Ice hockey

Bees coach Gareth Cox. Picture by Bob Swann
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VIDEO: We proved our doubters wrong, says Bracknell Bees coach

By Adam Lee
March 28, 2012

Bracknell Bees put their play-off campaign back on track with the most unexpected of four-point weekends.

Having lost the crunch double header with Peterborough Phantoms the weekend before, Bees were written off in many quarters ahead of their games away at Guildford Flames and at home to MK Lightning.

But coach Gareth Cox’s charges proved they were far from dead and buried with a stunning 6-5 win at league champions Guildford on Saturday, followed by a 4-3 overtime victory at home to MK on Sunday.

The coach, though, admitted it was a rather bitter-sweet four-point weekend following the fall-out that followed the Peterborough defeats – namely on the Bees unofficial fans' forum.

One particular thread highlighted many supporters’ frank views on the weekend’s games, and even spurred Bees’ owners Stuart Robinson and Katie Eleftheriou to respond with messages of their own.

But Cox insisted that the comments only helped to inspire the players.

“It was the perfect response – we knew we let ourselves down last weekend and we knew we had to bounce back this weekend,” he said.

“It doesn’t make the Peterborough weekend quite so bad – we knew we had four games to get results from.

“If we were second in the league and only a point off first, everyone would be willing us on to do it, but last weekend we were a point off the play-off places and everyone said that we were done.

“It’s bad when you have to prove your own fans wrong, but it motivated the boys.

“Some of the things that were written last week were disgusting – we tell the boys not to read the forums, but obviously some of them do, they like to know what people think.

“The only motivation they need though is for the club – for the fans, the owners, me, them – that’s why they worked so hard.

“People can say what they like, but they are a close team and they have stuck together.”

The double win moved Bees back into eighth spot, one point ahead of Peterborough.

This weekend, in the final round of matches in the regular season, Bees travel to Sheffield Steeldogs on Saturday (7.30pm face-off) and then host Swindon Wildcats on Sunday (6pm).

As difficult as those two games are, Peterborough have perhaps a more daunting task as they face Manchester Phoenix home and away.

Because of Bees’ inferior head-to-head record with Peterborough this season, only another four-point weekend will guarantee their play-off spot, but with all the teams involved in Bracknell and Peterborough’s games still having something to play for, that will be no mean feat.

Guildford Flames 5 Bracknell Bees 6: Period: 1-1, 1-4, 3-1. PIM: 48-26, SOG: 30-33. Flames: Kohut 2+1, Melicherik 1+3, Rempel, Longstaff 1+1, Chambers 0+2, Dixon 0+1. Bees: Masa 2+1, Galazzi 2+0, Smital 1+1, Thompson 1+0, Skene, Bowman 0+2, Jasik 0+1.

Bracknell Bees 4 MK Lightning 3 (after OT): Period: 1-0, 2-1, 0-2, 1-0. PIM: 22-70. SOG: 19-47. Bees: Masa 1+1, Galazzi, Bowman, Thompson 1+0, Smital 0+3, Skene 0+2, Spearing, Louskins 0+1. Lightning: Emersic 3+0, Poole 0+2, Tikkanen, Brittle, Farn 0+1.