TSI World Bees fail to pick up points from defeats to Telford and Swindon

Bees’ netminder Brett Shepherd. Chris Callaghan, Official Bees IHC Photographer, Blueline Photography

--

Telford Tigers 8, TSI World Bees 4

It was another tough weekend for the TSI World Bees after they failed to pick up points from Saturday's road trip to the Telford Tigers and Sunday's game on home ice against the Swindon Wildcats.

Dominik Gabaj's side were beaten 8-4 on Saturday but were more competitive at the Slough Ice Arena where they went down to a narrow 5-3 loss. The results leave the Bees sixth from 11 in the Planet Ice National Ice Hockey League standings heading into Sunday's home game with the leaders. Leeds Knights, 5pm.

The game in Telford got off to a slow start, with the match brightened by Vladimir Luka's opener - a goal which sparked the Tigers' annual Teddy Bear toss for children this Christmas.

It was the only goal of the first period, with the Bees spurning good opportunities for Gianni Vitali and Vanya Antonov.

Bees' stopper Brett Shepherd faced 13 shots to Brad Day's 10.

The Tigers extended their lead in the middle period, Luka adding to his haul while Finley Howells made it 3-0. Then, while the Tigers were on a power play, they took the game away from the visitors with Lucas Price and Luka - scoring his hat-trick goal - making it 5-0. Shepherd faced 16 shots during the period, conceding four goals.

The Bees tried their best to get back into the game offensively, and they managed it at 43.28 through player coach Gabaj. Marcel Balaz picked up the assist, but the Tigers responded almost immediately through Jessie Sutton's sixth for the home team.

Jaden Peca got the Tigers' seventh, but Oliver Knaggs was quick to react in a more competitive third period showing from the Bees. He scored at 45.56 with the assists coming from Gianni Vitali and Brendan Baird. Luke added his fourth of the evening to make it 8-2 but, with Matt Bloor replacing Brad Day as netminder, the Bees were able to score twice more through Aiden Doughty and Marcel Balaz, who scored with five seconds left on the clock.

--

TSI World Bees 3, Swindon Wildcats 5

Returning to the Slough Ice Arena, the Bees would have hoped for some home comforts against the Swindon Wildcats, but they were found wanting defensively once again. They began well enough, with Gianni Vitali and Renny Marr just failing to get the puck past the Wildcats netminder.

Colby Tower opened the scoring for the Wildcats at 11.05, but Josh Smith reacted quickly to draw the home side level at 13.50 with Brendan Baird collecting the assist. However, over both games, the Bees failed to get their noses in front and Aaron Nell made it 2-1 to the Wildcats at 16.32.

The Bees made a strong start to the second period with Vitali managing to squeeze the puck past Renny Marr only one minute and 21 into the period. However, the topsy-turvy clash continued with the Wildcats restoring their lead at 23.11 through Tomasz Malasinki. The Bees netted their third equaliser of the evening through Vanya Antonov, with the assists going to Oliver Knaggs and Stuart Mogg. It would prove their last goal of the evening and Brett Shepherd was forced to make several saves.

The Bees had their chances, but they fell behind once more when Tomasz Malasinski made it 4-3 at 57.41. The Bees threw everything at their visitors in the closing stages, but Malasinski secured his hat trick and two precious points for the Wildcats just before the final buzzer sounded. In the last 20 minutes of the game Brett Shepherd faced five shots on goal while Renny Marr faced 15, showing the Bees' dominance during this period.