Weekend Review

On Saturday the TSI World Bees took the trip on the M3 to take on rivals the Basingstoke Bison for their forth clashing of the season. The Bees went into this fixture with the additions of their two-way contracts Jack Hoppes, Lewis English and Ty Cathcart while Jack Goodchild made his first appearance for the season in black, white and gold. Head coach Dominik Gabaj also made his way back into the lineup after completing his 10 game ban. 

During the game against the Bison, at the beginning there were many changes for both teams. While the Bees and Bison did not receive any penalty minutes in the first period, the Bees did manage to get past Alex Mettam at 18:44 with a goal scored by Lewis English with an assist that went to Harry Harcup with a further assist awarded to JJ Pitchley. The total number of shots for the first period was 12 on Alex Mettam in the Bison net with Adam Goss facing 6. As tensions began to grow the Bison had a really quick reaction to the Bees goal late in the first period as Marcel Balaz at 22:21 managed to get past Adam Goss with an assist going to Brendan Baird. However it only took the Bees new addition to the roster Jack Goodchild 11 minutes to respond to the Bison Goal with his own power play goal ,as Ollie Hemmings Maher received 2 minutes for holding, timed at 33:54 with Dominik Gabaj getting an assist with a further assist being awarded to Adam Goss. Alex Mettam faced 17 shots while down the other end of the ice, Adam Goss faced 10. Entering the third period the Bees found themselves on the early penalty kill due to a bench minor of 2 minutes for Too Many Men, which saw Bison’s Edgars Landsbergs take advantage to tie the game at 46:07 with a power play goal with an assist going to Liam Morris. Leaving the game 2-2 with only 13:53 left in the game saw the Bees dig deep and give a final push to try to secure the 2 points. Then at 54:09,  Dominik Gabaj made his return known and got past Alex Mettam for the final time on the night leaving the game ended with the Bees taking home the 2 points with a 3-2 win. This was the first win for the Bees since 27th November against the Telford Tigers. 

After the highs of the previous night at Basingstoke, the TSI World Bees returned back to the Slough Ice Arena 2 points in the bag ready to face the Sheffield Steeldogs on home ice. The Bees went into this fixture with a full roster whereas Sheffield had the additions of Oliver Turner and Rui Tait. 

Bees came out and won the opening period face-off but Sheffield had a different start to the game with the Steeldogs being forced onto an early penalty kill. Throughout the first period opportunities were very equal with back and forth chances for both teams but Vladislavs Vulkanovs helped the Steeldogs take the lead at 18:41 with an assist going to Alex Graham. This left the first period ending with the Steeldogs having the lead and in terms of shots on goal both Adam Goss and Dmitri Zimozdra both faced a total of 8 shots on goal while in terms of penalty minutes Bees had picked up 2 minutes and Steeldogs had 4 minutes.

 To start the second period the Steeldogs had a strong start by applying pressure onto the Bees, however at 27:59 Captain Stuart Mogg got the puck to the back of Zimodra’s net to equalise the game with an unassisted goal. Not long after Dominik found the back of the net for the second time on the weekend to see the Bees take the lead with assists being awarded to Josh Smith and Alan Lack timed at 28:53. Lewis Bell equalised the game for the Sheffield Steeldogs with a goal timed at 32:57 with assists being awarded to Alex Graham. A beautiful play from the Sheffield power play line saw Lee Bonner take the lead for Sheffield once again at 35:51 with assists being awarded to Alex Graham and Jordan Buesa. With only 2:19 left on the clock Ryan Webb managed to bring a goal home at 37:41 with assists being awarded to Dominik Gabaj and Harvey Stead to yet again equalise the game before the end of the second period. Adam Goss faced 15 shots and Dmitri Zimozdra faced 11 shots and during the second period the Bees picked up a total of 6 penalty minutes whereas sheffield picked up 4 minutes. The Steeldogs won the third period opening face-off that led to Adam Goss having to make some impressive saves at the start. There were multiple chances for both teams to take the lead throughout the first 10 minutes of the game with some good chances coming from Lee Bonner for the Steeldogs and Brendan Walkom for the Bees. At 51:50, Jonathan Kirk gets to the back of the Bees goal to take the lead (assists awarded to Jack Brammer and Charlie Thompson) with only 8:10 left in the third period to play. A final push from the Bees in desperation to secure at least 1 point for all their efforts Josh Smith forces the Steeldogs to overtime with a goal timed at 56:09 with assists going to Dominik Gabaj and Will Stead. Going into overtime the Bees had secured 1 point and to start overtime Brendan Walkom, Dominik Gabaj and Will Stead took to the ice. Dominik came away with the face-off win to start the 5 minutes however Sheffield managed to get possession of the puck and Alex Graham managed to get past Adam Goss to secure 2 points for the Steeldogs while the Bees skated away with 1. From the games over the weekend the Bees come away with a 3 point weekend after a win away in Basingstoke and an overtime loss at home.