Berkshire Bees Fans

   2024/2025 Season Jerseys If there was a league table for the jerseys released throughout the season then the Bees would be title contenders without a doubt.  The regular season jerseys were revealed in May 2024 on the same day the new team name was announced. The new jerseys were black and yellow with the new team logo.   This year's chosen charity was Autism Berkshire with the warm up jerseys raising awareness and funds for the charity. In addition to a share of the own and loan proceeds a special charity night was held too. The Bees always deliver with their Halloween jerseys and this season we were treated to a Bees/ Ghostbusters mash up which proved very popular. Remembrance Day is always an important event in the Bees calendar with members of the armed forces both past and present within the fans and the team. This year the shirt was designed by Andy as a salute to all the armed forces.  The Christmas jersey had a traditional Christmas jumper design...

    2024/2025 Season March The Bees were unable to keep up with the teams fighting for a playoff place and found themselves in a fight with the Bristol Pitbulls to avoid the wooden spoon. March was the Bees best month in the season with three wins, three losses and two overtime losses. With two fixtures against the Pitbulls, the Bees were in control (to a degree) of that bottom league place and they did what they needed to do.  1.3.25: Pitbulls 1 - 5 Bees  The Bristol team had definitely had their fair share of problems leading up to this game as they battled on with a depleted team. For them things seemed on the up as all those on the injured list returned to the line up against the Bees but it wasn't to be enough for them. The Bees dominated the game coming away with a 5-1 win. Every Bees player gave their all but the star of the night was Adam Rosbottom who banked a hattrick. The Pitbulls were the first to score but once the Bees got started there was no stop...

   2024/2025 Season February The Bees found themselves having a relatively successful month which started with an away game in Swindon which was the first time the team had played against their former team mate, Vanya Antonov. Let's just say the Bees were not going to make his night easy, Vanya soon realised his new team mates didn't have his back and he didn't make the impact he should have against the Bees. With three games going to overtime in the month there were plenty of nail biting moments but Bees were unable to make headway in the fight for a playoff place.  1.2.25: Swindon 3 - 4 Bees (after overtime) The Bees have a knack of raising their game against the top teams and this is exactly what they did in this game. 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 thir...

    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 pr...

   2024/2025 Season December Still suffering with a depleted bench for much of the month didn't help the Bees cause. The players who were playing were giving their all and recording extended ice times and as expected most teams were taking advantage of this situation. Behind the scenes the management were sourcing extra players and half way through the month former Bee Josh Martin and Jacob Ranson (from Romford Raiders) were added to the roster. They both debuted against the Peterborough Phantoms at Slough and the Bees made easy work of the Phantoms that night. Buoyed by this result the team travelled to Peterborough the following day to find on arrival that the ice was not playable and the game was postponed. The Bees didn't pick up any further points during the remainder of the month.  1.12.24: Seahawks 6 - 3 Bees Hull raced away to a 3-0 lead by the end of the first period but the second period belonged to the Bees who won the period 2-1 bringing themselves to within t...

   2024/2025 Season November The Bees played the month short benched as injury problems started to dig away at the line up and unfortunately the two-way deal players were not always available to play. The team had nine games in the month and not surprisingly there were no points for the team when they were on the road. The fans, however, were treated to three thrilling home games which could not be decided in regulation. An overtime loss to the Raiders was a bitter pill to take, the other games went to a shootout surprisingly against the league title contenders. The Bees were to overcome the Swindon Wildcats but were not so fortunate against the Lightning. Following Brett Shepherd's departure, Dean Skinns came to the rescue. Dean was no stranger to the black and yellow having played as number one for the Bees on two separate occasions over his long career.    2.11.24: Lightning 6 - 1 Bees Lightning were sitting at the top of the league and it looked that maybe this w...

   2024/2025 Season October The Bees started the month with one of the shock results of the season as they beat the team who would eventually be the league winners 2-1 in Slough. They were also to pick up two further wins in the month. Sadly, we said goodbye to Brett Shepherd who had decided to make the move to Streatham to increase his ice time opportunities. Understandable as he was always going to come second to an import goalie but sad for many fans as he had become a firm favourite in the rink. Bees had a couple of minders on two-way deals with the Cardiff Canucks to fill the gap until a more permanent solution was found. A new signing in October saw Will Birch make the move from the Oxford City Stars, Will had impressed in the off season when he had attended the Bees open training sessions, he showed huge potential but sadly due to work commitments his stay was to be short lived. He definitely made a positive contribution to the team but will be remembered for breaking t...

   2024/2025 Season September The Bees didn't have the best start to the season earning just one point in the first five games, coming from a shootout loss in Peterborough. With two losses against the Wildcats, a regulation loss against the Phantoms and the Milton Keynes Lightning, it was clear the team were not going to have the flying start they achieved the previous season. The last game of the month saw the team travel to Telford who had an even worse start to the season unable to pick up a single point. The Bees were finally able to get a win under their belt but with a depleted line up with just 15 players travelling as long term injury leave was just starting for Hallam Wilson and Josh Smith. This month we also saw the return to the bench of former Bee Dan Weller-Evans as he joined the coaching staff. 13.9.24: Wildcats 6 - 2 Bees The Wildcats appeared to be an in form team based on their pre-season results and Bees kept them at bay for the first period with some doubt w...

     Pre-Season 2023/2024 Season Recap The 2023/2024 season for the Bees had been a mixture of highs and lows. The Bees took the league by storm with an excellent start to their campaign as Dominik Gabaj and Marcel Balaz were skating rings around the opposition and the Bees found themselves sitting up the top end of the table. As the opposition teams settled and gelled, the Bees found themselves moving down the table as the power giants started to do what they always do and whilst winning the league was probably not a pre-season goal, making the playoffs was and the team achieved that. The playoffs were not kind to the Bees who found themselves in a group including the Phantoms and Knights who were to be the playoff finalists in Coventry. Dominik Gabaj finished 5th in the league scoring for the season and Marcel Balaz finished 8th. Brython Preece found himself 11th in the goalie rankings for the year despite actually doing an excellent job assisted by Brett Shepherd....