Weekend Teaser: A double dose of Tigers

 

 What does weekend twenty two have in store for the Bees?

Season weekend twenty one review 

The Bees travelled to Swindon on Saturday to take on the Wildcats who are a serious contender in the league title race. The Bees have a knack of raising their game against the top teams and this is exactly what they did. The Wildcats took the lead early in the first with a goal scored by Aaron Nell but Bees' Ralf Circenis brought the scores level before the end of the period with a powerplay goal. With no goals in the second period there was all to play for in the third. Bees took the lead for the first time thanks to a powerplay goal scored by Will Stead timed at exactly 43 minutes and just over 7 minutes later the Wildcats equalised, Ryan Wells the scorer. The goal announcement hadn't even finished as just 20 seconds later Dominik Gabaj gave the Bees the lead again. The Wildcats then gave all they had and a goal scored by Malasinski in the 57th minute drew the scores level again. With no further goals in regulation the game went to overtime and it was to be the Bees night as Liam Morris was to put away the puck to give the Bees the extra point. 

Sunday saw the Steeldogs visit Slough. The first half of the game saw the Bees dominate and they were 3 goals up by 32.14. Marcel Balaz scoring two goals sandwiching an historic goal from Dominik Gabaj which was his 400th point for the Bees. The Bees took a 3 goal lead into the third but this is when the Steeldogs started to put pressure on the Bees and they scored three unanswered goals, two of which were on the powerplay. Their goals coming from Morgan, Sommer and Kirk. With the scores tied 3-3 at the end of regulation and overtime unable to separate the teams, the lottery of penalty shots followed. Both goalies were to play out of their skins and in the end it took a sudden death shot from Tremblay to give the Steeldogs the extra point. 

My opinion - Three points out of four against the Wildcats and Steeldogs was a great weekend for the Bees. It should have been four but the third period on Sunday was one period too many and the Bees found themselves fighting to stay in the game with tired legs but plenty of heart.

Saturday night was the Bees first game against the Wildcats since Vanya Antonov made the move to Swindon and for some of the team it appeared there was a little grudge with their old team mate. This was the Wildcats undoing as they allowed the friction on the ice to dictate their game play, benching Vanya more than a great player like him should have been. Disappointingly for Vanya, no one in the Wildcats camp was willing to stand up for him and this allowed the Bees to lay plenty of pressure on him. I'm pretty sure if he was a Bee and this happened in Slough his fellow team mates would not have stood around. In my opinion this tactic won the Bees the two points.

Player of the Weekend Result

Congratulations to Max Wright who is the player of the weekend, he wins his 6th player of the weekend this season thanks to your votes on Twitter with 50% of the vote. Registering save percentages of 92.86 against the Wildcats and 93.62 against the Steeldogs you can't argue with the poll this week.

Midweek disappointment for the Bees

The Bees travelled to Peterborough on Thursday 6th Feb to play the postponed game from just before Christmas. The team were unhappy, to say the least, with how this game unfurled and came home after a 6-0 loss. Personally, I don't think the game should have been postponed as the Bees and their supporters incurred the costs of travelling all the way to Peterborough in December to then be sent home due a problem with the ice. Very convenient for the Phantoms who had lost to the Bees in Slough the night before. 

Bees did not fare well in this rearranged game and were obviously unhappy with the way they were treated. At 53.13 Max Wright was thrown out for 5+game for fighting at the same time Nathan Salem was given a 5+game for goalie interference. 

Honestly, regardless of the result, the league need to consider the players when they arrange midweek fixtures. With most of the team working regular jobs it is unacceptable to expect them to make a 2-3 hour journey there and then the same back home.  

Next: A double header with the Tigers 

Bees welcome the Tigers to Slough on Saturday evening before making the trip to Telford on Sunday. These are the last two fixtures against the Tigers this season and the Tigers lead the series 3-1. The Tigers sit 9th in the league just one point away from the coveted playoff spot so they will see these as two must win games. Eric Henderson (import) tops their scoring with 47 points from 29 games. The next top scorers are McKenzie, Ferguson and Howells, who have kept the team afloat while they sorted out their imports structure. Surprisingly at the time, Vladimir Luca dropped down to the Telford Tigers 2 last month, but this decision has proved to be a good one as they have picked up some vital points to keep their playoff chances alive.

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

Come on you Bees!