The Bees welcomed the second placed Milton Keynes Lightning to The Hive in the fourth meeting between the sides this season on Sunday evening. The Bees were still without Scott Spearing, Matt Foord and Rupert Quiney due to injury whilst the visiting Lightning were without Same Jones, Bobby Chamberlain and Mikolaj Lopuski. Netminders Alex Mettam, for the Bees, and Przemyslaw Odrobny for the Lightning, started the match in the respective goals. Referee Dave Cloutman took charge of the match with Andy Cook and Donald Campbell on the lines.
The game started at a fast pace and it was the home side Bees who got the first shot on goal away within the opening seconds of the match. The visiting Lightning cleared the puck to Lewis Hook who fired the puck towards Alex Mettam, the Bees netminder deflected the puck wide with his stick, only for Frantisek Bakrlik to pick up the loose puck and fire in from the blue line, Mettam was equal to the big blast however. The Bees came close once again as the puck found its way to Rio Grinell-Parke who went in close on Odrobny in the Milton Keynes net but the big netminder smothered the opportunity. For several minutes both sides had plenty of action in the neutral zone but with no clear cut chances to impose any threat on either netminder. Luka Basic found Olegs Lascenko who snapped in a quick wrist shot but this was deflected wide of the mark. A big scramble in front of Alex Mettam saw the Lightning come close but the Bees defence cleared the puck out of the zone to safety. Josh Tetlow tried his luck from the Lightning blue line but his slap shot saw Odrobny save well and cover the puck up. A good breakaway chance saw Frantisek Bakrlik force his way on net and force Bees netminder Alex Mettam to save the shot in close. The puck rebounded out to Alex Barker who took off down the ice, passed to Shaun Thompson who in turn found Lukas Smital, the Bees player/coach cut in and went round Odrobny to fire the puck into the back of the net for the Bees first goal with just under eleven minutes on the clock. The Bees joy was short-lived however just over a minute later the visiting Lightning had levelled the scores as Blaz Emersic skated through the Bracknell defence and slotting the puck away under Alex Mettams pads with assists going to Craig Scott & Lewis Christie. The fast paced first period saw no penalties and tight and tense action at either end of the ice and ended with the scores tied at one goal apiece.
The second period started as the first period had finished with both teams seeing action at either end of the ice but with no real danger created to bother either netminder. Shaun Thompson found Alex Barker well but the resulting shot on net was tipped away into the corner. The Lightning broke to the other end of the ice and forced Alex Mettam into action again with a blocker save from Frantisek Bakrlik. Further action saw the Bees take possession of the puck with Danny Ingoldsby passing to James Galazzi whose shot whistled just wide of the post. Harvey Stead also snapped a shot in but the puck bounced just past Odrobny and just past the Lightning net. The Bees kept up their pressure on the Milton Keynes defence and David Gaborcik found Luka Basic with a pinpoint pass and Basic skated through the Lightning defence and fired the puck over Odrobny’s shoulder for a top shelf second goal for the Bees with just over twenty three 
minutes on the clock. The first penalties of the game were called just under twenty six minutes into the game when the Bees James Galazzi & Lightning Captain Adam Carr both collected two minute roughing calls for a clash behind the Lightning net. Only a minute later the penalty box door opened again with Olegs Lascenko collecting a two minute hooking penalty for the Bees. With the man advantage the Lightning applied the pressure on the Bees defence who did well trying to keep then at distance. Just as Lascenko re-joined the play Adam Carr found the back of the net for the second goal for the Lightning to tie the scores up once more with a little under twenty nine minutes gone, assists going to Milan Baranyk and Craig Scott. The game picked up pace once more as Carl Thompson found Rio Grinell-Parke and his shot was cleared away, MK cleared the danger with Adam Carr firing the puck straight past the front of scrambled away by the Lightning defence. Frantisek Bakrlik collected the loose puck and wheeled around to the blue line and let rip with a trademark slap shot but the shot went wide of the Bees net. Bees Captain for the night James Galazzi collected a two minute high stick penalty at the thirty four minute mark to put Milton Keynes back onto the power play and saw the Bees defence having to soak up the pressure that the power play unit was applying. The Bees penalty kill unit dug deep and killed the penalty well. It was then Bracknell’s turn to apply pressure to the visiting side with Lukas Smital forcing Odrobny to make a pad save, Carl Thompson shooting narrowly wide of the post and Luka Basic trying a back handed effort which was covered by Odrobny. The second period finished just as it started with action at either end but the scores were still tied up, now at two goals apiece.
The visiting Lightning started the third period on the front foot and put the Bees under pressure. Another slap shot effort from Frantisek Bakrlik forced Alex Mettam into a blocker save and with the danger cleared Lukas Smital fired a shot in but this again went narrowly wide of the mark. For several minutes the pace of the game visibly slowed up as both teams caught their breath from the fast and frenetic action. Lukas Smital snapped in a wrist shot which hit Odrobny’s facemask and caused a brief stoppage in play. The netminder was fine to continue and the Bees looked to keep up the pressure as Rio Grinell-Parker found Luka Basic who in turn passed to David Gaborcik who forced Odrobny into another big save, the puck was cleared away by the Lightning defence. Following the early action and only two minutes into the third period Adam Carr gave the visiting Lightning the lead with a quick wrap around effort at Alex 
Mettams near post, with assists going to Milan Baranyk and Tom Carlon. The Lightning kept up the pressure as the Bees defence and Alex Mettam combined to cover the puck and force a break in play. Milan Baranyk fired a shot through traffic but Alex Mettam was quick to dive in to cover the puck once again. Bracknell managed to force their way out of their zone with a combination of passes between Lukas Smital, Alex Barker and Shaun Thompson, Thompson found himself with space in front of the net and took a shot which Odrobny managed to gather in. The Bees kept pushing forward but couldn’t find a way past Odrobny who was in good form. Milton Keynes put the game out of reach just under six minutes left of the final period as Michael Farn found a way past Alex Mettam for the fourth Lightning goal with assists going to Antti Holli and Jordan Cownie. In the last five minutes of the game the pace once again picked up with even possession for both teams but with no real clear chances for either side. The Bees bench opted to call a time out at with just under two minutes remaining in the game and also opted to remove netminder Alex Mettam in favour of the extra skater. The Bees camped in the MK defensive zone and pass the puck well, Lukas Smital fired in a shot but this was knocked away and Jordan Cownie pounced on the loose puck and slid it down the ice for an empty net goal twenty seconds after the time out. Mettam returned to the ice for the Bees but the Lightning managed to soak up the pressure in the dying minute and hold on for the two points on the road.
Man of the match awards went to Bees Player/Coach Lukas Smital for the home side and to Michael Farn for the visiting Milton Keynes Lightning.
Match report by Yvonne Slater
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