Bewildered Bracknell Beeson Broken by Breathtaking Bison Blast

Bison 6 Bracknell Bees 2

12/1/18

Ooo what a night! Those who were present at Planet Ice last night were treated to a zim-zam-zaramango game full of Ooo Matron hockey, an avalanche of goals, some of which were of awesome spectacularity, a generous slice of rabble rousing and leg pulling from the usual source (you naughty man Bavi) and a rip roaring atmosphere, the likes of which you will not find at any other NIHL rink’ least of all The Hive. By the end of the evening Bison had doled out a veritable trousers down spanking to the visitors, leaving them squirming with embarrassment. However, those Beeson fans who had deserted the Bison colours in the summer, some of whom had decided it was a good idea to sit in their old Bison block, whether welcome or not, must have been thrilled by the experience of watching a purple pulsating encounter as they are now merely “supporters of hockey”.

Bison went on the offensive from the first puck drop, but it wasn’t until 14:19 that they managed to snatch a go ahead goal. Dangling Dick Bordowski set up Alex Sampford for a shot from the left wing. As the shot came in it looked as if Dean Skinns in the insects’ net had it covered, but his D had proved chunderous, blunderous and bunglesome because no-one had covered the movement of Doc Russ Cowley and an all alone Bison skipper executed a twig dangling near post tip in past Deano. 1-0 Bison.

Just over a minute later, namely on 15:35, the ever popular Scott Spearing was adjudged to have tripped. The Bison backers were hoping that 10 years in the Siberian salts mines would be doled out to Spearing, but Referee Matthews was not empowered to impose such a sentence, so it was 2 minutes in the House of Correction instead. Those present who thought that Spearing might be full of contrition for his hideous misdeed and emerge a reformed character had taken leave of their senses. Never mind. What did happen, however, was that Bison bagged a goal less than a minute into the PP. Michal Klejna set up Adam Jones for an Ooo Mr. Rigsby shot from the point. The puck rose from the ice, as a snake charmer’s cobra rising from its basket, and there in front of the net was George “Gordon” Norcliffe, ex Bee and one of the players the new coach didn’t want, to chop the puck down past an astonished Deano and metaphorically poke Coach Sheppard in the eye. 2-0 Bison.

A few minutes later P1 ended. It had been a fairly even period, but Bison were well ahead. The Bees had to pull a rabbit out of a hat or all would be lost. This they did with 2 goals inside 34 seconds at the start of P2. The first arrived on 21:57 with Zach Milton tapping in a rebounded shot. Assistants were identified as Tyler Vankleef and Ryan Sutton. Then on 22:31 Roman Malinik hammered a one timer past Mettam, having been set up by Vanya and Ivan, the Antonov twins, with a pass from behind the goal line. Aidan Doughty with the further assist. 2-2.

Blistering biriyanis we hadn’t seen that coming. The comeback put the Bees on the front foot and matters became a trifle uncomfortable on 29:19 for the “REAL” Bison fans when Adam Harding had his collar felt for hooking. Down the steps for a stretch he went. Now was the Bees’ chance. A power play goal would give them the lead. There was a goal, but not of a type from which the real Bees’ fans and the Cold War-esque Bison to Beeson defectors could derive any pleasure from as Bison scored it. With the 5 Bees skaters committed forward, Dangling Dick Bordowski seized possession of the puck on the boards and slewed a superb inch perfect stretch pass slicing through the Bees as decisively as a Samurai sword made of the finest tempered steel and freshly sharpened by an itinerant knife sharpener would slice though a slab of blancmange.

The puck found its way onto the stick tape of Doc Cowley all alone in mid ice. Back in 1955 Chuck Berry told us he was motorvatin’ over the hill when he saw Maybelline in a Coupe DeVille (that's one below) “doin' 'bout ninety-five”. He gave chase in his Ford V8 and was bumper to bumper with the Maybelline’s Cadillac. But the Ford got hot and “wouldn't do no mo” until it started to rain. The rainwater blew under his Chuck’s hood, cooled his motor down and he managed to catch Maybelline at the top of the hill doing 110. On full throttle, the Bees’ D may have caught Chuck and Maybelline, but they couldn’t catch the Doc. He approached goal and then doled out his medicine – a ripped snipe into the net. He had skinned Skinns. Deano was very upset and tried to kick the puck away but missed. 3-2 Bison.

