Bees escape from Sharks before Phantoms close in

The TSI World Bees picked up a couple of points from their matches against the Solway Sharks and Peterborough Phantoms this weekend to keep hold of that last play-off spot. The Bees are though starting to find form at the right time, deservedly beating the Sharks 6-4 on Saturday evening before pushing the Phantoms all the way in a narrow 3-2 defeat on Sunday.

While the second of the two games went against them in the final period, Dominik Gabaj’s team remain in play-off contention and have showed in recent weeks they have the tools to compete against the league’s best. At the Slough Ice Arena on Saturday, the Bees and the Sharks traded blows before the home side finally managed to shake off their visitors in the closing stages.

Marcel Balaz was the first to find the net for the Bees, scoring an unassisted goal at 6.03, while the Sharks’ indiscipline cost them when Liam Stenton and Kell Beattie were both handed two-minute penalties. A five on three powerplay gave the Bees a great chance to extend their lead and they did just that when Vanya Antonov (above) scored with assistance from Gianni Vitali and Dominik Gabaj at 16.51.

Skating into the second period with a two-goal advantage, the next goal was always going to be crucial, and it was advantage Bees when Mason Alderson received an interference penalty. Despite this, Scott Henderson managed to get Solway on the scoreboard with an unassisted short-handed goal at 23.48.

That goal seemed to turn the tide in the Sharks’ favour, and they scored again through Caly Robertson at 38.18 with Craig Peacock and John Dunbar receiving the assists.

Momentum continued to see-saw with Balaz grabbing his second of the game at 39.04, with help from Antonov and Brendan Baird to make it 3-3, but the Sharks couldn’t be repelled as Craig Peacock tied up the game with a third goal for the visitors at 42.54, Caly Robertson and John Dunbar receiving the assists.

The Sharks were on level terms for just 55 seconds, however, as Balaz netted a hat-trick for the second week in a row to make it 43 – Dominik Gabaj and Oliver Knaggs getting the assists. Adam Rosbottom looked to have killed off the Sharks’ challenge when he restored the Bees’ two-goal advantage with a fifth goal at 46.57,

Knaggs claiming another assist alongside Dan Rose.

But Solway refused to throw in the white towel. They made it 5-4 when Nolan Gardiner slotted the puck home. Then, with just under two minutes left in the game, the Sharks went for broke and pulled their netminder Curtis Warburton for an extra skater, but the Bees managed to break on them with Gabaj feeding Brendan Baird to score into the empty net at 59.58 to finally make the points safe.

At present they hold onto that last play-off spot, but they’ve still got work to do with Raiders IHC just a couple of points behind having played a game less.