Thanks to Bobblehat, once again, for this match report.
I'll concentrate on the first period as that was the only time when this was a serious contest, and my notes for the second period are rather smudged from the tears I shed.;-(((((
The game opened bizarrely as the puck dribbled to Bernie after the face off and Woodcroft arrived a bit late in the crease. Bernie took a little bit of exception to this and Matt Cote politely asked Woody to leave Bernie alone! A little bit of pushing and handbags at three paces ensued until Woodcroft poked Matt in the face with his stick. Not surprisingly Matt was not amused and a real set-too took place, and how Lehtonen missed the spearing I'll never know as he was on the spot due to the previous argy bargy. The result was a 5 plus game for both for roughing which in my opinion was a direct result of the previous encounter with these clubs that resulted in the handshake debacle. In normal circumstances what we witnessed would probably resulted in 2+2 for both players (although if Lehtonen had really been on the mark it should have been a game for spearing against Woodcroft). For the first time in has career Matt had been sent off and he was less than amused. I don't know if an appeal will be made but we have seen worse that has not resulted in players being dismissed.
Anyway, back to the game. The first 10 minutes was really end to end stuff with both sides putting in good attacks, and both defences standing firm. Both net minders produced some excellent saves and it was entertaining to watch . At 9mins Bernie produced a point blank save from Tomlinson who was unmarked in front of the Bees goal, and 30 seconds later Hrivnak plucked one out of the air from the Chief. At 16 minutes Bernie again pulled out a point blanker, again from Tomlinson, then at 16min 13 sec came decisions that I think affected the result of the game. First Scott Campbell took a 2 min roughing penalty as his retaliation on a Storm high stick to the head was punished (but not the Storm offence), and as he remonstrated with Lehtonen he received a further 2 minute misconduct penalty. During this stoppage, Bernie decided he needed more water and signalled to the bench. A water bottle was rolled on and I can only assume that Lehtonen must have thought this was a comment on his decision against Campbell as the next thing we knew, he had given Greg Burke a 10 minute misconduct penalty. With Matt, Scott and Greg now off the ice our defence was decimated which meant those left had to battle all the harder for 4minutes whilst Scott served his penalty. They managed to survive, but I think this must have taken its toll as the second period proved (at least that is my charitable way of looking at it). Then towards the end of the period another defender, Todd Kelman took a puck in the goolies and played no further part in the period, and came out late for the second. So all in all the defence had a pretty rough time. However at the end of the first it was 0-0 and as a completely biased observer I reckon that the Bees just shaved it. It was a continuation of the previous two close games between the two sides.
Came the second period.
For 5 minutes the game continued as the first with neither team in the ascendancy, until the Bees defence decided they had had enough of this and went home. The Storm scored at 26min 16 secs, 33min 01secs, 33min 33secs, 34min 47secs, and 38min 33secs [Morrison, Ketola, Morin, Cooper and Jablonski, if you're interested - Ed.]. 5 goals and the Bees defence watched in amazement/wonder/fatigue/disinterest. They were out-played, out-shot, out-manoeuvred, out-thought, but worst of all they stood around not picking up players or putting in checks whilst the Storm forwards got away with the mayhem. In between times the Bees forwards were continually thwarted by Hrivnak as first Denis Burke at 31min from good work by Jeff Johnstone, and then various players at 33min peppered the Storm goal with no effect. Meanwhile the Bees defence was still snoozing, and I was weeping quietly. I don't mind loosing when we play well and are beaten, but when we roll over and die it must be time for a serious look at the roster.
The third period was a little better, but the defence was still away when the Storm scored their final goal at 49min 25secs [Morin again - Ed]. After this the was puck just stopped short if the Bees' line by Bernie in the 50th and 58th minutes. The forwards never gave up trying, but found Hrivnak just too good for them. So a shut out at home which must raise serious questions especially in the manner in which it was achieved. Maybe the defence was a bit tired - but what happened to fitness? The final insult for me was the awarding of the Bee MOM to a defender - I know the forwards didn't score, but Brian Pellerin, Tom Gomes and Jeff Johnstone were all working their socks off to create chances and IMHO the MOM award should have gone to one of these three.