 

If ever there was a goal to change the dynamic of a game that shortie was it. 5 minutes later Bison were back to a 2 goal advantage with a score from a very unlikely source. Bordowski to Cowley to Sam Smith on the blue line. With the accuracy of treble 20 dart thrown by Phil “The Power” Taylor, the young Welsh D-man whipped a superb long range shot past Deano and into the net for his first senior hockey goal. I hope for Deano’s sake he was screened, but I couldn’t see from my angle. If he wasn’t it was an Ooo Betty goal to concede coming from so far out. As Smith stood on his spot looking shocked, the crowd effervesced like a Steradent tablet plopped into a glass of water, into which you have dropped your dentures last thing at night. Had the jubilant Bison backers brought any daffodils, the national flower of Wales of course, they would have thrown them into the air in celebration, but alas not even Dan “The Beast” Weller-Evans, compatriot of Smith’s, had. Never mind. Cymru Am Byth. 4-2 Bison.

P2 ended and P3 opened. Could the Bees repeat what they did at the start of the 2^nd? Well actually no they couldn’t and worse still Bison delivered what effectively amounted to the killer blow on 41:20. Set up by unwanted Bee but very much wanted Bison, Gordon Norcliffe, Coach Tait fired in a shot which was blocked by Skinns. The puck flew high into the air. Would it stay there? If you think it might have done, you know nothing about Newton’s theory of gravity and you’ve never had an apple fall on your head. It didn’t, of course. Down it came and there was Michal Klejna on the door step to smash the biscuit past a by now despairing Deano. 5-2 Bison and with that the Bees’ chances of winning the game were now as likely as someone being able to swim the Channel, climb Everest and journey to the centre of the earth all in the same afternoon.

But the game was not over yet and while there were seconds on the clock, the Bees always had a chance. In fact, the first step in a possible revival was handed to them soon after with a penalty shot awarded as Ingoldsby was adjudged to have hooked back Mailinik. Vankleef stepped up to take the shot. Was it spaghetti western colossus Lee van Kleef (that’s him below)? No it was his namesake Tyler Vankleef. He had to outwit Mettam, but alas for Vankleef he employed insufficient jiggery pokery to score. The jigging was OK, but there was way too little pokery and he couldn’t get the puck past a Mettam who didn’t commit himself as he fronted up to Vankleef’s elaborate deke, and managed to block the puck low when the Canadian finally delivered his best shot. Perhaps Clint Eastwood would have made a better job of it. 5-2 it remained. It was in effect a last Bees Hurrah! But, as Vankleef had failed to score, the Bees’ fans were not able to shout “Hurrah!” Perhaps they shouted “Oh dashed hard cheddar, Vankleef”, but, if they did, I didn’t hear as the explosion of noise from the Bison blocks which greeted the Mettam save would have deafened even a deaf man.

Things were about to become funereally terminal for the Bees. On 55:26 Bison hammered a final nail into the coffin and the Bees’ chances were now on a mortuary slab wearing a toe tag. Bordowski picked out Doc Cowley with a from behind the net pass out in front and the Doc hammered home to complete his hat-trick and sign the death certificate of the Bees’ hopes. Sampford with an assist. 6-2 Bison.

It was all over bar the shouting and there was plenty of that inspired as always by a very naughty leg pulling announcer (yes you were very naughty Bavi). The final buzzer blared forth soon after ended a night of pulsating purpleness for Bison and one of Prozac popping wretchedness for the Bees. Make no mistake, dear reader, this had been a veritable flagellation.

Top bananas were elected. Dean Skinns took the Bees’s award. This was a little surprising as, although we still love Deano, this had not been his finest hour. Bavi should have taken the Bison award, but alas only a player can and it was hat-trick hero Doc Cowley who did. But it could have been anyone really – maybe Dangling Dick Bordowski with 4 assists, Smith with his first senior goal or Alex “Mittens” with another great custodian performance – let’s not forget he is another player Coach Sheppard didn’t want for the Beeson.

Footnote : Chuck Berry was an all time musical great, but he was a very naughty man. He served 3 jail terms for armed robbery (1944), transporting a minor (a 14 year old prostitute) across a state border (1962) and tax evasion (1979). He was also notoriously mean. He wouldn’t employ a backing band when on tour. Instead the local band would be drafted in without rehearsal at each town he played. His only instruction was “Watch my foot. When it comes down if you’re playin’ – stop. If you ain’t – start.”

