Weekend Teaser: Season firsts against the Sharks and Raiders

  

 What does weekend five have in store for the Bees?

Season weekend four review 

Just got to start with a wow! Left the rink on Saturday night saying to myself my season ticket was worth it for that game alone. The Knights were in town and as they are lasy year's league champions and currently sit top of the league many would have thought the result was a foregone conclusion. The Bees had not had a win over the Knights since Halloween 2021 but they wanted this win badly. A Howlett goal for Leeds in the first period put the Knights ahead but the Bees were not going down. It took until the fourth minute of the third period for Bees to draw level as Dominik Gabaj scored. With just under 5 minutes to go in regulation Stuart Mogg scored the Bees go ahead goal. Knights were unable to put a second goal into Max Wright's net and finally Bees had put the run of losses against the Knights to bed. Got to take our hat off to Max Wright who only conceded one goal all evening with 49 out of 50 shots saved. A .980% save percentage against a team like the Knights is unreal!

Bees travelled up to Sheffield on the Sunday to meet the Steeldogs. This team are tipped to be a surprise team this season with off season signings aimed at pushing the team up the table. Brett Shepherd made his first season start for the Bees and Will Stead did not ice. The Bees had a strong first period which ended 2-2. Bees goals coming from Marcel Balaz and Dominik Gabaj. This is when the wheels came off as the Steeldogs scored two goals in the second and three in the third finishing with a 7-2 win. 
   
My opinion - The win against the Knights was totally unexpected for most (not me as I was the only person on the predictor league to put a Bees win!). This win was the result of an all-round excellent Bees performance. In previous weeks the Bees had played well against other teams and were disappointed to not come away with the points but against Leeds everything worked like clockwork. Have to say the officiating was the best I have seen so far this season which helped too. The Bees carried on the momentum during the first period on Sunday against the Steeldogs but fatigue hit in the second. Although you could see how much the team wanted the win, the tiredness and the shorter bench played into the Steeldogs hands. 

Player of the Weekend Result

Congratulations to Max Wright who is the player of the weekend, he wins thanks to your votes on Twitter with 77% of the vote. Realistically it was never going to be anyone else.

Next: Home to the Sharks and away at the Raiders 

Bees welcome the Sharks to Slough on Saturday evening when the teams meet for the first time this season. The team from Solway sit one place above the Bees in the league table on the same points so this should be a great game. The imports for the Sharks have really delivered so far this season with Nolan Gardiner on 17 points and John Dunbar on 16 points. Their netminder Jordan Marr signed in the off season from the playoff winning side the Peterborough Phantoms and has a save percentage of .8726%. They played well away at the Knights last Sunday and will have been disappointed to leave the Knight's castle without a point so this team can't be taken lightly. As Streatham don't have a game this weekend, the two-way players will be available to the Bees. We await to see if the full time players missing last weekend are now available to play.

On Sunday the Bees travel to Romford to take on the Raiders who currently sit 4th in the league. They have three regulation wins, two overtime wins and two losses and are the surprise team so far this season. Topping their scorers is new import Shaun Miller who currently has 14 points. Like the Bees, Raiders have made some two-way signings. Some of these are in partnership with the Slough Jets. They have called on Christian Mohr and Seb Mohr, both of whom have previously iced for the Bees in a previous season, and their input to the Raiders team has been invaluable. The Slough players provided the winning overtime goal for the Raiders against Hull but, fortunately for the Bees, the Slough Jets have a game on Sunday so they won't appear on the Raiders roster this weekend.  

All that is left to say is safe travels to the Sharks and their travelling fans heading to Slough on Saturday and to the Bees players and travelling fans heading to Romford on Sunday.

Come on you Bees!

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