Well, I turned up at the Storm shelter an hour before the game and spent half an hour in the queue before someone from Bracknell gave me a complimentary. The guy behind me arrived later and spent 90 minutes waiting!!! And there were only 4,000 odd, they need to sort that system out! Anyway, onto the game. I missed any missing players Storm might have had, and they started with Pietrangelo in nets. Bees were missing nobody and had Bru-no in net. Rowe wore the stripes, and did very little else.
The game started fairly lacklustre, but Storm were able to get off to a good early start. Ketola picked up a quick clearence on the red-line, and skated into the zone. Bracknell's defence were caught flat footed, with only one player left back. It was no problem, therefore, for Ketola to draw the defender and then square the pass to Mike Morin on the far post, to take the lead. Jablonski should have doubled the lead, after he one-timed a pass just wide from the slot. However, it was Bracknell who scored next. After a bout of sustained pressure, Greg Burke had the puck behind the net. He tried a few times unsuccessfully to play it out to a Bee. Eventually, it bounced off a Storm skate and sat loose in the circle. The Chief pounced off it, pushed off his defender (Ketola, I believe, so no contest), stepped in front of net and clinically placed it past Pietrangelo, hard and low.
Bracknell watsed a powerplay opportunity by taking a penalty themselves ten seconds into it. Neither tam benefitted from the extra space, however. Shortly after, PC Drouin broke with the puck. He was able to hold off the defenders and take a shot, which hit Pietrangelo's chest and sat plum in the crease. Try as he might, PC couldn't break through the Storm-snadwich, and Pietrangelo was eventually able to freeze it (he seemed very slow!). From the resulting face-off, the puck came out to Shayne McCosh on the point. He took a screamer of a shot, which somehow ended up in the twine. Now, it was announced as Shayne being second assist, but there's no way it could have taken two defelctions - one possibly, two no way. Anyway, the goal was given to Jeff Johnstone, and Bees had the lead. Rowe as usual was ignoring blattent penalties - Matty should have sat for two when he hauled down Jabblonski on the brekaway. Ferras was then hooked badly as he skated through the neutral zone. He kept possession, however, went on and took a hard shot which Pietrangelo could only kick back out. It landed on Chasse's stick, but one his back-hand, and he could only poke it wide.
It was about this point that things started to get nasty - first Denis and Ketola exchanged words, with Denis having to be pulled into the bench. Then, just after, the Chief took exception to a check by Blair Scott (which I missed, so can't comment), and went after him for a shove after the whistle. All just hand-bags, but it was clear that an undercurrent was developing, that might get nasty. Bad defending cost Bracknell another goal. Rubaduk carried the puck down the ice, and yet again no Bracknell defender covered the trailing player, so it was an easy task for Brebant to tap home on the far post. Carbon copy of the last goal. Soon after, on a Bracknell attack, Chasse and Miler bacame tangled behind Pietrangelo's net. Chasse couldn't skate away, and fell over, to which he came up punching. The two traded some pretty good blows, but Miller had the better of it, just (partly because Denis couldn't get rid of his glove for a long while). Soon after this, one of the Bees (La Scala I think) collided accidentally with Askew. Neither of them were looking where they were going, and it looked like Askew twisted his ankle badly. He was stretched off, anyway. There was no further action, and so it finished 2-2, although I thought Bracknell had the better of the period.
The second period much a much slower affair, and totally Storm. Four and a half minutes in, Brebant made this superiority tell, when he scored from a good solo effort. He picked up the puck near the boards, skated in a large circle, went past defenders and back-handed past Bruno from between the circles. Bracknell surivived a Storm powerplay, and should have scored afterwards. Brant took a shot which Pietrangelo thought was in his glove. He froze, but the puck was actually loose near the post. There was a mad charge, one of the Bees reached it first, but before he could do anything, another forward and three Storm players steam-rollered into the back of him, with the whole lot ending up in a heap behind the net, and Pietrangelo threw himself at the puck.