Did the Earth Move for you Conor Morris? No, But the Net Did

Bison 7 Invicta Dynamos 2

5/1/19

Do you believe in the paranormal? In particular telekinesis - the movement of a body by thought or willpower without the application of a physical force. Clearly Referee Evans does, as the Invicta net moved off its moorings so often without a single delay of game penalty call, particularly in the 3^rd period where two otherwise perfectly good goals were washed off. Mr. Evans must have believed that supernatural forces were at work. Perhaps Planet Ice is haunted by the spirits of goaltenders past. Or perhaps an unseen Uri Geller, spoon bender extraordinaire, was present. Eventually, Conor Morris, the kilted custodian for the Mos, was seen using the butt end of his stick to hammer the net down into its moorings as if to say “not my fault”. He needn’t have bothered. Anyway, to the game.

The Mos’ last 2 visits to Planet Ice ended with respectable defeats, both by 5-3. Were they going to be able to improve on this? By the end of the 1^st it was 1-1 and there may have been thoughts among the deluded of a Kentish win. It was Bison who snatched the lead. On 7:23 Michal Klejna picked up the puck and moved forward towards goal. He ripped a snipe. At stations on the London Underground where the platforms curve an announcement comes over on the tannoy when the trains arrive. “Mind the gap” is the instruction. This is to prevent people from plunging to a hideous doom between the edge of the platform and the train. Had Conor Morris in the Mos’ net received such an instruction, he may indeed have minded the gap between himself and the goal frame. However, he didn’t and didn’t. The puck flew into the goal net before Morris could move the net off its moorings. Klejna had fast-tracked forward firmly and faultlessly to finish with finesse and fortitude. 1-0 Bison.

On 10:07 Bison were called for a face off violation and Oscar Evans precipitated to the penalty box and, whilst there, he would embark on a journey to redemption on behalf of his team. A minute later Brandon Miles found Arran Strawson in front of gaol. I have told you before that Strawson is no man of straw and he was about to prove it. In 1980 Pat Benatar sang “♫ Hit me with your best shot ♫”. As Strawson raised his stick Dan “The Beast” Weller-Evans, the Bison custodian, knew a clapper was coming and would have preferred Strawson to hit him with his worst shot, maybe a fluffed broken stick shot with the puck dribbling to a Bison player, leading to a breakaway and a goal at the other end. However, Dan’s ideal scenario deluded happenstance and instead the puck flew past him and into the net. Oh botheration. One shot one goal. 1-1.

P1 drew to a close and it had been a disappointing one for the homesters, as, with a shot count, of 16-3, they should have been enjoying a considerable lead. However, they weren’t and things got much worse for them on 23:18 when Matt Foord and Louis Colvin combined to set up Harrison Lillis. He, the last named individual, whipped in a shot and it was unbelievably 2-1 Mos. There was no need for Morris to kick his net off as the goal had gone in at the other end.

Bison now found themselves in a chunderous situation. They had to be taking their chances or the deluded raving lunatics who had thought that a Mos’ win was on the cards would be shown to be perceptive sages, most wise and sagacious. Alas for them a 3 goal burst in 5 minutes exposed them as delusional fantasists wallowing in a sea of misplaced optimism. The first of these goals arrived on 25:38. A shot came in, but the pad of Morris proved equal to it. Alas for the kilted custodian, the puck spilled into the blue paint in front of him and a bundle developed. Players of both sides were pushing, shoving, nudging, jostling, bumping and jolting each other whilst slashing, stabbing, jabbing, prodding, poking, whacking and thwacking at the puck as it sat elusively in the blue paint. Finally Doc Cowley managed to force it over the line before Morris could move the net off its moorings and it was 2-2. Assistants were declared as George “Gordon” Norcliffe and Alex Sampford, but not immediately.

Goal number 3 for Bison occurred on 28:55. Cowley set up Jay King with a pass out in front from behind the goal line. The Caledonian D-man skated in unopposed. The Mos’ defending was as big a calamity as Calamity Jane herself – that’s her below. King slapped it past Morris before he could move the net off its moorings and it was 3-2 Bison. Gordon Norcliffe received the second assist.

