Bees extinguish Flames!

Final Score:  Guildford Flames 5-6 Bracknell Bees

The Bees hadn't won at the Spectrum for well over four years, but they picked an ideal opportunity to break the run. A 3-2 shoot-out victory on 10th November 2007 under the stewardship of Dwight Parrish was the Bees' last successful visit, but the newly-crowned league champions had a shock tonight if they thought that they were in for an easy ride.

The Bees got off to the ideal start with only 1:36 on the clock, when James Galazzi deflected a Ricky Skene Powerplay shot from the blue line past James Hadfield. Rob Lamey set up Skene's shot. But at 5:50 as the penalty clock expired on a Flames Powerplay opportunity, an unguarded Jozef Kohut drew the hosts level when turning the puck past Carl Ambler. The Bees recovered strongly from the set back though and were unlucky to not go into the break ahead as Martin Masa hit the post when his stick snapped mid shot.

Shortly after the start of the second period the Flames were on another Powerplay with Sergejs Loskins sitting in the box, but a mistake in the neutral zone allowed Martin Masa to break away and clinically finish for an unassisted, shorthanded goal at 21:06. The Bees were shorthanded again shortly afterwards but as the penalty expired and Lukas Smital came out of the box, he was perfectly placed to pick up Lamey's pass from the defensive zone. Smital crossed to Masa, who fired into the roof of Hadfield's net.

Things got better for the Bees at 27:54 as Shaun Thompson squeezed home a rebound from a Michael Bowman shot, with Peter Jasik also assisting.

The league champions reduced the deficit to two goals at 35:52 through Milos Melicherik, but at 38:17 with the Bees on the Powerplay, Lukas Smital fired a wrist shot into the roof of the net from the left circle, assisted by Masa and Skene.

Into the third period and Guildford came out hard, with the added advantage of seven Powerplay opportunities in the remaining twenty minutes. They scored on three of them, the first controversially at 46:46 when Nathan Rempel appeared to turn the puck home, with the goal off its moorings. Referee Dean Smith initially waved off the goal, but changed his mind after protests by the Flames. Just over a minute later at 47:48 Kohut gave the home supporters increased hope with Powerplay goal to reduce the Bees' lead to one.

Almost immediately though at 48:06, Bowman's shot rebounded from Hadfield's pads to Galazzi, who gleefully fired home.

Tempers flared at 50:56, when Scott Spearing had an altercation with Melicherik in front of the Bees bench. In the melee, Neil Liddiard and Jez Lundin also threw punches at Spearing and the bench, Lundin picking up a Game misconduct penalty in the process.

The Flames still pressed hard to get back into the game and at 56:21, Greg Chambers set up a nervous last few minutes for the Bees with another Powerplay goal. The nerves weren't helped by yet another Bees penalty called on Matt Foord with only fifty seconds left, but Ambler and the Penalty Killing units stood firm, leading to jubilant scenes on the Bees bench.

Ambler was given the Bees man of the match award on a night when the ex-Flames certainly put one over former team mates. The Bees climbed back into 8th place again following Peterborough's loss in Milton Keynes, but there is still an awful lot of hockey left before the battle for the final Play Offs spot will be decided.