LUKAS SMITAL says he is pleased with Bracknell Bees’ season so far as the club continue to “try to repair all the damage” from recent years.
Financial troubles saw the club almost stop competing at the end of last season but an enormous effort ensured ice hockey would continue at The Hive for another year.
And Bees enjoyed one of their more successful weekends this campaign last time out, winning 4-3 away to Sheffield Steeldogs on Saturday before taking Guildford Flames all the way to penalties on Sunday night.
Despite the club sitting second bottom of the EPIHL, player-coach Smital insists he is positive with how the side is looking.
“For what we’ve got and how we are performing of late, I’m really happy,” he told The Wokingham Paper.
“There’s still a lot of things we can improve on and develop and I believe we can get better
than what we are at the moment.
“We said we just wanted to have a team on the ice and that doesn’t change.
“We just want to go through the season and hopefully gain some stability.
“It wouldn’t be fair to say that I want to finish 1st, 2nd or 8th or 10th. I don’t think that way.
“It’s a rebuilding process and it hasn’t changed.
“We are building a good base as we try to repair all the damage from last year, or the last three years really and bring it back to where it’s meant to be.”
Bracknell kicked off their weekend with a trip to Sheffield, knowing a win would close the gap between them and Steeldogs, who currently occupy the final play-off spot.
And goals from Carl Thompson (2), Olegs Lascenko and a winning Smital strike gave the visitors a precious 4-3 success.
“We played really well, kept them outside and did the little things right,” said Smital.
“We were disciplined and that brought us the result.
“I don’t think about scoring myself, but it was a big goal for us and it turned out to the game winning goal.
“At the time it was a big goal to jump into a two-goal lead and we kind of hung on, put a lot of effort in to protect our lead and that was great.”
But Bees could not quite complete a double success.
After leading 2-1 and 3-2, Bees were taken to overtime by Flames on Sunday and fell to defeat in the shoot-out.
“I felt we could’ve won, but that’s sport,” said Smital.
“The chances were there and if you don’t put them away it could be anybody’s game.
“But I think we could’ve won.
“It wasn’t that we were chasing, I felt we dominated in most parts of the game and it just turned out to be a shoot-out which is always a lottery.
“I thought it was a good game and it’s good for the team, good for the guys that we believe what we can achieve and what we’re capable of so that’s great.”
