Weekend Teaser: Roster struggles continue despite midweek signing of Dan Bradley

 

 Roster struggles continue despite midweek signing of Dan Bradley 

A weekend of highs and lows for the Bees 

Last weekend was always going to be difficult, three consecutive games are going to push any team to the limit but with players sidelined with injury, the Bees had a tough job on their hands.

Raiders were our first opponents on Friday evening. Both teams seemed fairly evenly matched and a scoreline of Bees 1 - 2 Raiders at the end of the first period confirmed this. The Bees opening goal scored by JJ Pitchley. This was his first goal for the Bees against his old team and he was having a great game until he had to leave the ice after hitting the boards hard. The second period saw the teams trading goals until Raiders put their foot on the gas to gain a two goal lead late in the period, going into the break with a 6-4 lead over the Bees. The third period saw Raiders score two further goals and Bees were unable to find the back of the net again. The officials seemed to want to allow the game to flow and you could argue one or two calls could have been made on Raiders and were not. Bees didn't get the opportunity to test Raiders penalty kill and Raiders made the best of the opportunities they were given.

Saturday night saw the Bees head to Basingstoke to take on the Bison. The travelling fans had donned their thermals and blankets and were in for a treat. Bees took the lead in the first period and were never going to be behind in this close thriller. The second period ended 2-2 which set up a tense third period for all. Bees were to go on the penalty kill at 43.36 but were  to come away with a short handed goal giving them a 2 goal lead. With 2.30 left on the clock Bees were on the penalty kill for a 2 minute interference call on JJ who left the ice with blood pouring from a nasty cut on his head. Former Bee Zack Milton capitalised on the powerplay to bring the Bison within one goal and, despite pulling Mettam, Bison were unable to draw the game level and Bees came away with the 2 points. Brendan Walkom was a threat all evening and thoroughly deserved his man of the match with his superb hat trick.

Two hard fought games under the belt saw Bees head to Telford. Even when a team is fresh and at full strength it is very difficult to get a win against the Tigers but a combination of factors meant this wasn't to be Bees night. The highlight of the evening from the Bees perspective was a well finished goal from Josh Martin but ultimately the Tigers overpowered the Bees and came away with a 10-1 victory.

Player of the Weekend Results

Congratulations to Brendan Walkom who had a hat trick over the weekend and claims the win with 57% of our vote. J.J. Pitchley came in second with 20%.

You can view all our player of the weekend winners from the last 2 seasons here: Bees IHC Fans Database

Player announcements

Defenceman Dan Bradley has signed for the Bees for the remainder of the season. Some of you may recall that Dan iced for the Bees for one game last season on loan from the Slough Jets. Having made the move to Bristol Pitbulls at the start of the current season, where he has played 11 games and has one assist, Dan found the travelling requirements of playing for the Pitbulls too much so hopefully his place with the Bees will enable him to get the right balance with his on and off ice commitments.

It has been a busy week for player announcements as Dan Weller-Evans announced his departure from the team due to personal reasons. We wish him all the best and thank him for his contribution to the Bees since making the move from Basingstoke Bison.

We have also learned that Adam Rosbottom's return to the line up has been delayed due to work commitments but he should be back in the black, white and gold in February 2023. The club statement said "While we recognise this is disappointing, we continue to support Adam in his active service to our nation".

Roster Update

Announced today (Saturday 5th), Dominik Gabaj (F) will be out for the next 3 weeks, and defender Luke Jackson is expected to return over the next couple of weekend.

Josh Martin (F), Josh Smith (F) and Joe Baird (D) remain out of the squad with injuries with undefined return dates.

Logan Prince (F) has been added to the squad for injury cover from Oxford.

James Tipple (G) has joined on trial from MK Thunder.

Scott Spearing (F) will come out of retirement to assist the Bees over the coming weekends.

Coming up the Bees visit Swindon and host the MK Lightning

Bees face Wildcats on Saturday evening for the first time this season. The Wildcats currently sit 7th in the league and will want to add to their points tally but Bees will have other ideas recalling previous successful evenings on their visits to Wiltshire. 

Sunday evening sees the MK Lightning visit the Slough Ice Arena. Bees played at Milton Keynes earlier in the season and came away with a narrow 2-1 loss. Since then MKL's new import Deivids Sarkanis has received clearance to play in the UK and will no doubt be a threat. He is no stranger to these shores having previously iced for the Nottingham Panthers in 2017. So far he has claimed one goal and two assists from his first two games, he's defintely one for the defence to keep an eye on.