Bees saw a weekend of success with a 3 point weekend after taking the Milton Keynes Lightning to overtime on Saturday and getting 1 point then beat the Bristol Pitbulls in overtime on Sunday and skated away with 2 points from that game. 

Milton Keynes Lightning vs Bees IHC

The Bees made the trip to Planet Ice MK on Saturday night for a 7pm faceoff. The Bees saw early success with a goal timed at 01:08, scored by Adam Rosbottom with assists awarded to Juha Lindgren and Stuart Mogg. Deivids Sarkanis was quick to react to Adam’s early goal with a goal of his own to equalise the game timed at 03:33. In the remainder of the first period both team’s defence stayed strong to prevent the opposing team getting close to the goalies. Some amazing saves were made by Matt Smital, who was in goal for the Bees. This period ended 1-1. 

Going into the second period, there were some great opportunities for both teams to take the lead in the second period but at the beginning of the period nothing was getting past Matt Smital nor getting past Jordan Hedley.  The Bees found themselves on a penalty kill due to Juha Lindgren receiving a 2 minute Tripping penalty, however Will Stead still tried testing the MK goalie and defence. Chances went in favour of the Bees and at 30:43 Will Stead managed to get the puck to the back of Jordan Hedley’s net, giving the Bees the lead once again on the night, with assists awarded to Brendan Walkom and Dominik Gabaj. Mk had more chances to equalise in the second period after Will Stead’s goal but none managed to get past Matt Smital and this saw the second period end 2-1 in favour of the Bees.

Both teams came out fighting in the third period eager to secure points as for Bees they still have the opportunity to catch up with Bristol to finish the season in 9th place while MK want the 2 points to secure 2nd place in the league standings. During the middle of the period MK really started to push and at 53:27 Jack Hopkins scored the second goal for the Lightning with assists awarded to Leigh Jamieson and Ross Green. This gave the Lightning a bit more motivation to push to take the game to overtime. Then at 59:17, Lightning Head Coach Tim Wallace equalised the game and assists went to Ross Green and Bobby Chamberlain. This forced the Bees into an overtime game with the Lightning.  But it only took 1 minute and 3 seconds into overtime for Bobby Chamberlain to bag the 2 points for the Lightning and leave the Bees taking 1 point away from the game. The final score was Lightning 4-3 Bees.

Bees IHC vs Bristol Pitbulls 

The Bees had a slower start to this game in comparison to Saturday’s game against MK, however they dominated the chances on goal at the start of the game. Some good chances came from Brendan Walkom to try to give the Bees an early lead, but then at 15:47 Dominik Gabaj got himself on the scoreboard for the first time of the night with assists awarded to Juha Lindgren and Ryan Webb. The Pitbulls had chances to test Adam Goss, who was in goal for the Bees but nothing came from a couple attempts from Mason Lipsey and Nikolas Coric. This period ended with the Bees leading 1-0. 

Pitbulls came out with a fight at the start of the second period to try to close the game on the scoreboard. Bees started to test Will Kerlin in goal for the Pitbulls however this period was arguably dominated by the Pitbulls as they were constantly pushing the Bees into a defensive game. The Bees found themselves on a penalty kill due a penalty called for High Sticks against Bees Adam Rosbottom, but Brendan Walkom had a short handed chance to further extend the Bees’ lead and at 30:43 Brendan scored the Bees’ second goal of the night with goalie Adam Goss getting an assist on the short-handed goal.  This saw the period end with the Bees still leading 2-0.

The Bees entered the third period desperate to defend their 2 goal lead but early on Pitbulls were straight onto the offensive style to try close the 2 goal gap. More chances went in favour for Josh Shaw and Nikolas Coric in the third period but Mason Lipsey and Ed Bradley kept pushing into the Bees defensive zone but were unable to secure a goal for the Pitbulls. The Pitbulls luck began to change as at 52:47, Nikolas Coric finally got the puck to the back of Adam Goss’ net after many attempts on the night and assists were given to Ben Solder and Caly Robertson. This was the start for the Pitbulls comeback as then just over a minute later at 53:57 Nikolas Coric got his second goal of the night and Bristol’s second goal of the night, which forced the Bees into their second overtime game of the weekend. But at 62:34, Dominik Gabaj secured the 2 points for the Bees and left the Pitbulls only leaving with 1 point. The final score on the night was Bees 3-2 Pitbulls.