2024/2025 Season Review: January

  



 2024/2025 Season

January

As 2025 entered onto the scene, the injury woes seemed to be coming to an end as Hallam Wilson was to return to the line up mid month. Early January came the surprise news that Vanya Antonov had asked to be released from his contract so he could transfer to the Swindon Wildcats. Losing Vanya could potentially hit the team hard but the Bees had somone waiting in the wings. Ralfs Circenis joined the Bees at the start of the month after a year long suspension. Ralfs was soon giving the fans something to cheer about and he immediately  filled the gap that Vanya had left. The Bees were to have a rejuvenated spirit earning themselves wins against the top two teams in the league but was it too late to snatch a top 8 position in the league?

4.1.25: Lightning 5 - 0 Bees

Top of the league at the time, the Lightning believed this was the season they would get their hands on the league title and given the Bees results over the last few months they probably also believed that this game was a foregone conclusion before it even started. I think it is fair to say that the game was closer than the 5-0 scoreline suggested. The Bees all played incredibly well and although they were unable to break Kerlin's shutout they worried the Lightning for a while. Max Wright was the Bees man of the match with a 90% save percentage conceding 5 goals from 50 shots.

5.1.25: Bees 4 - 2 Knights

Looking to keep up with the Lightning, the Knights took a two goal lead into the second period after outshooting the Bees 20:4 in the first. Bees pulled a goal back at 27.56 as Ralfs Circenis scored his first Bees goal on his home debut. Leeds then got into penalty trouble as Jordan Buesa was assessed a 5 minute major for boarding and this was the turning point of the game as just 8 seconds into the penalty the Bees brought the game level as Ralfs Circenis scored his second goal of the night. Just 16 seconds before the end of the period Marcel Balaz put the Bees ahead with what was to be the game winning goal. The third period saw the Knights push for an equaliser and they resorted to pulling Sam Gospel without success as Adam Rosbottom found the empty net with a precise shot from half way down the rink and the Bees were rewarded with a 4-2 win. Max Wright deserves some well earned praise too as he recorded a 95.74% save percentage on the night, some of his saves were unreal and the Knights were dumbfounded by his performance.

12.1.25: Bees 4 - 2 Lightning 

All eyes were on the Bees after they picked up an excellent win against the Leeds Knights the previous week and the fans were hopeful as finally the team were able to fill the bench with the return of many of the players who had been promoted from the injury balcony. Bees took a 1-0 lead into the second period as Will Stead added another goal to his season's tally on the powerplay. The only goal of the second period was to tie the game as the Lightning's Sean Norris found the net in a period where the penalty boxes were pretty busy. Going into the third it was anyone's game and the Lightning were to go ahead at 44.49 thanks to a powerplay goal scored by Harry Gulliver. Bees were not disheartened and drew level just over three minutes later as Ralfs Circenis scored a beauty of a breakaway goal. Marcel Balaz added what would prove to be the game winning goal at 50.43. The Lightning then threw everything they had at the Bees and when Marcus Mitchell was assessed a 5 + game penalty for slashing at 52.13 it looked like Bees might lose their lead but the team dug in deep. Lightning's downfall was a too many men call at 53.34, an easy call for the linesman and a huge mistake when they were pushing hard in the Bees defensive zone. A timeout for the Lightning at 58.31 saw the exit of their goalie, Will Kerlin, to the bench and at 59.14 Marcel Balaz was given the opportunity to put the game to bed scoring his second goal of the night. He skated all the way to the opposition's net to make sure of the goal. Final score was 4-2 in an exciting game where the whole Bees team performed superbly. The Lightning fans had been thanking us the weekend before but they weren't thanking us after this result.

18.1.25: Bees 1 - 4 Tigers 

It just wasn't the Bees night as the Telford Tigers imports were to dominate, scoring all four of their goals. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead into the first period break and were to extend this to 3-0 in the second before Josh Martin put the Bees within two, his first goal since he returned to the Bees last month. With just one goal in the third scored by the Tigers the game was done and the Tigers team that had started the season so badly showed the bad results were well behind them.

19.1.25: Knights 4 - 1 Bees

The Bees took the lead in the first period with a goal scored by Dominik Gabaj but the Knights were to equalise before the end of the period with a controversial goal. The Bees bench coach Ashley Tait took exception to what he believed was an officiating error and was despatched from the bench. Without a replacement for him the game would have been unable to recommence and to overcome this Kieron Brown's father stood in. Unsurprisingly the Bees were unable to recover from this mentally and it hung over the game. The Knights were to take a 4-1 win and at the 60 minute mark Marcel Balaz was given a 10 minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Both Ashley Tait's and Marcel Balaz's penalties were reviewed by DOPS and they were awarded penalty points for their actions. Ashley Tait received a one game ban which was suspended dependant on his conduct for the remainder of the season.

24.1.25: Bees 5 - 4 Pitbulls (after shootout)

The Pitbulls travelled without one of their imports and it looked like the Bees were in control at the end of the first as they led 2-0 thanks to an even-handed goal scored by Will Stead and a PPG scored by Josh Smith. The Pitbulls came out fighting in the second and by 25.10 they had brought the scores level with goals from Butler and Harewood. Josh Martin then scored for the Bees on the powerplay but in the last minute of the period Pitbull's Hill scored to bring the score level at 3-3 going into the break. Just over two minutes into the third Dominik Gabaj scored Bees fourth goal of the night, again on the powerplay and the Bees held on to the slender lead for twelve minutes until Cochrane scored the equaliser for the Pitbulls. There were no further goals in the third or in the sudden death overtime period meaning penalty shots were required to decide the result. At the end of the first five shots for each team it was 2-2 with Ralfs Circenis and Will Stead successful for the Bees. Sudden death penalty shots started with Bayley Harewood missing and Ralfs was up next to win the game for the Bees which he did with a well-placed shot securing the two points for the Bees.

25.1.25: Sharks 4 - 1 Bees

A battle between two teams fighting to get into a play off place saw the Bees travel to Dumfries early on a Saturday morning having played a tough game the night before. The Sharks took a 1-0 lead into the second period after a pretty even first period. Just 15 seconds into the second period Bees' Dominik Gabaj put the Bees on the scoreboard but sadly that was to be their only goal of the night. The Sharks scored two goals in the second and a further goal in the third to bank the points after outshooting the Bees 32 to 22. 

Coming Up - February 


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