Sunday evening saw the Bees welcome their local M4 rivals, the Swindon Wildcats, back to The Hive for their final local derby encounter of the regular season. The last three games between the sides, either at The Hive or the Link Centre, have ended in overtime or penalty shoot-out losses for the Bees and another close game was in store this time out also. The Bees went into the game missing Rupert Quiney through injury and Josh Tetlow through suspension. The visiting Wildcats were without Mark Smith, Sam Bullas, Aaron Nell, Max Birbraer, Cam Buglass, Ryan Aldridge, Matt Selby & Kyle Smith but added Robin Kovar to their line-up. Referee Stefan Hogarth took charge of the match assisted by Ali MacPhee and Liv Andersson on the lines. Matt Smital got his second start of the weekend in the Bees net with GB veteran Stevie Lyle taking his place in the Wildcats net. The action started early with neither team dominating or creating clear chances until with just over two minutes on the clock the first penalty of the game saw Jan Kostal take a seat in the visitors penalty box on a hooking call. The Bees powerplay unit stepped into action with a shot fired in which Stevie Lyle deflected away well, Lukas Smital however picked up the loose puck and fired a shot in close which struck Stevie Lyle’s face mask and the referee halted the action. From the stoppage Stephen Whitfield picked up a ten minute misconduct penalty at 2.51. The Bees wasted no time sealing the first goal, a wrist shot effort from Alex Barker assisted Luka Basic and Shaun Thompson with just under three and a half minutes gone in the game. The home side kept up the pressure on the visiting Wildcats until Bees Captain Matt Foord was assessed a two minute hooking penalty just before the five minute marker. Shorthanded Bees defenceman Harvey Stead collected the puck well and broke out of the zone and managed to get a good shot in on Stevie Lyle. Swindon swung the action to the other end of the ice and a scramble in front of Matt Smital’s net ensued to which the Bees defence did well to clear the danger. Shaun Thompson tried a back handed effort on Lyle but the puck is bounced to safety. Wildcats Jordan Kelsall picked up a two plus ten checking to the head penalty with eight and a half minutes played and once again the Bees powerplay looked to take advantage. Shaun 
Thompson was alert and tried a wrap-around effort, but a ‘Cats stick was well positioned to deny the chance. Olegs Lascenko tried his luck from distance but Lyle was equal to the effort once more. Toms Rutkis, for the Wildcats, fired a shot in on Matt Smital but he too stood firm. The final few minutes of the opening period saw more end to end play but with no real threat on either net. The Bees took the narrow one goal lead into the break.
The second period started well for the Bees as they applied early pressure. A pinpoint pass from Shaun Thompson to Lukas Smital saw the player/coach put his effort just wide of the Swindon net. Toms Rutkis again tries a shot from distance for the visiting Wildcats but this was cleared away to safety by the Bees defence. A little under three minutes into the period Stephen Whitfield was called for a two minute holding minor and once again Bracknell’s powerplay line did well to make the advantage count, netting their second goal of the evening at the twenty three & half minute mark. The puck was shot in from the blue line and ended up in the bottom corner of the net, scored by Lukas Smital assisted by Luka Basic and Shaun Thompson. Less than a minute later it was Swindon’s turn to head on to the power play as Bees Captain Matt Foord made his way to the penalty box on a two minute slashing call. The Bees defence dug in well and denied the Wildcats any quality chances to start with but Swindon make the advantage count in the end as Jan Kostal passed the puck round the back of the net to Jonas Hoog who fires in for the Cats first goal of the night with assists to Kostal and Ben Nethersall, with just under six minutes gone in the second period. Another powerplay opportunity came the way of the Bee shortly after as Neil Liddiard collected a holding minor. The Bees pushed forward and applied the pressure on to the ‘Cats. A gathering in front of Lyle’s net saw the Wildcats Stephen Whitfield pay another visit to the penalty box with a hooking call less than twenty seconds after Liddiard’s penalty. With the five on three advantage Alex Barker found Shaun Thomson well and he buried the puck past Lyle for the Bees third power play goal of the evening, with just over twenty seven minutes played, assists going to Alex Barker and Lukas Smital. Just before the half way stage of game Tomasz Malasinski took another penalty for the visiting team, a two minute hooking infraction, giving the Bees another power play opportunity. This time it was Shaun Thompson who passed across the front of the Wildcats net to Alex Barker who took the shot but unfortunately his stick snapped, with part of it ending up in the crowd, and the chance was gone. Swindon did well to kill off the remainder of the penalty and open ice play follows for a period of time with the 
teams battling for good possession of the puck. With just over three minutes left in the period the Bracknell bench were caught for a too many men on the ice infraction. Once again the Bees penalty kill unit did well to see off the advantage but only four seconds after the penalty expires Swindon netted their second goal through Tomasz Malasinski, assists going to Stephen Whitfield and Robin Kovar. The Bees responded almost immediately though as only forty seconds later their scored their fourth goal through Alex Barker with assists going to Luka Basic and Matt Foord.