This was more like it. Bison were at last making their dominance pay and on 30:44 advanced the score board to Home 4. You can catch a train, a cold, a fish, a criminal, a virus, a glimpse and up. In this case the puck ballooned high into the air as the Mos’ D attempted to clear it out of the zone. However, Chris Cooke was there reaching high to catch it, albeit not as high as S Club 7, who reached for the stars, and, throwing it down at his feet, he raised his stick and slapped the biscuit goalwards. In front of the net was Doc Cowley and he dangled his twig to lift the puck over Morris before the kilted custodian could move the net of its moorings. Sting told Roxanne she didn’t have to put on the red light. Honest Pete behind the goal was clearly not Roxanne as on came the red light to confirm the goal. 4-2 Bison. Morris was upset, fired the puck at the ref and got a 5 minute penalty and Anthony Leone let his views be known to the officials in a manner most inappropriate (Ooo Mrs) and was hurled from the game for an obscene gesture.

P2 ended with a most imbalanced shot count of 37-5, but a scoreline of only 4-2. Back in 1965 Stevie Wonder told his baby “everything is all right, uptight, out of sight” Bison needed to pile on the pressure in P3 and get out of sight themselves. And this they did, as I shall relate in the remainder of this humble account.

P3 opened and we had to wait only 2:19 for another goal. This time it was Tom “Wreck-it” Ralph to Doc Cowley, who provided the decisive pass. Pilot Officer Paul Petts skated in on goal, although without white silk scarf trailing behind him. He picked his spot and whipped a wrist shot past Morris before the kilted custodian had time to push the net off its moorings. 5-2 Bison.

36 seconds of play later it was 6-2. The provider in this case was Adam Jones with an Ooo Mr. Rigsby pass to Coach Tait. The Coach’s shot hit the inside of Morris’s pad, emerged the other side and then time stood still as the puck trickled in a goalwards direction. Suddenly the goal light illuminated and a Vesuvius style volcanic eruption burst from the stands. Perhaps the referee was influenced by all this as out came his flat pointy hand, but from where I was the whole of the puck didn’t appear to have crossed the line and the immediate reaction of the Caledoninan net fellow indicated that he thought the same as he turned round and put his glove behind the puck. He would have been better off pushing the net off its moorings. The game sheet gave the goal to Jones with an assist to Tait, which might indicate that there are other places you can go other than these humble reports of mine in pursuit of inaccuracy.

On 46:24 Cowley and Lillis held each other in some sort of brotherly embrace, but Lillis had also slashed. Consequently when the penalties were doled out Bison went on the power play. During the course of this they managed to work a man over at the back door. That man over was Jones. He raised his stick and sent in an Ooo Mr. Rigsby clapper towards the open net. Netman Morris must have realised he was not going to be able to make himself larger and the goal frame sure wasn’t going to get any smaller. How could he stop Jones scoring? Why of course. He could push the net off its moorings. This he did as the puck flew into the net. In Agatha Christie’s “Murder in Mesopotamia” Louise Leidner is found dead, having been struck on the head with a blunt object. Could Colonel Mustard have done it in the library with a piece of lead piping? Not this time. Hercule Poirot was called in to investigate. But there was no need to call in the Belgian super sleuth to investigate the murder of Jones’s goal. Referee Evans was clearly the culprit. OK it may not have been murder, but it certainly was robbery on Morris’s part. A criminal gang composed of Dick Turpin, Jesse James and Bonnie and Clyde, masterminded by Professor Moriarty, could not have pulled off a more audacious larceny. Was Morris brought to account for his misdeed? No. Why not. Don’t ask me.

 

The washing off of the Jones goal made Bison even more determined to bag a 7^th and this they did on 57:48. Eliot Dewey to Oscar Evans (no relations to Ref Evans as far as I’m aware) and he set up Petts for his second. As the puck flew past Morris from Petts’s wrist shot, he was too late to move the net of its moorings and it was 7-2. “Must do better next time,” thought the kilted custodian and indeed he did shortly after with another goal washed off for net off. Would he finally receive a delay of game penalty? Not on your Nellie.

It mattered not a jot as the final buzzer sounded and Bison had run out comfortable winners. Top Banana for the men of Kent was Matt Foord, which was a little surprising as their Caledonian custodian Morris was surely deserving of the award for keeping the score down by means both fair and foul. It could have been a trousers down spanking otherwise. Doc Cowley skated away with the Bison beers.

