.
Just over a minute later, Storm were again on the powerplay. Tom Gomes and Rick Brebant were both having a go, and both walked for 2+2. However, at the other side of the ice, Kelman and Maltais squared up. Maltais didn't drop the gloves, and just sat on the ice whilst Kelman half-heartedly smacked him about the head for a few moments. As soon as Kirkham stood up, they both just got up and skated to the box. The most lacklustre fight I've ever seen :-) Kelman got the extra two minutes, giving Storm the powerplay. Storm created a few half chances from the advantage, but Bracknell's defence held firm. As soon as the two minutes were up, Bracknell went down the ice, and held the puck in the Storm zone. After sustained pressure, Wiklander had to fire the puck into the stands. From the resulting face-off, Ward won the puck. He sent it back to Greg Burke on the point, whose shot bounced off a screened Hrivnak. Ward was the first to react, took the puck around the goalie, who dived to block the shot and made it easy for Colin to roof it.
Neumeier was sent to the box for Interference, but Storm killed the penalty well. Bracknell's only real chance came when a 3-on-1 for Dale Junkin was blocked by Hoffman at Hrivnak's feet. Bernie had to make two good saves from Rubaduk later, firstly when he made a fantastic (I'm running out of superlatives!) glove save with Rubaduk just a couple of feet from the goal. Then, Storm were able to break and Rubaduk was 1-on-1 with Bernie, but Bernie cut the angles and saved well. Bracknell went down the ice, the puck was flicked out from behind the net to McCosh, again alone at the top of the slot, and he was able to take a stride before belting it past a hapless Hrivnak. 5-1 to the Bees, and this was how the period ended.
The third period was to be a totally different story. Most of the pressure was coming from the Storm, but they couldn't turn it into chances. Indeed, even with 30 seconds of 5-on-3 didn't see them really carve out goal-scoring chances. They had to wait until they themselves were on the penalty kill before they could score. A poor powerplay for Bracknell saw Brebant pick up the puck in his own zone with plenty of time. He sent it down the ice for Miller, who was only faced by Rob Stewart. Stewart flapped on the puck on the blue line, missed it, and Miller was through on goal with plenty of time to pick his spot. Bracknell couldn't use what was left of the powerplay, and shortly afterwards iced the puck. Storm were able to keep it in the zone, and after a scramble, Wiklander popped up to flick the puck in the net, exactly two minutes after the last goal. 5-3, and we were feeling tense.
We were positively crapping ourselves soon. Storm were searching for more goals, and the Bees defence were just trying to stay in the match. Just over two minutes later, Storm's efforts were again rewarded. From a face-off, Neumeier passed to Wiklander on the far point. His defelcted shot fell at Morin's feet, and he had time to backhand the puck past Bernie from four or five meters out. Again, bad defending. By now, Manchester felt they could get an equaliser, and charged forward. A big scramble in front of the Bees net saw a good save from Bernie, and Greg Burke and Woodcroft exchanging blows. Bernie had to make several more great saves. Hrivnak was pulled towards the end, but Bracknell just couldn't score. Gomes took a shot that went an inch wide, the rebound fell to a Bee just outside the zone, and he too was just wide. Dennis Burke picked up the puck behind the net, and seemed to certtain to score, but he was steamrollered by a defender as went for the wraparound, and so the score finished 5-4. Phew!
Defence (or the lack of it), was the key to this game. too often storm players left ours free to score. However, as the game went on, our defence lost the will to live, and ended up only just hanging on. We've made a habit recently of throwing away good leads, and something needs to be done soon to sort this. Having said that, we were good going forward, and stuck to Jim's game plan until the last eight minutes. Bracknell played their usual harrying, forechecking game, and forced errors for goals. Shanye McCosh was excellent, but I suppose Bernie deserved the MOM yet again. I really couldn't undertand the choice of Ketola for Storm, when Brebant could easily have won it. I was not at all impressed with Flinton, and he'll have to improve a lot. This match was the first chance I'd had to watch Ward and DeCosty, and I have to say I'm impressed, particularly with Ward. Good times ahead for the Bees, I think.