The third and final period, with all still to play for started with the Wildcats on the front foot and Jonas Hoog breaking away but the Bees defence smothered the chance before the forward could get an effort away. Young Bees netminder Matt Smital pulled off a good glove save from Adam Finlinson and from the resulting face off Jan Kostal fired the puck towards net and once again Matt Smital saved well, this time however he took a little while to get back to his feet but was able to continue. More pressure from the Wildcats saw Jonas Hoog fire in a close shot but Matt Smital was once again there when called upon. Bees player/coach Lukas Smital was called on a hooking minor just short of the forty seven minute mark and unfortunately for the home side the visiting Wildcats took full advantage of a loose puck in front of the Bees net and in the mad scramble from both sets of players the puck was poked across the line for the visitors third, unassisted goal, credited to Phill Hill. More penalty trouble for the Bees saw Danny Ingoldsby head to the box for a two minute kneeing penalty. This time however the Bees penalty kill unit stood firm, soaked up the pressure well and killed off the advantage. The Bees looked to have sealed the win when they netted their fifth goal, a hat trick for Alex Barker, just before the fifty two minute mark of the game with assists going to Luka Basic and Shaun Thompson. The visiting Swindon side through did not give the game up and started to apply added pressure in the last few minutes of the game and their got their reward as Lee Richardson scored the Wildcats fourth goal, with assists to Malasinski and Hoog. This set up a tight and tense final four minutes or so of the game but despite the pressure from the visitors the Bees kept them at bay well. With forty-seven seconds left the Wildcats bench made the choice to remove Stevie Lyle for the extra skater. Their advantage was added to as they were handed a further power play opportunity as when Alex Barker picks up a tripping penalty with thirty five seconds left on the clock. The Wildcats called a timeout to talk things over and kept Lyle off for the extra skater but the Bees clung on for the narrow win at The Hive. A win which sealed a four point weekend for the Bees!
The man of the match awards went to Bees forward and hat-trick hero Alex Barker and to Lee Richardson for the visiting Wildcats.
Match stats Period scores: 3-1; 1-2; 1-2 Bees scorers: Barker 3+1; S.Thompson 1+3; L.Smital 1+1; Basic 0+4; Foord 0+1 Wildcats scorers: Hoog & Malasinski 1+1; Richardson & Hill 1+0; Kostal, Whitfield, Kovar & Nethersell 0+1 Bees PIMS: 12 (Foord 4; L.Smital, Ingoldsby, Barker & Bench 2) Wildcats PIMS: 32 (Whitfield 14; Kelsall 12; Kostal, Liddiard & Malasinski 2) Shots on Bees (M.Smital): 34 (8, 13, 13) Shots on Wildcats (Lyle & Empty Net): 30 (15, 10, 5) & (0, 0, 0)
With Bees match report
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