Nine Bees' fans made it as far as Ayr, although six of us cheated by starting out from Scotland in the first place :-) The Eagles lined up with what appeared to be a full squad and with backup Sean Basilio in nets, whilst Bees had Brian Greer in goal and were without Todd Kelman (injury) and Barry McKinlay (air strike).
Both teams started off very scrappy, neither looking really up to the match, and both making some bad basic errors. However, Ayr got onto the scoresheet first after bad defending by the Bees allowed Purdie to break into the zone on the right unattended. He skated to the circle before belting one past Greer between his pads and the near post - some bad goal-tending. however, despite their fast goal, Eagles didn't look too eager to keep up the pressure, and Bracknell were able settle down some. First powerplay of the night went to Bracknell and, for the first time in seasons, they actually appear to know what they're doing. Some very good passing saw the extra man find space several times, but the shooting was appalling. After 12 minutes, and continuous niggle that Smart characteristically ignored, Young and Schulte both turned on each other and had a good old barny. Despite gettting himself tangled in his shirts, and Young landing some good hits, Schulte stayed on his feet and came back well, before both agreed to let the linos break it up. Bracknell started to pick up the play well, and put on some pressure. Basilio had to move quickly to stop Johnstone scoring when he dummied to go behind the net and quickly changed direction. however, Ayr were keeping their crease well cleared, and Basilio was easily stopping all the shots from distance.
Into the second period, and the game quickly went to sleep. Bracknell were playing really well at passing between each other, but as soon as they crossed the blue-line they seemed to get nervous, and hardly any shot was struck cleanly (most were scuffed harmlessly a few feet forward). Ayr picked up in the second half of the period and Greer was forced to make some excellent last ditch saves ads the defence went AWOL again and again. Finally Ayr scored again, although thanks to a comedy of errors. Eagles broke out of their zone with a 2-on-1. Parco carried the puck over the red-line, then attempted to pass forward to Hoad. However, he didn't get a good connection and the puck trickled forward. It seemed easy stuff for the cvering defender (fortunately for him, I forget who), but he somehow missed it and hoad collected the puck. He skated through unoppossed and belted past Greer to double the score. despite finishing the period on a powerplay, Bracknell could do nothing to even threaten scoring, and we looked in for a long night.
Into the final period, and Bees wasted what was left of the penalty without scoring. Then Ayr managed to get a goal from nothing, which pretty much killed any hope the Bees might have had left. St Pierre carried the puck over the blue-line and shot for goal. Matt cote was covering him, and did a trademark dive to block the shot. He seemed to have it covered, and I heard the impact, but somehow the puck got through to Purdie on the edge of the crease and Greer had no chance to stop him get his second of the night. then just over a minute later, Ayr scored a fourth from the face-off through Young. Just as we were giving up hope of Bracknell ever scoring, up stepped Captain Stewy to save the blushes. Good pressure from the Bees saw Schulte behind the net with the puck. He came out on a wrap-around, but saw Stewy standing about 10 foot from goal with no marker, and decided it was the better option. Stewy took one touch to stop the puck, step in, then belted the puck off the roof of the night. Unfortunately, this seemed to do little for Bracknell's low maorale, and their play was unaffected. So it was no surprise when Ayr got a fifth and final goal, Dino Bauba netting from a St Pierre pass. Tensions were obviously high, and Schulte and Woolfe both decided they wanted to swap phone numbers. Schulte turned round and very methodically put down his stick, took off his gloves, unstrapped and removed his helmet, then plowed into Woolfe. Again, Woolfe got some good early hits, but Schulte got his shirt over his head and hit back, so once again a draw I think. Looks like Schulte will be hard to put on his arse though :-)
So, on the whole, a poor match. Bracknell looked jittery when on the attack, and dodgy in defence (although they were missing two dmen). Ayr looked as good as last year, but totally uninterested. I think given time, both teams will improve well, and Ayr could be tough opposition once again. Basilio looks a quality goalie, and I shudder to think what Riendeau must be like. And Greer did very well, considering it was a lost cause and he was pretty unprotected. Choosing the two goalies as MoMs was a cop-out, though, certainly for Greer. Frank LaScala had a good game, constantly hustling and working the Eagles, whilst Chief got forward a few times (I was surprised he didn't play d, with only 4 defenders on the ice). Had troubl.e recognising the others, as the few named shirts soon lost the names (were they attached with Sellotape?!), and all the numbers were wrong (why is Matty playing in 10?). Manganaro (I think :-D) looks like another Tom Gomes, Schulte is big, Dezainde work like. Once again, though, we weren't putting enough pressure on the keeper. After all this talk of players getting clamped in the crease, I was quite disappointed. Still, plenty of potential in there, once they gel. Biggest disappointment (as usual) was Smart. Will this guy ever call anything? There were two full blooded fights (amassing 6 PIMS on each side!), and these only because he refused to call all the hooking, tripping, slashing etc. between the players concerned before it brewed over. The man is an idiot. OK, I believe in flowing games, but there's a limit!