Thanks to Neil Hughes (an Eagles fan) for this report....
The last game at the Centrum, an impressive win over the Storm, was fifteen days ago but it seems a lot longer than that. A defeat after penalties in the Czech republic was followed by three road games which yielded a total of one point, hardly championship form. Last night's televised defeat in Cardiff was evidence that Ayr have developed a tendency to gift goals to the opposition. Could they put this right tonight against the visiting Bees of Bracknell?
Ayr were without Purdie and Steer who was skating during the warm up. Nice to see. Bracknell were without LaScala and Bernard's absence meant someone by the name of Astill was tonight's back up. Horner blew the whistle but I have done the joke before. Craig and Pirry on the lines. Riendeau and Greer were in goals.
1st Period
Ayr were off the blocks like Ben Johnson on steroids. Several attacks saw the puck cross the crease inches in front of an Ayr stick before they took the lead at 2-27. The puck was cleared into the Bracknell zone and with Saint Pierre bearing down on it, Greer had no option but to leave the crease and poke it away - straight to Byram in the high slot who had all the time in the world to pick his spot and rifle it home, unassisted. Not long to wait till number two. Hoffman broke into the zone and passed to Bauba behind the goal line to Greer's right. Time for a Bauba wraparound and for a change, it worked. He rounded the back of the net, went out in front and backhanded the puck. Greer stopped it but could do nothing to prevent Dino hitting in the rebound, timed at 2-44. Ayr were rampant, Biette and Hoad going close but a holding call on Kummu at 5-46 gave Bracknell a breather but only one shot on goal, nicely dealt with by Riendeau. Ayr made more of their first powerplay after Greg Burke was called for tripping at 8-12 althouth they couldn't find a way past Greer, despite Bauba, Groleau and Woolf all going close to improving the woefull powerplay stats in the league this season. However, when McCosh went for cross checking at 11-04, Ayr were to double their PP goals tally and triple their lead. Byram had already hit the pipework deflecting a Burgess slapshot when Young had a shot blocked. The puck fell to Woolf who hit a fearsome shot through traffic which Greer did well to get the pad to but it fell to Hoad at the left post to shoot home, timed at 12-03. 3-0 up and well worth it, so what do Ayr do? Go to sleep. Bracknell were alowed to get into their stride and started causing problems. McCosh had forced a save out of Riendeau seconds earlier but he was not to be denied at 16-33. With the Bracknell forwards driving the net, Ferracioli and Schulte forced a save from Riendeau and the rebound was fired wide but bounced straight back of the backboards to McCosh who hit the top shelf with Riendeau still on the deck. On the next shift, Bracknell thought they had scored again. Once again, driving the net led to a scramble in the crease where everybody piled in, the puck went in the net, the light went on and Horner washed it out. It was announced that a Bee was in the crease but it looked as though the goal had been knocked off it's mooring to me. Whatever the reason, Bracknell were a bit miffed. So miffed in fact that they went and scored a legal goal at 18-18. In truth, Ayr assisted them in this task with a couple of inept attempts to clear the zone but Schulte and Kelman combined to feed Ward to score past the exposed Riendeau. At 19-05, Dezainde and Montanari had a little disagreement off the puck, cross checking and tripping respectively. On the Bracknell bench, Whistle blew a fuse and went ape shit. The disallowed goal, an icing call that was waved away and now this had him effing and blinding at anyone wearing stripes. He was still at it after the buzzer sounded the end of the period, following the stripies to their dressing room where I doubt he had a cup of tea and a nice chat.
SoG 12-13
2nd Period
Whatever Whistle said to Horner during the break must have had an effect as the interference call on Biette at 21-55 was a pure sympathy call. The PP past uneventfully, Kummu having a shorthanded effort deflected wide and Ward shooting over before it ended. Good strong skating by Woolf set up Groleau who backhanded the shot over the bar. Bauba dumped the puck round the boards only for Pirry to get in the way and take a nasty ding on the ankle which meant the rest of the period was played with only two officials. The play was end to end but without much in the way of decent chances, both goalies dealing with the long range efforts without much difficulty. One shot by Brant was fierce enough to snap the blade off Riendeau's stick which was to have a bearing later on in the game. A few titters were heard to eminate from the home support when McCosh, perfectly set up in the slot took a fresh air shot, a few more when Cote blocked a Montanari shot with his wedding tackle. A Woolf effort from the neutral zone caused Greer's heart to flutter after it got through, only for him to smother it before it crossed the line. A fast breakout by Drouin was thwarted by the diving Riendeau who needed to be alert to Chasse moments later. A break by Montanari almost led to Woolf scoring, Greer blocking the shot and the whistle going before anyone could get the rebound. At the other end, Stewart had a slapshot that was almost tipped in by Junkin but the period ended with no further scoring.
