Great Britain 5 Slovenia 0 This is my report of the game as I saw it. Because I’m a Bracknell fan, I don’t think anyone can blame me for watching Matty just that little bit more…..(PS I seem to have taken a bit of stick on the Bracknell guestbook for this report. I am not taking the piss out of Matty. In my opinion he is the best player I have ever seen (so there!). It's just got to be admitted that he doesn't go forward very much).
Arrived at the Arena to find it surprisingly half-empty. A bit disappointing, considering the Steeler's home crowds. GB took to the ice to rapturous applause, whilst the small Slovenian contingent waved their flags vigorously. Dave Simms was being his usual, uncontroversial self - “Any fans for the Greatest country in the world?”! Matt was icing on the 2nd line defence and getting plenty of shifts. GB were playing a solid, hard-hitting Canadian style whilst the Slovenians were playing a more attractive, fast passing style. However, they never managed to cope with the power of GB and after only four minutes, Britain went one up. During a four-on-four situation Rick Strachan robbed a Slovenian in our defensive zone and played it out after some very good stick-handling. The puck was moved on fast to Adey on a breakaway, who calmly put over the sprawling Netminder. Surely the largest cheer he has ever received in the Arena? In less than a minute, GB added a second in somewhat bizarre fashion. In the funniest incident of the night, a GB forward took a shot which hit the post. The puck bounced out and hit the goalie on the back, fell to the floor and started to very slowly slide towards the goal-line. The Slovenian goalie spun, fell and flailed at the puck, and in his desperation quite unnecessarily punched the puck into the net. Ha ha ha! The Slovenians were still waving their flags though. Must have seen the funny side. The goal was finally credited to Nicky Chinn, unassisted naturally, on the powerplay. GB took a few unnecessary penalties but calmly killed them, not surprising considering Matt was on the Penalty Kill line! He even found time later to cross the blue-line(!) and take a blast on goal, which deflected high and out. No surprise there, then. From the face-off the puck went straight to Matty who repeated again shot the puck over the plexi! Woah, two shots in 10 seconds, Matt, not overdoing it are you?
The puck was bouncing back off the goalie so much one might have thought he was made of rubber! GB scored a third off one of these rebounds, when the Bison’s own Merv Priest (Grrr!) tucked the puck over the keeper. And that was how it stayed for the rest of the period. Slovenia came out with the intention to redress the balance, and Morrison was forced to make a save on a Slovenian powerplay, making a reflex dive to his left to block a shot from inside the slot, followed by one of Matt’s trademark dives, taking out half the British players, as well as the puck! Adey had a great 2-on-1 situation, but the puck hit the post and shot out of the rink. Finally, after 31 minutes, GB scored their fourth, again a rebound! Can Bracknell play his team, please? A bit of a scramble ensued from the original rebound, Cooper tried to flick it in from two yards, the puck was knocked away by a defenceman, but only as far as Tommy Plommer who turned to face the goal and calmly rifled it over the poor keeper. The flags were definitely wilting now. Naturally, the Arena erupted to the goal from their favourite. Straight from the face-off, Cooper took the puck, raced down the line and hit a tricky shot that the keeper just got a pad to. After a few minutes, Plommer dispossessed a defenceman in their zone and shot a dipper just wide from the point. It rolled around the boards and was played back to Plommer, who this time made no mistake. Raarrgghhh, went the crowd. Exit Michelin Man, the starting keeper.
There was no further scoring during the final period, despite another shot from Matty (the sweat starting to show on brow from all this attacking play!), which was just clipped by the Netminder at the last minute. No rubber here! Another amusing feature. One of the Slovenians took a two minute roughing penalty. His name? Elvis Presleyivich! I think -ivich means son of, so maybe Elvis got up to a bit of hanky-panky whilst on tour. The dirty rascal! The Slovenians had a final rally, forcing a desperate stick save from Morrison followed by a 1-on-1. Oh No! you all cry. But, look, is it a bird, is it a plane, no its God!….In screams Matty, who herded him away from goal, boarded him heavily, sat on him (honest!), and still managed to play the puck past two Slovenians! Applause a plenty! The puck was played to Cranston who was narrowly wide from the point. Following in on his shot, he was hit by a Slovenian in the Slot (ouch!), and the two squared up, although nothing happened. The game started to get a bit narky now and nothing else really happened. After the buzzer went, a few players from each team squared up but, again, it was all handbags at five paces. Confusion reigned when all but one of Slovenia walked off during the national anthem, obviously not understanding the request to go to their blue-line. The remaining guy looked a bit embarrassed.
So, a few questions remain unanswered. Can Britain beat Holland and Switzerland? Can they make it through the next round? Will we ever see Matty play Canada again? Why did the Slovenians start with rubber-man when the back-up was so solid? Why is the Arena so damned expensive?