Oh my... Well, this was a battle, in every sense of the word. Bracknell travelled to Sheffield after their fantastic result against Storm the night before, and were missing only Denis Chasse (back in Canada helping his wife drop their sprog). Bruuuu-no Crampese started in nets for the Bees, whilst Grant Sjerven was in goal for Sheffield. Kirkham wore the stripes. Be warned, this was an event packed night! Welcome to play-off hockey - yaaarrrgghhh!!
Bracknell gave an early indication of the remainder of a game, when they went on the penalty kill in just the second minute. They had to defend excellently to stop Steelers scoring from the man over on the far post, Campese stopping well. The puck fell dead in the slot, but PC Drouin was the first to react, and showed he was hot tonight with some beautiful stickwork to skate out of the zone. Bees lost the puck and i came back right at them, and Bruno showed he wasn't to be out done with an amazing glove save, his hand moving before I even saw the shot! A stupid hook on the Chief by Short well behind the play saw Steelers waste what was left of their powerplay. Bees created some chances of their own on the powerplay. Colin Ward got in Sjerven's face and forced him to drop the puck. Ward tried to step over the prostate keeper, but couldn't connect with the loose puck before he was flattened. From the face off, Burke's low shot from the point almost sneaked under Sjerven's pad. Steelers went even closer after a mad scramble in Bees' zone. Bruno blocked a shot and was floored, with several players in a heap in front of him. The puck bounced clear by the far post, with noone near it. Two players litterally dived over the huddle, and the defender just got his stick there first to knock away the puck. A ggod move by Bracknell saw them break out through Chief down the boards and into the zone. A quick pass by him to Ferraccioli was one-timed on to Paxton Schulte. Schulte, who had decided to play hockey for once, skated in on goal, but could only backhand weakly into Sjerven's chest.
The deadlock had to be broken soon, and eventually the go ahead goal came. Bracknell had been pinned back in their zone, but were soaking up the pressure. The puck came to McCosh, he looked up and saw PC and Ward both hovering on the blue line. The accurate pass sent Drouin flying down the ice, Ward wide in suport and with only one defender between them. Drouin looked as if he would pass, delayed, waited until the defender was off balance and then, without looking up, sent a bullet low into the corner of the net, to give Bracknell the lead. Seconds later, a bad pass by a defender in front of net almost gave him a second, but he could only back hand into the pads. Bees ended up on the penalty kill soon after, and pretty much stayed that way for the next four minutes. It was clear tempers were beginning to flare, and the Chief, who had looked wound up from near the start of the game, dropped his gloves with Chapman.
Schulte almost got a second for Bracknell, skating across the crease he pulled the puck onto his forehand but was nailed into the net before he could shoot. Bruno gave the Bracknell fans a scare when he fell trying to rack the puck round the boards, with only Tony Hand in the zone, but he managed to glove the puck as he went down. Bracknell's defence, who had been on the defence (and a man down) for much of the period, had to be breached eventually, but it took a great move to do it. Tony Hand was virtually on his own blue-line, looked up, saw Priestlay skating in behind the defence on the Bees blue line and sent a pass down the ice. Kelman throew himself at the puck, but only half connected, and Priestlay was still able to cllect it. He skated in on Bruno, waited for him to dive them went wide and lifted it into the roof of the net. Bracknell should have retaken the lead however. Schulte, yet again playing hockey, dropped his shoulder and waltzed past two defenders. his shot was dropped, the puck was knocked past the sprawlingSjerven, and there were two Bees queueing up to put it home. Eventually one, I think the Chief, kicked the puck from under his feet, connected with his stick and, from just a foot out, sent it across the face of goal! With less than half a minute eft, Schulte and Allison enchanged words, and then dropped their gloves. It was a pretty pathetic affair, though, both falling over before a punch was even thrown. It set up a tempestuous night for the pair, though. Then, all hell broke loose. With seconds left, there was a barny behind Bracknell's net, possibly from a slash on a Bee (although I didn't see it). Nothing was called, and there was a face off on the blue line. Before the puck was even dropped, a massive hand bag session broke out again. Plommer dropped his gloves, punched Burke and then skated out, circling the melee and generally daring all and sundry to take him on. He rightly ended up in the box, but Burke trailed him, presumably for headbutting Tommy's fist (dirty bastard!).