Exposed Goaltenders Scrub Names off their Christmas Card Lists

Bison 5 Invicta Dynamos 3

22/12/18

Last night’s game proved to be one which both goaltenders will wish to forget. Dan “The Beast” Weller–Evans played well in the Bison net but, due to hideousness on the D, was left exposed on several occasions and saw his save percentage undersevedly gurgling down the plug hole. The Mos brought with them Conor Morris, one of several Scottish netminders in the NIHL, to guard their pipes. By the end of the evening the Caledonian pipes protector, also let down by his D, had become a disconsolate figure with a broken stick and a melancholy demeanour. His team had fallen like a factory chimney demolished by Fred Dibnah.

Much to everyone’s surprise it was the Mos who drew first blood, thankfully not literally. Jake Stedman set up Owen Dell with a tap in after his shot had been saved by the pad of Dan “The Beast”. Time stood still and the crowd watched in Prozac popping anguish as the puck hit the netman’s pad and then trickled in a tantalisingly slow manner across the goal line towards the back stick. Dell dealt the final blow and poked the biscuit over the aforesaid line. With a heavy heart Honest Pete illuminated his goal light. 1-0 Invicta.

On 9:40 parity was restored. Tom “Wreck-it” Ralph sent George “Gordon” Norcliffe away. He hammered forward faster than the Wells Fargo stagecoach from Deadwood with its team of horses at full gallop and Calamity Jane riding shotgun. He then unleashed one. Morris got a piece of it, but, alas for the kilted custodian, it was a piece not large enough and the biscuit slid slowly across the line. It was Gordon’s 4^th goal in 3 games. He has a hot stick at the moment. 1-1.

Bison surged into the lead on 16:42, but in a manner most unpreferable as it resulted in an injury to goaltender Morris, who remained down and damaged for several minutes after Pilot Officer Paul Petts had shaken off his bandits and propelled the puck over the line from a rebounded saved shot by Morris from Oscar Evans. With no back up goalie the Mos were desperate for their Caledonian shot stopper to recover. Finally he did just that and, as he got to his feet, he was greeted by generous applause from the home fans, unlike at certain other rinks, which shall remain nameless, where injured players are greeted with jeers and shouts of “CHEAT!” But hey! Let’s not get too heavy here.  We will move on from the discussion on generosity of spirit. Thankfully Morris was able to continue to the end of the period, although looking a little shaky, and seemed to be back to rude health thereafter. Oh yes I forgot to mention Coach Ashley Tait was awarded an assist for the goal. 2-1 Bison.

P1 closed and P2 opened and it was to prove a pernicious period provoking pulsating petulance, peevishness and pique in the camp of the home team. They laid siege to the Mos’ goal, but to no avail. Lester Gillis aka Baby Face Nelson (that’s him below) was a notorious bank robber and murderer, who was drilled full of slugs in a shoot out with the FBI on 27^th November 1934 and, perhaps unsurprisingly, kicked the bucket as a result. Not even he, firing a Tommy gun from the hip, could have made a better job of peppering the visitors’ goal. Bison blasted away at the Kentish net with no fewer than 22 shots in the period, but Morris proved equal to all of them. Things were not such a bowl of cherries at the other end, however, where 2 hideous lapses on the D gave the Mos 2 goals and had goaltender Dan “The Beast” furiously scribbling names off his Christmas card list.

The first chunderous error on the Bison D occurred on 28:42. Slack defending saw Mos work a smart move between Anthony Leone and Ondrej Zosiak, which resulted in the finding of, not the lost city of Atlantis, nor Captain Kidd’s treasure nor even the Ark of the Covenant, but instead a spare man in front of goal, namely Owen Dell, scorer of the 1^st Kentish goal. The Bison D treated him like they were a bunch of rabbis and he was a ham sandwich at a bar mitzvah. No-one touched him. He rifled the puck past Dan “The Beast”, who had no chance, no hope and no salvation. 2-2. 

“OK so they have equalised. They won’t get another,” may have been the thoughts of some of the Bison backers at this point. However, a minute and a half later their confident assessment was to plunge into the ravine of doom as a chunderous giveaway saw Brandon Miles in the clear. He charged forward from the neutral zone. He couldn’t have moved forward faster than if he had been Postman Pat being pursued by the hound of the Baskervilles. He rifled the biscuit past a hung out to dry Dan “The Beast” and it was 2-3 Invicta. Lewis English (son of Johnny?) was awarded an assist for the goal.

