Bracknell travelled to Sheffield with a 100% record against the Steelers this season. However, having played into overtime the night before, and then suffered a long bus journey from Ayr, and with the squad reduced to just 12 skaters, we didn't hold out much hope of keeping this record. Sheffield iced with out Shudra or Kovacs, and put Sjerven in goal. Bracknell dressed La Scala, but he only appeared for the warm up, whilst Campese started his fourth match for the Bees.
The game got off to a quick start, with Chris Brant forcing a reflex save from Sjerven from a backhanded effort. The Steelers then went on the attack, and a forward skated hard in on net, forcing Campese to stack his pads and huddle as the Sheffield man flew over him. Bracknell were clearly showing the after effects of the Ayr game, and were making sloppy mistakes too. Stewart missed the puck on Steelers' blue-line, allowing Sheffield to break out with a 4-on-1. A good tic-tac-toe move left Cote for dead, and after scramble in front of net the goal light came on, but it turned out Campese had sat on the puck and it was no goal. Bruno was forced into yet more acrobatics from the resulting face off, after a bad bounce had deceived Bracknell's defence. All the pressure was from Sheffield, and they had to score eventually. Ed Courtnay picked up the puck in his own zone and skated towards the Bees' end. Ineffective defence, in particular by Denis Chasse, meant he was able to skate the length of the ice with very little harrassment, and place the puck past Campese.
Two and a half minutes later, Bees' defence gifted Sheffield yet another bad goal. The defenders had been sucked into the boards to clear the puck, Longstaff found Plommer in acres of space and he easily one-timed home to double Sheffield's lead. Bracknell were having trouble creating chances, and one of their few dangerous shots came in the 16th minute, during their first powerplay. Ward was behind the net and skating away from goal, but he flicked the puck backhanded out to Greg Burke, who's quick shot almost caught Sjerven totally by surprise. Sheffield's defence managed to scramble the puck clear, and the rest of the powerlay was wasted. Rob Stewart wasn't concentrating on the point as the powerplay finished, Teeder Wyne came out of the box and took the puck off him, leaving him a clear path to goal. He skated the length of the two zones, went wide, drawing Bruno with him, faked to shoot but centred to a trailing team-mate. The goal seemed to be at his mercy, but Campese made an amazing save, somehow getting the tip of his stick to the puck, and then having the control to get up and play it out of danger. Denis Chasse almost scored in the dying seconds, the deke almost working, but Sjerven got a skate tip to the puck. It seemed it wasn't Bracknell's night.
Bracknell picked up were they left off. They were clearly tired, they were making too many unforced errors, they were over-elaborating the attacking moves and snatching at what shots they had. It seemed they just would not score. Then, a piece of brilliance changed the game. Joe Ferraccioli snaked a nice pass between two defenders to PC Drouin at the top of the slot, and he had all the time in the world to walk the puck around Sjerven and open Bracknell's account. The goal brought a change to Bracknell, and they started to play with a lot more passion and belief. Both teams then had further chances to score - Teeder Wyne was well dispossessed by a last ditch effort from Kelman and Falkenhall played the puck straight to Brant in front of net, only to see Sjerven make the save. However, it was Sheffield who were to score the next goal. Todd Kelman allowed Teeder Wyne to nutmeg him, and Wyne played the puck forward to Scott Allison, alongside goal. He stepped out in front of the net, waited for Campese to commit himself, and then placed it past him for Steelers' third.
This time, however, Bracknell didn't lose heart. They were soon on the powerplay, which as usual seemed to be misfiring. After one clearence, though, a quick pass by Johnstone let Chasse through on goal. His shot bounced off Sjerven's chest, and it was a formality for the trailing Rob Stewart to tuck away the puck. Bees now went on all-out attack - a mis-hit effort by Cote almost deflected in, and another hard attack on the net left Sjerven injured for a couple of minutes. Finally, just over two minutes after Stewart's goal, Bracknell pulled themselves level. Sheffield had hit the self-destruct button and committed all five players to attack. Courtnay had three players all on point looking for a good shot on net, but his lazy, wasteful pass found none of them. The last Sheffield defender stretched desperatley for the puck, but Rob Stewart knocked it away from him, to Dale Junkin waiting in the neutral. He turned and found Chasse ahead of him with a short pass. Chasse sped down the ice, and calmly placed the puck over Sjerven's left shoulder. Courtnay really has to take a lot of blame for that goal. Bracknell clung on for the rest of the period, and must have felt well happy to go in level.
Sjerven didn't return to the ice, presumably succombing to his injury, and so was replaced by Hibbert. The third period began in controversy, as during the interval the Steelers had ask referee Kirkham to measure Campese equipment (cough, cough!). It turned out to be regulation issue, and so Sheffield were assessed a two minute minor. None of this was announced to the crowd however (we Bracknell fans knew due to the presence of the stick boy amongst us, who asked the players). The crowd, believing they'd been unfairly penalised for taking too long to start the game, were naturally angry. They need not have feared, though, as Bracknell made little use of the powerplay. Yet again, they weren't watching the player leaving the box, and Courtnay was allowed to skate free into the BEees zone, followed by Teeder Wyne. Once again, Campese was drawn wide, before the pass was centred to Wyne on high point, but a combination of Campese and then Brant saw the puck scrambled clear. Steelers wasted yet another chance when Wyne and Falkenhall were both unmarked in front of the net. The puck was crossed, both players pulled back their sticks, but collided trying to hit the puck, and it was easily cleared. By this time, it was clear Bracknell were beginning to tire very quickly. Pain was showing on player's faces when they lost the puck and had to skate back onto defence. However, they never gave up, and just managed to hold out for the period, despite Malo shooting just inches wide in the last minute.
And so, for the second time in twenty four hours, Bracknell faced overtime. They must have felt pleased with a definate point, and probably also knew that the longer the period went on, the more tired they ould get, and so more likely to lose they would be. Sheffield, deperate for the two points to keep their Challenge Cup hopes alive, went on a mad attack again, and Bees' fans hearts stopped momentarily after a mad scramble in front of goal. Somehow, however, PC Drouin came up with the puck. He was able to skate down the boards, with Junkin in support down the middle. He skated over the blue-line, drew Hibbert towards him, and then crossed for Junkin to tap home the game winning goal.
Despite a very bad start, this was an excellent performance by Bracknell. From the mid-way point onwards, they worked very hard, as a team, and took the game to Sheffield. It would have been very easy in the circumstances for the team to have merely tried a damage limitation exercise, but they must be praised for digging deep to produce this very important win. I have had times during this season when I felt I had to question the player's attitudes, but no blemish can be applied to them tonight. In the circumstances it's hard to pick out a man of the match. Todd Kelman and Matt Cote were dominant at the back for Bracknell, whilst Chris Brant and PC Drouin both caused great problems for the Steelers. However, I think my nomination would have to be for Bruno Campese. He came up with some astounding saves, and kept Bracknell in the game when they could have been well buried. He, more than any player I feel, earned the two points tonight. That said, Sheffield have to take a large part of the blame for their own defeat tonight. They had Bracknell at their mercy in the first period, and didn't turn the screw. Their defence then seemed to go awol, and suicidal move that lead to BRacknell's third goal was awful. They still need a lot of work before they can return to their former glories.