Straight into the second, and Drouin and Junkin broke out quickly from the zone, in a carbon copy of Bees' goal. This time PC passed but, with most of the net to aim for, Junkin shot over the bar. Bracknell were much more attacking this period, and created several early chances. Ferras shot straight into Sjerven's chest on a break away. Then Kelman was sent clear of the defence down the right, cut in left across the slot but back-handed back the way he had come. Somehow Sjerven, who had been following him, managed to stick out a leg and block the shot. Round 2 of Allison and Schulte broke out in the fifth minute. Schulte and Lobby were engaged in a minor altercation, and Paxo knocked Lobby's stick down. In steamed Allison and cross-checked Schulte, dumping him on the fllor. Both players went to the box. With the extra space on the ice, both teams had point blank shots stopped well - Teeder Winn quickly followed by Rob Stewart. With the play down Steelers end, Junkin seemed hit in the face and his legs gave out. Van der Horst was called for high sticks, but according to the Bennetts, at least, it was actually a puck that hit Junks (I couldn't see from the far corner). If the call was wrong, then Steelers were given reason to regret it. After wasting a lot of the powerplay, Bracknell charged out of their zone, Ferras found La Scala unmarked on the far post, and he roofed the puck.
Bracknell were still playing deep and soaking up pressure, and breaking whenever the opportunity presented itself. Yet another break by PC (who was my man of the match) saw him skate in on net with Kelman wide in support. PC seemed to have gone to wide, and both defenders expected the pass across the crease to Todd. However, Junkin had charged up the ice and was arriving unoticed. He took the dropped pass and really should have scored, but Sjerven saved well. A fantastic pass by Priestlay, neatly bisecting the trailing defender and Campese, found Courtnay on the other side of goal with an empty net. He was therefore amazed to see Campese stick out his stick and knock away what seemed a certain goal off his one-timer. Straight down the ice, and Sjerven equalled Campese's stop, saving Drouin's point blank shot.
After all this pressure, something had to give. Bracknell took the puck back into the zone, and played it back to God (Matty) on the point. He looked to pass, looked again, saw that Courtnay had been drawn in close, so stepped around him, charged into the face off circle and ripped a shot past Sjerven. Sadly, his moment of glory was stolen, the final touch eventually being given to Johnstone. Priestlay repeated his perfect pass, but Courtnay again watched as his certain goal was turned away by Campese. It seemed as if nothing would go Steelers' way. However, they kept Bracknell trapped in their zone for a couple of minutes, and forced an icing call. From the face off, Kovacs won the puck behind the net, sent it back to the blue-line to Shudra, who did a twirl and let loose a belter. It seemed to go straight in, but Heywood was eventually given the final touch. Yet another bout of handbags resulted in no calls, but Bracknell finished the period on the penalty kill.
This time it was Steelers who came out hot. Kovacs steamrollered over Kelman (fairly) on the blueline and played the puck across the ice. He found Shudra in space, and Rocket Ron didn't need a second touch to bury it. This time, there was no correction on the goal, and Ron had his comeback. Bracknell almost replied immediately. Drouin and Junkin, who were playing together brilliantly, yet again broke down the ice. The defenders were totally confused and had no idea what was coming next. Eventually Drouin shot, the puck flying wide of the post. The defender, however, had far too much momentum and canoned into Sjerven, flattening him. Pc skated over to the boards and flashed the puck square to Junkin, but somehow Sjerven was able to get to his knees and punch the puck clear. Sjerven proved yet again he was up for this game, making another great save from Drouin. Stewart's shot bounced down at PC's feet, the net was open and Sjerven seemingly out of it. Yet, he flung out an arm and somehow sent the puck wide. Desperate stuff. Nemirovsky and Johnstone linked up well, Nemo waited until Sjerven dived and then put the puck past him onto Johnstone's stick. Jeff lost his nerve, though, and shot wide.
