After a close battle in Milton Keynes on the previous night, the TSI World Bees welcomed the Milton Keynes Lightning to the Slough Ice Arena on Sunday evening for their second encounter with the Lightning for the weekend with the presence of the Pink Ribbon Foundation. 

Milton Keynes Lightning 7-5 Bees IHC

A very defensive start to the game for both teams with both teams trying to test each other’s netminders throughout the first 10 minutes of the period but neither team could get to the back of the goal. The first goal of the night went to the Lightning with the goal being awarded to Carter Hamill and assists were given to Mackenzie Stewart and Millique Martelly, but just under 3 minutes later Marcel Balaz equalised the game with a goal timed at 18:01 with Adam Rosbottom and Ed Bradley awarded with assists on the goal. With only 6 seconds left in the first period, Marcel Balaz was able to shoot the puck to the back of the goal with a beautiful shot from the right side of Will Kerlin with Dominik Gabaj and Adam Rosbottom getting assists on the goal.

The Lightning came out in the second period giving a massive offensive push to try to stop the Bees from running away with the lead in front of them and at 27:06 James Griffin was able to tie the game for Milton Keynes. A penalty called against Carter Hamill for the Lightning saw the Bees go onto the powerplay, but this did not stop the Lightning from extending their lead as Dillon Lawrence was able to get a perfect chance against Brython Preece in goal for the Bees and take the lead for the Lightning with a short-handed goal. This made the Bees even more greedy for another goal to try to equalise the game again and at 36:55 Will Stead was able to get the puck to the back of the goal to equalise with the assistance of Marcel Balaz and Adam Rosbottom. With just 51 seconds left in the second period, Marcel Balaz was able to secure his hat trick on the night with the fourth Bees goal to regain the lead with an assist awarded to Dominik Gabaj. 

All was still to play for in the third period as a penalty called against the Bees saw Carter Hamill score his second goal of the night to equalise the game at 4-4. Adam Rosbottom also found himself forced into the penalty box due to a Tripping penalty that saw Rory Herrman take the lead for the Lightning with a similar situation called against Marcel Balaz as he faced a Hooking penalty that saw the Lightning take a 6-4 lead. Then at 58:19, after Brython Preece left the goal Adam Rosbottom was able to make a 1 goal gap on the scoreboard. But with 1 second left, the Lightning got an empty net goal to secure their 2 points. 

Bees IHC 5-4 Milton Keynes Lightning

A great start to the game for the Bees as Will Stead was able to get the puck to get back of the Lightnings goal only 02:24 into the game with Ryan Webb and Oli Knaggs receiving assists on the goal. The Bees found themselves with a man advantage due to the Lightning’s Ross Green receiving a 2 minute for Kneeing, which saw Dominik Gabaj take advantage with the help of Vanya Antonov and Ed Bradley at 14:59 to extend the Bees lead. With only 45 second left in the first period, Vanya Antonov after having an assist on the previous goal, managed to slot the puck to the back of the net and get the Bees to a 3-0 lead with Liam Morris and Adam Rosbottom getting the assists.

A big gap faced the Lightning going into the second period as they had to overcome a 3-0 lead the Bees had put in front of them. At 24:10, Rory Herrmann managed to get the Lightning’s first goal of the night in their gradual plan to tackle the 2 goal lead that was now on the scoreboard. More chances went in favour of the Bees, but a goal scored by Ross Green for the Lightning saw only a 1 goal gap on the scoreboard. 

A slow start to the period for both teams but the Lightning were the first to get the puck to the back of the net in the third period to equalise the game with the goal scored by Rory Herrman. But a penalty called against Ross Green for the Lightning saw the Bees extend their lead to 4 goals with a goal scored by Adam Rosbottom with assists awarded to Ed Bradley and Dominik Gabaj. Milton Keynes decided to have an extra by pulling Will Kerlin from the goal in their net in their final efforts to try to tie the game again and at 58:40 just as Will Kerlin made it to the bench, Tim Wallace secured the equalising goal for his team that then forced the Bees into overtime. 

During overtime the Bees were tested by the Lightning but the Lightning were also tested by the Bees but the extra 5 minutes was not enough to separate the two sides from deciding who would take the extra point so this resulted in the game going to a penalty shootout. Goal scorers for the Bees consisted of Gianni Vitali, Dominik Gabaj and Josh Smith which saw the Bees secure the 2 points against the team placed 2nd within the league standings. This left the game finishing 5-4 in favour of the Bees.