Weekend Teaser: It's a Hull double header!
What does weekend twenty four have in store for the Bees?
Season weekend twenty three review
The Bees were on the road first with a fixture at the Sheffield Steeldogs. The Bees knew they had a chance as the Steeldogs were still reeling from losing Sam Tremblay to the Steelers however it was the Steeldogs who made the best start taking a one goal lead into the second period. They were to double that lead before Hallam Wilson got the Bees on the scoreboard although the Steeldogs soon restored their 2 goal lead on the powerplay. Hard work from the Bees was to see them draw level by the end of the second period with both Liam Morris and Dominik Gabaj beating Curtis Warburton. A Steeldogs goal at 54.22 gave them the lead yet again and the Bees were forced to pull Max Wright for the extra skater but sadly this did not pay as the Steeldogs scored on the empty net and the game finished 5-3. Max Wright had a save percentage of 90.48 on the night, considerably better than his counterpart and Liam Morris continued his recent points scoring streak.
Sunday saw the Solway Sharks make the long journey to Slough from Dumfries. The Sharks still fighting for a play off spot had a difficult Saturday night with a 6-5 loss to the Seahawks where their lack of discipline was to affect their squad for the Bees game. The Sharks made the better start and were 2-1 up at the end of the first, Ralfs Circenis with the Bees goal. The Sharks extended their lead to 3-1 shortly into the second period but Ralfs Circenis scored his second goal of the night to bring the Bees within one by the end of the period. A PPG from Marcel Balaz at 44.13 drew the teams level but just 26 seconds later the Sharks restored their lead. Two Bees goals in the 46th minute from Marcel Balaz and Dominik Gabaj gave the Bees a 5-4 lead but the Sharks whilst their defence was tiring found their way past Max at 53.13 tying the game again. It was left to Marcel Balaz with his hattrick goal at 55.43 to give the Bees the lead again and despite a final push from the Sharks and a lot of altercations between the teams the Bees held on and banked the two points.
My opinion - The Bees probably deserved something out of the Steeldogs game but when teams are close the result often comes down to small margins and decisions. On Sunday we saw a Bees team who work together and stand up for each other. Liam Morris paid the price for protecting his captain, with a suspension handed out by DOPS, as he stopped a player who shouldn't have even been on the ice according to DOPS interpretation of an earlier incident. You can't change the decisions on the ice but you can manage how you deal with what happens next. Would we like to see Liam playing and not suspended? - yes but he stood up for his team mate and sent a message out that the Bees will not allow it and for me that makes his actions worthwhile.
Player of the Weekend Result
Disciplinary News
Next: A double header weekend with the Seahawks
The Bees last played the Seahawks in Hull on 1st December 2024 when the home team won 6-3. This was during the challenging period for the Bees when multiple injuries left the team short benched and only 11 out skaters travelled to Hull on that occasion. Relieved to have put that bad spell behind them the Bees are now in a much better place and it will be interesting how they fare in the games this weekend. Bees will be without Liam Morris through suspension but Hull have suspension problems of their own as we see Lee Bonner unavailable due to a 4 game ban. The Seahawks currently sit fourth in the league and although it looks like a top 3 finish is out of their reach it looks like a playoff spot is pretty certain. The Seahawks have the number one scorer in the league with Owen Sobchak currently on 97 points. Owen made the move from Bristol to Hull in the 23/24 season, in hindsight a great move for the Seahawks and a catastrophic one for the Pitbulls. 73 of Owen's 97 points are assists so Bees need to stop him setting up the goals and feeding his team mates. Fifth on the league scoring board is Emil Svec with 84 points. This is Emil's third season at Hull having previously had a season in Swindon. This and last year have been outstanding for him. Third in the Seahawks scoring is Bobby Chamberlain who actually iced for the Bees during the Spring Cup in the Covid era. Bobby currently has 81 points but his skill is not only delivering the points but also getting under the skin of the opposition, he's a player the opposition fans love to hate. Matty Davies , Hull's coach, Matty Davies will be unable to sit on the Hull bench tonight and tomorrow as he has received a two game suspension as he did not follow the correct procedure for a team with 50 penalty points when his team played the Phantoms last Sunday.
The Seahawks travel to Slough for Saturday's game before the Bees head up to Hull on Sunday.
All that is left to say is safe travels to the Seahawks players and their travelling fans heading to Slough on Saturday and to the Bees players and the travelling fans heading to Hull on Sunday.
Come on you Bees!
Comments
Post a Comment