Bracknell thought they had scored when a loose puck was eventually forced past the grasping Sjerven, but the whistle had blown nanoseconds before for the face-off. Then came a moment of comedy. The Steelers had broken up a Bracknell attack and started up the ice. Schulte and Priestlay were near the blue-line. Schulte went to skate towards the puck holder, so Priestlay rugby tackled him. There was no call (surely scrum down for going over the top?...), so Paxo got up and gave Kenny his thoughts. Kenny shoved Paxo pretty lightly on the shoulder, but Paxton went down as if shot (Oscar material stuff, this). Still no call (Kirkham was even looking), so Paxo got back up again. This time, as Priestlay skated away, he swung hs stick one-handed pretty nastily at his ankles. Again, I don't think Kirkham was looking, but McKee looked ready to sue, so Kirkham whistled anyway. Deserved more than 2 minutes, in my opinion, but if Kirkham had called the original it would never have happened (a sadly familiar story). Despite the man advantage to Steelers, it was Bracknell who scored. That old story of Douin and Junkin breaking from deep yet again. This time, it was Junkin bringing the puck forward. He played it forward to PC who was ahead of him. Drouin held of the defender, brought the puck onto his forehand and slotted under Sjerven.
Bracknell saw out the rest of the powerplay, and almost went two clear. The Chief charged at the defender on the blue-line, and did his old trick of shooting at the boarcds behind the goal-line. He went past the defender, who grabbed hold of his shirt and tried to pull him back. Chris still had the strength to jump on his rebound, though, and he went in close on net. Sjerven seemed shocked, and didn't get in position. Chief's backhand shot almost sneaked between the post and the pads, but it hit the post and bobbled out into the slot. Yet another moment of comedy followed. After a nasty hit on Cosher, the two Franks - La Scala and Kovacs - decided to do a dance. They both dropped their gloves and squared up, but it was clear they were so knackered neither want to make the first move. In the end, they garbbed each other's shoulders and did a little tango, breathing on each other but doing little other damage. Bracknell took a penalty with just over two minutes left, leaving them with a nerve racking finish to the game. With just over a minute left, Sjerven skated off to give Steelers a 6 on 4 powerplay. Bracknell were desperately defending and unable to clear past the red-line. Eventually, the puck came to Stewart with seconds left. Rather than go for goal, however, and risk giving away the puck, he sensibly played the puck out on the boards, down the ice and wound down the clock for, I believe, Bracknell's first ever away play-off win in the top league. Oh my....!
Bracknell won this by playing as a good team. PC was out-standing and was robbed to not get MOM. He and Junkin both seemed to be playing telepathically, though, whilst Ward also put in a good performance. Campese made some fantastic saves and definitely kept Bees in the game, whislt the defence were just solid. Overall, though, it was the game plan that won. Bracknell were able to sit back and soak up endless pressure, before breaking out and charging up the ice. In PC they have the perfect played for this, whilst Ferras and Chief aren't bad either. the key, though, is Bruno. Much as I loved Bernie, Bruno has added some consistency to Bracknell's performances and turned them into a winning team. The real test will be in the next game, though, at Manchester, where we've never won before. Unfortunately, I still feel we're too dirty. There's a difference between being physical and dirty, and I think we step over the mark at times. Still, I've dwelt on the negative aspects of this style several times this season. I haven't pointed out the main positive point, of course, which is that we win. Sad though I think it is, this style has made us successful. Still, we shouldn't let that take away from Bracknell's result tonight - which was achieved more by skill than anything.