As the Bees started to make a real push for a playoff position, the first herald of the weekend they needed to overcome was the Solway Sharks and from that game they walked away with the 2 points that were on offer. Then the Bees took the trip to Planet Ice Peterborough to take on the Phantoms, where they just fell short in the final period in a close battle. 

Bees IHC 6-4 Solway Sharks 

The Bees came away with the opening period face-off win but the Sharks were straight on the attack to try to gain possession of the puck. Marcel Balaz saw success after applying pressure onto the Sharks’ defence early on with an unassisted goal timed at 6:03 to give the Bees an early lead. The Bees later found themselves with a power play chance as Liam Stenton found himself forced to serve a 2 minute penalty and Kell Beattie also found himself serving a 2 minute penalty, which gave the Bees a 5 on 3 chance to further extend their lead and Vanya Antonov managed to get the puck to the back of the net with the assistance of Gianni Vitali and Dominik Gabaj at 16:51 to create a 2 goal gap on the scoreboard going into the second period.

An interference penalty called on Mason Alderson saw the Sharks start the second period on the penalty kill, but this did not stop Scott Henderson from attempting to get Solway on the scoreboard for the first time on the night. At 23:48, Scott Henderson managed to secure his first short-handed goal of the season, which was unassisted, to get the Sharks onto the scoreboard. Then towards the end of the second period a chance came for Caly Robertson and he managed to equalise the game at 38:18 with Craig Peacock and John Dunbar both receiving assists on the goal. But not long after, Marcel Balaz took back the lead with his second goal of the night at 39:04 with Vanya Antonov’s and Brendan Baird’s help to see the second period finish in favour of the Bees. 

Another good start to the period for the Sharks saw Craig Peacock equalise the game at 3-3 with a goal timed at 42:54 with Caly Robertson and John Dunbar receiving assists but yet again Marcel Balaz for the second week in a row managed to secure a hat-trick at the Slough Ice Arena 55 seconds after the Sharks scored to take back the lead for the Bees with Dominik Gabaj and Oliver Knaggs getting the assists. Adam Rosbottom also found himself with a chance to create another 2 goal gap on the scoreboard for the Sharks to chase after at 46:57 with Oliver Knaggs receiving another assist as well as Dan Rose. Solway did not stop trying to test the Bees’ defence and were persistently pushing themselves into their offensive zone and Nolan Gardiner slotted the puck back of the Bees net to make it a 5-4 game. With just under 2 minutes left of the game the Sharks made the decision in an attempt to make a final push to pull Curtis Warburton from the goal to have the addition of an extra skater but this ended with Dominik Gabaj with the Brendan Baird scoring an empty net goal to secure the 2 points at 59:58.

Peterborough Phantoms 3-2 Bees IHC

Both Brython Preece and Tyler De La Bertouche were starting in net for their teams and early on the Phantoms were forced to go onto the penalty kill as Joe Gretton received a 2 minute Slashing penalty, but the Bees were unable to take advantage of the extra skater. There was an extremely defensive type of play from both teams during the first 20 minutes as none of the players were able to get to the back of either teams goal with Brython Precce having 6 shots on goal while Tyler De La Bertouche faced 11 shots on goal.

Early on in the second period the Phantoms were able to end the silence from both teams with Glossop getting the opening goal on the night at 31:10 with the assistance of Duncan Speirs and Bradley Bowering. Not long after, Luke Ferrara also found the back of the Bees’ net at 32:38 with the help of Scott Robson and Bradley Bowering, which then created a 2 goal gap for the Bees to face. It did not take long for Dominik Gabaj to react to the Phantoms’ early success and managed to score an unassisted goal at 35:17 and then just over a minute later at 36:22, Brendan Baird got a taste of his own goal with an assist awarded to Ryan Webb to equalise the game. This saw the second period end 2-2 with Brython Preece facing 20 shots on goal while Tyler De La Bertouche faced 13 shots on goal. 

A good start to the second period for the Bees as they were persistently trying to push into Peterborough’s defensive zone but at 45:57 Callum Buglass regained the lead for the Phantoms. The Bees continued to battle throughout the remainder of the third period but it was not enough to equalise the game and left the final score 3-2 with the Phantoms skating away with the 2 points.