Featured in the paper every Thursday, Bracknell Bees head coach Doug Sheppard gives his latest views on Bracknell’s season on and off the ice in an exclusive column.
WE CAME away from our two games last weekend with just one point.
It could have been three or four. It was disappointing for me, but there were so many twists and turns in Saturday’s game that the fans were entertained right up to a dramatic penalty shoot-out.
By the end of the second period on Saturday evening we were leading Streatham by four goals to two. I’d been able to run four lines, which shows the depth we have in the squad when everybody is on their game. We’d been dominant for most of the game.
Sheppard says Bees “shot ourselves in the foot”
But in ice hockey, if you lose discipline or switch off, even for only a moment, momentum can be lost. That third period may have been exciting for the fans, but for us it was frustrating. Our opponents pulled the score back to four goals each. Even when we went ahead again towards the end of the period, we found ourselves on a penalty kill. Streatham pulled their netminder and tied the game again playing six skaters against four.
With overtime and possibly penalty shots to decide the game, no-one was leaving the Hive. Home fans knew that in overtime we would start with one man short, so that made for even more tension.
Neither side could score in overtime, so the game was decided by penalties.
We could have made sure of two points on home ice, and travelled to Peterborough the following day boosted by a win. Instead, we lost the game and one of our players had to serve a match penalty, to compete against a team who were on a 12-game winning run.
That game was tied at the end of the second period, but we gave up two more goals before the final buzzer.
A disappointing weekend, then, for the players. Let’s hope lessons have been learned for next weekend’s fixtures.
Ice hockey is a very intense sport. As the fans relaxed on Saturday evening between periods, they were entertained by 14-year-old Lulu Abiri skating her solo routine. Thank you for a great performance.