There were yet more words when Paxton Schulte and Jeff Tomlinson, of all people, exchanged words. Within seconds, there were 20 players milling about on the ice, but Rowe still called nothing. It was clear that tempers were raising, and a few minutes to the purpetrators may have cooled them off. As it was, yet more "discussions" resulted - Neumeier and Ward exchanged words, with Scott getting himself involved, then Chasse earned himself 10 minutes for mouthing off. Bruno made some good stops to deny Storm any more - holding onto to a bobbling puck which took a nasty bounce up two foot, and then plucking a shot from point out of the air. With seconds left, Frank La Scala took exception to something Robson had done (making him look foolish, according to Landers). He exchanged words for a good minute, with nothing called, and then Pietrangelo joined in. The hooter went and it flared up again, with Paxo and Neumeier also kicking off. The game was getting out of hand.
Bracknell came out flat, but still had the first chance of the period. A nice pass by Greg Burke split the defence and put PC in on net, he aimed for the 5-hole, but Pietrangelo had it covered. Then the Chief ringed the crossbar on a fast break-away. In Bracknell's zone, a bouncing puck wormed it's way between Bruno's legs, but he was just able to fall on it and keep it out. Then came controversy - Rubaduk was chasing a puck into the Bees zone, the defender picked it up behind the net, he went to follow him and collided with Bruno, earning two minutes. However, to be fair to Ruby, Bruno was a few feet out of his crease, took a step into his way and did, apparently, attempt to clothes-line him. Still, according to my replay man, Ruby still had time to get out of the way. Anyway, he had it coming to him from earlier in the game, gobshite that he is. On the resulting powerplay, despite a few haltering starts, the Bees finally got it together. Several players crowded the slot, the puck was thrown across the ice and Denis Chasse hit home from the far post, much to the anger of the crowd.
This livened the game up, and Bracknell stepped it up a lot. Their defence finally got into gear, and Matty and co made several good diving blocks to turn the puck away. Then Rob Stewart got called on a seemingly nothing call - certainly after what had been ignored, anyway. Whistle was apoplectic at that, jumping up and down and then throwing a bottle at the plexi behind the bench. Bracknell survived the powerplay, but only just. A rebound ended up in the slot, but the defence just hold back the Storm players before clearing. A so, both teams settled for Overtime, an we'd earned our first points at Manchester in three years.
The Bees thought they'd gone one better and earned their first win, but it wasn't to be. Good interplay by Ferras, Chasse and Chief kept the puck in Storm's zone, and Chief skated across Manchester's goal, shooting low for the 5-hole. It looked a certain goal, but somehow Pietrangelo trapped it - great stop! It won the game, because on the next attack came Storm's winner. There was a massive scramble in front of net, the puck was played into the crease, bounced out onto Scott's skate, he followed it back in and scored. Now, at the time, we were furious, as was Bruno, for it appeared to have been kicked in, by a man in the crease and with the net off it's moorings. (I was so angry, I screamed blue-murder, smacked the plexi - had Whis looking at me, anyway - and kicked the chairs, until I got warned :-D). However, I've since checked with my replay guy (Craig and his excellent video), and he assures me that Scott did actually use his stick to score, he followed the puck into the crease, not vice versa, and the puck was well over the line before the net came off. So fair enough, really. Actually, I think it hurt me most because it was an ex-Bison who scored, and a crap one at that. Bugger! Even so, I can't help feeling robbed, for some reason. Shared points would have been fairer.
On the whole, both teams played badly. The defences were decidedly shaky, neither keeper had a night to remember, and Bracknell were flat for the middle half of the game. Still, the first period was definately ours, and we were better after the third goal, so I felt it should have been honours even. Chief got our Man of the Match, and probably deserved it, but I thought Matty, Denis and PC also all had good games. If Ferras had learnt to shoot, I'd hve added him too :-) For the Storm, Brebant was probably their most dangerous player (as we wiped out their other attackers over the night :-D), but Jablonski was more than useful whilst he was still standing, and so was Ketola. Rowe, as usual, let far too much niggle go, with the result being high tempers and plenty of handbags. I expect a bloodbath for tomorrow's rematch....