Thanks to Bobblehat for this report...
Well this game was over as a spectacle as early as 1min 21secs when the Bees put away their second goal of the night, the first one having been scored at 33 seconds. From then on the Bees only played up to full capabilities in very short spells and the goals that were scored came during these spells. In between it was backs to the wall for the Pirates with an occasional breakaway, but the Bees did not seem too interested in piling on the agony too much.
The first goal was scored by Rob Stewart from a laid back pass from Norm Dezainde with a further assist going to Greg Burke. Jeff Johnstone put away the second from Todd Kelman and Joe Feracciolli. To put a true perspective on this game there were very few high points. The first occurred at 3 min 56secs when Joe Feracciolli came off the bench and collided with ref Boniface and got a two minutes unsportsmanlike penalty for either poking his tongue out at the ref or muttering something in Italian. That incidentally was the only penalty of the game. It was all one way traffic , and Jeff Johnstone got his second and Bees third at 8min 55secs with assists from Joe Feracciolli and Big Mack - Barry MacKinlay. Colin Ward hit a screamer of a slapshot from the right wing after a great pass from Paxton Schulte to make it 4-0 at 10 min 58 secs to complete the first period scoring. We almost saw Big Mack on the scoresheet in the 16th minute as he sent in a blur of a wrist shot that pinged away off the crossbar. The Pirates had done well to keep the score down to 4 and Craig Lindsay in the Pirates goal had worked miracles to keep out all but 4 of the 20 shots that rained in. At the other end Bernie had to contend with only 6 shots on goal.
Second period almost a carbon copy of the first. Slightly scrappy to begin with, but then Shayne McCosh - having for him a very subdued game - and Paxton Schulte put Colin Ward in the clear and he made no mistake on the 1-on-1 with Craig Lindsay at 23min 9 secs. A great offensive skate by Greg Burke that carved through the Pirates defence set up PC Drouin to get the Bees 6th goal at 24min 43 secs with a further assist going to Rob Stewart. Then for me the best goal of the game. A great interpasssing movement between Rob Stewart and Norm Dezainde saw Sal Manganaro make no mistake at 25min 19 secs. Sal has now scored in every home game so far lets hope he can keep this up throughout the season. The game then went quiet again as the Bees attacked but with not too much energy, and the Pirates defended with Vim and Vigour (Two new Finnish signings I think :O))
The next high spot came in the 33rd minute as Paul Hand - who was a tower of strength in the Pirates defence all night - made a rare sortie up ice and into the Bees zone. Along range shot from him completely deceived Bernie and the pirates had got off the mark at 33min 59 secs. Cue wild and uninhibited dances from the wonderful Pirates fans who all evening completely out sung, out cheered and out everythinged the very quiet and docile Bees supporters. The assist went to the Pirates netminder Craig Lindsay. Did this goal spur the Bees on? - NO. They carried on as before doing enough to stop the Pirates rare attacks and then putting in continuous ineffective attacks of their own. It seemed like there were too many Bees trying to do too many clever things and forgetting that in Hockey simple is usually best. Shoot when you can and save the fancy passes for exhibition games. At 36 min 43 secs Jeff Johnstone completed a well earned hattrick as he seemed to be one of the few Bees taking this seriously. Assists were given to Joe Feracciolli and Paxton Schulte. So the end of the second period and a scoreline of 8-1 and shots on goal were 22 on Paisley and 8 on the Bees.
The third period was really a continuation of what had gone before, so no real details needed in reporting this. The Bees scored at 48min 24 secs - Denis Burke from PC Drouin; 54min 40 secs - Dale Junkin from Sal Manganaro and Matt Cote, and 18 seconds later Jeff Johnstone scored his fourth from a pass by Todd Kelman. So 11-1 the final score with the third period SOG of 23 on the Pirates for a total of 65, and 9 on the Bees for a total of 23. Dave juggled the lines in the second and third periods so this was some reason for the discontinuities in the Bees forward play but the score could and should have been more, but I suppose that would have humiliated a Pirates side that never gave up trying. For this reason I'm glad that the score stayed as it did, but far from happy with the way the Bees went about their task. I hope that the Brits in the Pirates team did not get too downhearted by this result - they can be proud of the way they played and did not give up. I reckon the whole team deserved the man of the match award , which went to skipper Ian Robertson, whilst for some reason that escapes me, Colin Ward got the Bees MOM. The Bees should win again on Sunday, but let's hope they can retain their concentration and motivation for the much harder tasks that await them in the ISL next weekend.
Officials were Boniface, Thompson and Norcott.