Yet another report by Mike "Bobblehat" Blackmun.
At the risk of being boring and sounding like a record stuck in a groove this was yet another game that poor refereeing decisions cost the Bees the game - but more of that later.
The game started well for Bees, as on their first attack, Stewart found Junkin wide on the right, Junks skated over the Moos Blue line and with no defender near him, shot at goal. Gallace never moved, and at 29 seconds the Bees were one goal up!! A chorus of "one shot one goal" resounded around block 5 downstairs. However we didn't know it then but it was to be over 20 minutes before we celebrated another Bees goal. A very low key first period ensued with neither side looking much interested - surprising for the Moos when they could still qualify for the finals. At 9min. 10sec. Merv Priest was left alone in the slot and that was the equaliser. The game fizzled along with still no penalties called, and after a period of Bees pressure right at the end of the period came the incident that left its mark on the game.
The Moos broke out of defence with only a few seconds remaining in the period. There was frantic activity around the Bees net. Then, and in this order, the net came off its moorings, referee Kirkham whistled to stop the play, Chris Maybury kicked the puck in the net, (somewhere along the way the final hooter went), but Kirkham gave the goal!!!!!!!
I know that fans will always see and hear things as they think it should be and I know I am guilty of this myself (yes really) but this time I Know (and am prepared to go on oath) that Kirkham whistled to stop the play a good second before the puck went in the net, also the TV replays show that the puck was kicked in. To add insult to injury Maybury also kicked Bernie for good measure.
The Bees players' protests were in vain, Bernie protesting so much that he incurred a 10 minute misconduct penalty. The time given for the goal(?) was initially 20 minutes (which meant that it was after the hooter had blown) but this was amended to 19 mins. 59 secs., but interestingly enough they teams did not face off again for the remaining second. Make sense of that out if you can!!!!!!!
The second period started with the Bees players obviously on a bit of a downer, but to their credit they took the game to the Moos and after a spectacular miss by Richards who shot over when it was easier to score, Jeff Johnstone did some excellent work in the corner and freed the puck for Richards to make amends and, from the same spot that Priest had scored for the Moos, he made no mistake at 22 mins. 5 secs. The Bees then went through a terrible period and their defence was nowhere to be seen as first Conway at 30 mins. 15 secs. and then Knox at 32 mins. 35 secs. put the puck into an unguarded Bees net with Bernie looking decidedly as though his interests were elsewhere. Then at 34 mins. 20secs. Kirkham again made himself felt in this game. He rightly called Jamie Black of the Moos for holding but allowed him to return to the bench before taking any action. The resulting fiasco saw first Darren Hurley going towards the bin and then Kirkham giving the Moos a bench minor for delaying the game. The result was that Bees ended up with a 5 on 3 Powerplay thanks to Kirkham's poor handling of the situation. During the powerplay, whilst being harried Bucsis got a stick onto the puck with Gallace out of position, only to see the puck slide along the goal line and away. To give credit to the Moos their defence was holding out quite well until 36 mins. 10 secs. when Stewart at the point was fed by Richards via McCosh, and his shot across the netminder gave an unsighted Gallance no chance.
There were no further penalties called during the period which shows the low key in which this game was played, and at 37 mins. 42 secs. Priest was again left unguarded in the slot to put away the Moos fifth goal. The period ended with the Moos leading 5-3 and even the most ardent Bees supporter (me!) was having difficulty in seeing anything other than a Moos win.
Come the third period and it was obvious from the start that the Moos were going to defend their lead and let Bees come to tham to try to score. Wave after wave of Bees attacks were repulsed by luck, good judgment bad puck bounces and defencemen falling in front of goalbound pucks. The occasional Moos breakaway was handled efficiently by the Bees defence and Bernie who seemed to have recovered from his mental walkabout of the second period. The herds of Moos were getting more and more vociferous as the period wore on and it looked as though they were going back to their barn with the 2 points. Finally at 57mins. 53 secs. their happiness was brought to a sudden halt as Shayne McCosh ended a sweet move by Junks and Wayde Bucsis by striking the puck past Gallance. 4-5 with 2 minutes to play and the crowd went beserk!!!!!!
All the play was now in the Moos blueline, and with a minute to play Jim called a time-out with obvious intentions of pulling Bernie at an appropriate moment. That moment came with 50 seconds to go, and with the extra player the Bees fairly peppered the Moos net with shots. Then Jeff Johnstone (the extra man) fed Junks who in turn passed back to Rob Stewart at the point, and at 59 mins. 27 secs. Rob fired in through a wall of players and the Bees were back in terms!!!!! If the crowd were beserk before they were now very happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And so to overtime.
The final tally of shots on goal for overtime was 10 shots on the Moos and only 3 on the Bees (one of which was a hasty clearance from deep in the heart of the Moos defence) which bore out the fact that for the majority of the time the Bees were encamped inside the Moos blueline. Unfortunately the Moos defence held firm and the result was a 5-5 draw. I was very surprised that the Moos did not try harder in the overtime period - perhaps the Bees gave them no chance, but they were non-existent.
I would like to end my report for my one and only award of the season. The award is for the Bees worst supporter, and goes to The Moaner of Block 5 downstairs. I don't know his name, but he always sits to the far right behind the Bees goal at the back of the benches and the Rabid Bee and other regular Block 5ers will know who I mean. Throughout all Bees games he gives forth a constant stream of criticism against the Bees players and never have I heard him give praise. Examples being "Junkin you're useless and shouldn't be playing" and "Give it to Bucsis he will always make a mess of it" these remarks about two players without whom the Bees would have been at the bottom of the league instead of finishing 6th. He has no idea of the game in general and during all Bees powerplays all we hear is "Shoot, why don't you shoot" without any idea of what is going on on the ice. This man is a menace and should be considered a health warning. I don't know why he bothers to come at all. He should be made to sit with the opposition supporters. (Hear, hear - Alex)
