Well, Bracknell's first ever final, and were we just a bit worried? :-) Our fears were well-founded. Bracknell started off nervously, and only 36 seconds into the match Joey Mittelstaedt (or was it Cavilla? :-D) skated down the left and shot the puck past Bernie's nears side for one ni;l. Gulp! To be fair to Bernie, Mittelstaedt didn't catch it that cleanly, and the bobbling, spinning puck gave him trouble, but still he should maybe have been able to keep it out. This was the worst possible start for the Bees. Already nervous as it was, they now just totally lost the plot, whilst Ayr were obviously flying high. The game descended to the level of men vs boys. Ary were just walking through Bracknell's defence, and there seemed nothing we could do about it. Bracknell were merely reacing to he play, rather than trying to dictate their own. Even when we did get a chance to break out, the passing was terrible and the imagination totally lacking. Presumably the pressure of being in their first final had got to the players. Contrastingly, Ayr were supreme. Slick passing, strong skating, hard hitting, imaginative plays - everything that Bracknell weren't. If I hadn't been so distraught, it would have been a joy to watch.
Unfortunately for Bracknell, it went from bad to worse. Rob Stewart was sent to the box for hooking in the 17th minute, and only 29 seconds into the powerplay Ayr made it count, Groleau getting the goal. Bracknell were two nil down, and deserved to be worse off, quite frankly. Going into the end of the period, I felt heart broken, that we had come this far only to put on such a terrible performance. Even the Chief, who normally leads from the front, was having a nightmare. I could only hope that Jim would sort things out during the break.
The meet up did go ahead as planned, to the left of the entrance. Mike, myself, Mac, Kaiser Sose, Penny, Tot (why Tot? I have no idea :-D) and Simon Ritson all met up and had a good chat over how crap we were. The Geordies all went off to be puck bunnies (Paul Dixon spotted), whislt the rest of us returned to our seats.
Unfortunately, we were late back to our seats, and only heard the roar as we walked under the Ayr block, so I have no idea how the goal was scored. Hopefully the video replay will show that up later. So, thanks to Groleau's second of the evening, Bracknell were 3-0 down, only 21:38 into the match. Did this inspire them to push forward? Well, sort of. We did manage to improve slightly. We were able to take more possesion of the puck, and get out of our zone more, but we still weren't posing much threat to the Eagles. Then, finally, after 33 minutes came the break through. Dave Whistle was able to keep the puck in the zone and get it to the Chief. His shot was saved, but Joe Ferras was there to tip it in. Not a pretty goal, certainly not the best worked, but my did we need it?!
And finally, Bracknell realised that they were allowed to play too. The goal gave them some confidence, they knew they could do it if they tried. The nervousness seemed to go and the play improved a great deal. Now it was the Eagles' turn to be on the back-foot. Only two minutes after the goal, Bracknell had even more to shout about. Kummu and Scotty Campbell tussled in front of the net (not sure how why, I missed the start of it) and Scotty got a great punch in on the side of his head, before Kummu grabbed Scotty's arms and pinned them down. And then, with just over a minute of the period left, Bracknell scored again. Good play by Reggie got the puck to Jeff Johnstone behind the net. He spotted Dennis Burke rushing for the net, and passed out for Dennis to slot home through the five-hole. So, two goals in five minutes and the Bees were finally starting to settle into the match, and the period ended with Bracknell on the upsurge.
That was how it was to stay, despite all Bracknell's efforts. Several player's went close, but Cavilla was equal to them all (and earning a bit of luck on some occassions). The Bees fans did have something to cheer about though - three minutes into the period, Colin Ward gave Jeff Hoad an almighty lamping. Strange that there should have been two fights, as the game was hardly physical. The Bees tried desperately for the equalising goal, and even as the buzzer went Cavilla was having to block from a desperate Tommy Gomes, who dived at the puck to try and force it (and Cavilla if necessary) into the net. But it wasn't to be, and the Eagles deservedly won their third honour of the season. the presentation ceremony was a bit of a shambles, with none of the players being able to hear the announcer. In the end, Scotty got the idea and led the lads up for their medals. And it was Cavilla who lifted the cup for the Eagles, their captain having skated over to get him. After his performance in the match, he deserved it. It was Sam Groleau who got Ayr's MOM, though, his two goals seeing them take the cup. For Bracknell, the Chief was given the MOM, but in my opinion he had a terrible game, by his standards at least. If it had been down to me, I would have said Matt Cote or Shayne McCosh deserved it.
On the whole, I'm proud of the performance they eventually put in. After it went to 3-0, I was totally heartbroken, but I don't feel at all gutted now. We came so close, and they played that final half an hour with all the effort, passion and desire we could have asked from them. I certainly wouldn't blame them for feeling overaawed at the start of the match. And I don't want to make it sound like Bracknell lost the game. Ayr went out there and played brilliantly, certainly in the first half hour. It felt like we were on a constant powerplay, and they thoroughly deserved their lead. So, now we have the play-offs, and I've bet Brian Storey's wife £1 that no-one can stop Ayr doing the Grand Slam :-)
Thanks to all the Ayr fans who came up to us last night and commiserated. You were excellent in victory (apart from one fool) and it was appreciated. If anyone was involved in the Ayr/Bracknell group photo, with the giant Saltire in the background, I'll finish the film this weekend and post it to the site next week. Sorry to Sam, Phil and Jim, we got there too late to make it the pub, and then we had no idea how else to meet up with you. For the record, I assume the list meet up at 101 will be repeated at the play-off final?