SoG 9-11
3rd Period
Both goalies called into action early on, Greer blocking an effort by Bauba who had gone the length of the ice and Riendeau saving from Manganaro. However, at 41-25, Ayr grabbed the insurance marker. Montanari broke into the zone and found Groleau. Not fully fit, Sammy still managed to make room for himself to shoot from the slot and although Greer's dive blocked the puck, Montanari had time to pick his spot with the rebound. Parco who hadn't appeared in the second period, made a return and had a shot blocked by Greer. Woolf steered the puck wide after Groleau had a shot padded away before Kelman did awfully well to go the length only to shoot straight at Riendeau. Hoffman went for holding the stick at 45-42 but the penalty was killed, though not before Schulte hit the post with a low shot. Parco knew he was back when he was checked from behind into the boards by Drouin though Horner saw nothing wrong and you just knew things were getting physical when Woolf checked Cote so hard that the Bracknell d man's stick shattered into two big and a thousand tiny bits. Bracknell were upping the pace and Riendeau had to perform the sort of gymmnastics that Olga Korbutt would be proud of (younger readers, ask your Dad) to deny the visitors following a couple of scrambles in his crease. At 53-35, Byram went for high sticks but numbers were even again at 53-50 following a roughing call on Manganaro. Montanari checked Drouin into the boards which left the Bracknell player on the ice clutching his hooter but it was deemed legal by Horner. Not by Schulte, though. At the restart, he dropped the gloves and went for Monty. All the other players paired up and it looked as though it was going to be a war. However, the others soon stopped to watch the main event which involved Schulte, Monty and a couple of linesmen who unwisely tried to seperate them. No chance, Schulte must weigh a couple of tons. When the dust finally settled, Schulte was off on a 5+game with Montanari getting 2 minutes, both for roughing timed at 54-19. Well done Horner for giving the instigator the bigger penalty. Not that Whistle was too chuffed and he started mouthing it off again. A Burke sat out the major for Schulte and play resumed 3 on 3. Bags of room on the ice saw chances created at both ends, Hoad coming the closest after Byram's pass found him at the far post but the angle was too tight. At 57-15 with the penalised players, apart from Schulte of course, back on the ice, Whistle tried the old stick measuring trick to even up the numbers. Riendeau was the owner of the suspect stick and after much furrowing of brows it was deemed, erm, illegal. Hoffman sat out the minor and at 57-56, he was joined by Burgess on a 10 minute misconduct, probably for arguing about a high stick call against him. With Ayr shaken, Bracknell scored at 58-13. Ward got it, assisted by Drouin but it was a big pile up in the crease and probably should have been washed out like the other one but I don't think Horner would have dared risk the ire of Whistle again. Despite a Bracknell time out at 58-45 and Greer being pulled with 50 seconds remaining, Ayr held out, just, with Riendeau making a couple of fine stops to make sure.
SoG 10-12
FINAL SCORE AYR 4 BRACKNELL 3
Total SoG 31-36
PiM 24-33
MoM Ayr Hoad
Bracknell McCosh
A very welcome two points. Why they had to make it difficult for themselves after a lightning start is anyone's guess but credit to Bracknell who came back well and might feel a bit unlucky to go home empty handed. They will be blaming the ref, that is for sure who didn't do them any favours but it was perhaps more down to Riendeau who made some brilliant stops and tonight his d men were alert to the rebounds for a change. He must have been in the MoM running but Hoad was my choice too. He was full of energy, covered every square inch of the ice and was unlucky not to add to the one goal he got. A mention in dispatches to Bauba, Schuler and Montanari, too. Dunno why McCosh got the Bee's award, Dezainde and Drouin seemed to be causing the problems but it isn't too easy to make out the numbers on those epileptic inducing jerseys of theirs. So, not a great performance but a gritty one which will hopefully put them in the right frame of mind for the big games to come.