Bracknell vs Basingstoke

This was the second leg of the Wella charity Shield, the first leg, a 1-1 draw having been played the night before at Basingstoke.

Team line ups not much changed. Bison still without Garden and Mignacca and Black. Bees minus Holden who has gone back to Uni so won't be icing for the Bees this year. However Bees did ice a new name - Tom Gomes. As he only flew into the UK today (Sunday) at 2.00pm no one knew anything about him before the game.

First period started pretty much as one might expect from a local derby - all end to end, frenetic and not very scientific. That came at 4mins. 52 secs when Pellerin and Little went toe to toe after Little would not release Pellers from the boards. I don't know about the Storm's big men, but Richard Little who must be over 6' got well and truly pasted by Pellers who is about 5' 8" - so much for big men. There followed lots of nasty niggles especially by Jason Kendall on the Chief, and this led to the Chief retaliating which was spotted by ref Folka at 5mins 44secs when the Chief was binned for slashing. On the resulting powerplay the Bison scored at 6mins 16 secs when Conway rounded of a free flowing move involving Priest and Brown, and shot past a helpless Brian Greer having his first game for the Bees. 30 seconds later it was 0-2 as Brown found himself clear on his own from a pass by Conway and he gave no chance to Greer as he shot the puck high over the Netminders stickside shoulder. Worse was to come for the Bees, for with defender Greg Burke off for a 2 min High stick penalty, at 7mins 57 secs the Bison went 3 up with a Powerplay goal from Joe Stefan. This happened after he was gifted the puck in front of the Bees net as Greer failed to hold onto a slapshot. At this point the Bees defence looked at sixes and sevens and as if they were all playing a different game. The forwards also seemed to be a group of individuals rather than a team. Us Bees supporters behind the goal in Block 5 were very worried indeed at this point. Then at 9 mins it looked as though it had got even worse. The Chief suddenly seemed to skate over on his ankle and as he went to skate away his ankle turned again - it looked pretty bad as he couldn't skate on his right leg and he went off the ice straight to the dressing room. However our fears were short lived as all(!) that had happened was that his skate blade had come detached from his boot - but he did not appear for the rest of the period. The Bees gradually started to play hockey and began to look as if they had finally introduced themselves to one another. Several good powerplay chances were squandered, one glaring miss from Wayde Bucsis when the empty net beckoned but he completely missed his shot. Was it to be one of those nights? NO! at 13mins 56 secs the Bees finally got on the score sheet when a speculative hit round the boards was made by Junkin and there was Pellerin to pick up the loose puck and force it past Gallace. The rest of the period was pretty uneventful with both side promising much but both defences well and truly on top.

The second period started badly for the Bees with a bench minor for Too Many Men at 20mins 51secs. The resulting powerplay was well handled and the Bison never really threatened.. I mentioned big men before. The Bison has another big man - Shane (Bigfoot) Dungy. Again if the Storm's big men are as effective as he is then other teams will have no problems. He did however make his mark at 25mins 16 secs when he was binned for interference. That's the only time I realised he was playing!!!! The Bees were now getting into the game more but when in front of goal it seemed that they were more eager to pass than shoot. On several occasions a shot could have caused the Bison problems, but a pass was made and the chance disappeared. The Bees then seemed to up a gear, and just as the Bison defence was expecting a pass from Pellerin who was out on the right wing, he fired in a quick wrist shot that flew over Gallace's left shoulder into the roof of the net (assists from Bucsis and McCosh). 2-3 at 35 mins 22secs, and the crowd began to sense a real fight back. At 36mins 29 secs they're prayers were answered as the best move of the evening resulted in the scores being level. Greg Burke on the left wing passed round the boards to Reggie Crawford behind the Bison goal, a quick flick out from Reggie and there was Dave Whistle steaming in and he made no mistake. The crowd went wild!!!! 3-3 and all to play for. (What's that about cliches?). No real further incident in the period except that at 40mins the Chief got a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty as he complained to the ref about the treatment he had been given.

So the Bees started the third period on level terms but a man down. They were now well on top however and the powerplay was easily killed off. The Bison were making fewer and fewer inroads into the Bees defensive zone and when they did the Bees defence proved more than capable with Greer now recovered from his shaky start making some neat saves. The Bees forwards were now playing more as a unit, but it was to be a defence man that broke the deadlock. Greg Burke skated unapposed down the left wing as was allowed to come inside and he sent an unstoppable wrist shot passed Gallace from a very tight angle assisted by Rob Stewart. 4-3, and that's how it stayed to the end despite Bison pulling their netminder near the end. MOM for Bees - Brian Pellerin and for Bison - Conway

All in all, finally very exciting for the Bees fans, but very disappointing for the Bison fans who had nothing to shout about after the 8th minute. There was much promise shown by the Bees squad and after they have been together a bit longer we should see a great improvement. The Bison missed Garden up front but even with him and Jamie Black they appear to promise much but, I fear unless they get a bit of work ethic and team spirit going, they won't be going far this year - but that's just the biased opinion of a dedicated Bees supporter!!!!

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