Weekend Teaser: Bees pick up points in 3 of last 4 games

 

 Bees pick up points in 3 of last 4 games

Two out of four points for rejuvenated Bees

Bees welcomed Wildcats to Slough for a rare Friday evening fixture. Apparently the Wildcats are not a fan of Friday night games, as they have very little success on this day of the week and fortunately for the Bees this fixture was to be no different for Aaron Nell and co. Bees were to come out all guns firing and were 3-0 up at the end of the first period courtesy of Brendan Walkom, Dominik Gabaj and Juha Lindgren. Bees were to add another goal in the second period, Harvey Stead with a cracking goal allowing the Bees a 4 goal cushion at the end of the period. The first half of the third period saw Bees take a couple of minor penalties which they killed but then Dom was to head to the box for a cross check timed at 52.18 and finally the Wildcats were able to put something on the score sheet. Colby Tower found the net but it took a lot of discussion by the officials and input from the goal judge before the goal was awarded. Colby Tower then added another goal less than a minute later before Bees lost a man due to a delay of the game penalty. Swindon called a timeout, pulled Dean Skinns for the extra skater and scored to bring the game to 4-3. It's fair to say that the Bees fans were starting to get nervous as Swindon pulled Skinns again but Brendan Walkom found the empty net from well inside the Bees defensive zone and with a score of 5-3 Bees were to skate away with the two points. Looking back it's not that Swindon played badly on the night but Bees were able to read their moves and intercepted many of their opportunities. Also, the depth the Bees now has caused opposing teams a real problem as can be seen by four different goal scorers in this game.

Saturday night saw the Bees travel to Milton Keynes. This was to be a goal fest with 12 goals scored on the night, sadly more for Lightning than the Bees. The first period saw MKL lead by 3-2, Brendan Walkom and Josh Smith were Bees scorers. Lightning were to increase their lead 34 seconds into the second period with a goal scored by Tom Carlon and then Will Stead scored to bring it back to 4-3, MKL scored again and then Lacky brought the Bees back to within one goal again. Lightning were to stretch their lead to 7-4 when Gossy was swapped for Smital but MKL had no sympathy for their former teammate and they scored with just one second left in the period. The third period was to be scoreless although MKL did have 15 shots on Smital's net without success. Standout player for the Lightning earning their man of the match was Tom Carlon with 4 points on the evening. Will Stead deservedly earning the MOM for the Bees. 

Player of the Weekend Results

With 57% of the vote, congratulations to Matt Smital on his player of the weekend win, Bees assistant captain Harvey Stead came second with 22%. Who will be up for the vote next?

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

News from the Bees and around the league

Jack Hoppes and Sebastian Mohr have been named in the squad representing Great Britain in the 2023 IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship Division II Group A in Belgrade. Congratulations to you both on your call ups and wishing you and all the team the best of luck in the tournament.

Earlier in the week we learned that former Bees Aidan Doughty sustained a serious injury last weekend that resulted in him requiring surgery and he will need a lengthy recovery period to get him back on his feet. See out tweet about a Go Fund Me account set up by Brendan Baird to provide support for Aidan if you would like to donate. We wish Aidan a speedy recovery. 

Dan Weller-Evans has announced his retirement from (semi) professional ice hockey. Whilst he was at the Bees for a relatively short period of his career he made a huge impression on the fans and is a great guy both on and off the ice, we wish him all the best and thank him for his time in the black, white and gold.

Coming up the Bees meet the Tigers and Phantoms

Bees welcome the Telford Tigers on Saturday 21st January with a 6.30 face off. Tigers will be the first to put their hands up and say the last few months haven't seen the results they would have liked with last years league winners sitting 8th in the league. You might think this is good news for the Bees but the Tigers have made two additions to their squad this week which may cause some concern. Remember how Tom Carlon scored 4 points against us just last weekend, he has made the move from Milton Keynes to Telford. In addition, Tigers have also signed a new import from Cardiff Devils. Rory Hermann iced 7 times for the Devils without picking up any points but prior to joining Cardiff he played college hockey at RPI in the NCCA league and in 2015/2016 he iced for the Anaheim Jr Ducks U16 and played 3 games for the US National U17 team. You feel given the ice time he could be a threat in our league, I guess we'll find out on Saturday.

Sunday sees Bees head to Peterborough to take on the Phantoms. Currently sitting third in the league and having edged Bees on all four meetings so far this season we know they are tough opposition. With 25 wins under their belts so far this season, a lot of Phantoms success can be attributed to the depth of players in their squad with Glenn Billing, Duncan Speirs, Lukas Sladkovsky, Corey McEwen and Ales Padelek all major contributors. Our game will be their third game in 4 days, they had a tough National Cup semi final leg in Milton Keynes on Thursday night and face Steeldogs away on Saturday before our visit on Sunday. Let's hope they find the newly rejuvenated Bees a bit more challenging than perhaps they are anticipating.

Good luck to the Bees and safe travels to all those travelling to Peterborough on Sunday.

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