From a Bison perspective, to fall behind was as undesirable as the scrapings from the bottom of Tutenkhamun’s sarcophagus. At once Coach Tosh Redmond called a time out. He may have said to the assembled players, “Shape up on the D, ya wee beasties, d’ ye ken? Ye dinna want me ta skelp yer wee banoochies, eh?” I will refrain from giving a translation as I would not wish to be responsible for an outpouring of public outrage. However, you may Google a Scottish to English translator if you wish.

 

During the interval between P2 and P3 the Che Guevara impersonator offered the opinion that surely the Mos would tire with only 13 skaters. The Man with 3 Ear-rings, wallowing in a cess pool of pessimism, said “I’ve got some more straws for you to clutch at here.” But, as it transpired, the Argentinian revolutionary (Che wasn't Cuban you know) was right (perhaps he does know something about hockey after all) as the 3^rd belonged all to Bison. A 2-3 deficit was turned around into a 5-3 win, so pray read on, dear reader, as, if you are a Bison backer currently drowning in a sea of dejection, having read the pervious paragraphs, the remainder of this humble report will lift your spirits.

P3 opened. On 41:50 Jake Stedman was thrown in the can for slashing. A mere 10 seconds into the power play there was a levelling score. The puck was cycled round to Adam Jones, who cracked an Ooo Mr. Rigsby slapshot towards goal. Morris was equal to it, but, much to his very grave chagrin, the rebounded biscuit went straight to Michal Klenja, who had an empty net to aim at. The wedding scene in the 1967 musical film “Half a Sixpence” featured the song “Flash, Bang, Wallop!”, which included the lyrics “flash, bang, wallop, what a picture, what a photograph, poor old soul, blimey what a joke, hat blown off in a cloud of smoke”. Part of this is what we then saw i.e. the flash, bang, wallop of Klejna’s clapper, if not the smoke or the blowing off of Morris’s hat. 3-3.

Not content with being on level terms, Bison bagged a go ahead goal shortly after – on 45:43 to be precise. It was a move of mammoth-esque purpleness finished by a shot of spanking spectacularity. Doc Cowley passed to Coach Tait. He advanced forward up the right wing across the blue line and whipped a pass inside to Klejna. Remember Hot Lips Houlihan from “MASH”? That's her below of course. Well I can pass no opinion as to whether or not Klejna has hot lips, but he most definitely does have a hot stick, which he used to whip a sizzling top shelf wrist shot past a by now despairing Morris. 4-3 Bison.

On 49:50 Bison put the boot in and bagged another. It wasn’t dissimilar to their 3^rd goal. On this occasion Alex Sampford set up Oscar Evans for the shot. His clapper was saved by Morris, but alas for him the puck dropped at the feet of Dangling Dick Bordowski. He didn’t bother with a dithering dangle or deke or a pussyfooting poke or prod or even a wavering waffle or whack, but instead rose to the occasion and clappered a humdinger into the wide open net. 5-3 Bison.

But the Mos were not done yet and were desperately seeking ways of getting past the Bison D, now recovered from their ineptitude of P2, and firing in shots on Dan “The Beast”. Their aspirations in this regard were dealt a body blow on 55:09 when robust D-man Arran Strawson, proved he is no man of straw by over robustly slashing and ending up having his collar felt. On his re-emergence into civilised society 2 minutes later, doubtless feeling pain, embarrassment and contrition for his misdemeanour, less than 3 minutes remained on the clock and it wasn’t looking good for the undynamic Dymanos. By now the Mos’ chances of winning the game, which, at the end of P2, had looked semi-rosy to those unaware of the Bison’s propensity to record come from behind wins, were falling like that factory chimney demolished by Fred Dibnah (see above). With only 13 skaters they were visibly done in and a comeback from this losing position seemed as unlikely as Fatty Arbuckle riding a dray horse to victory in the Grand National. That dietarily challenged gentleman is illustrated below.

The final buzzer sounded and the Mos had lost, but by a respectable score it has to be said. Top bananas were elected. 2 goal Owen Dell was adjudged to have been the best Mo and 2 goal Michal Klejna went forward with his characteristic kneeling twirl to receive the beers for his team

As we waited for the final formalities to be formalised netman Morris broke his stick. I was looking elsewhere at the time and cannot confirm whether it was a deliberate act carried out in a fit of uncontrollable rage or whether by leaning heavily on the stick he had uncovered a previously unknown flaw and the stick had given way. Suffice it to say that he looked as miserable as sin on the skate past the fans, surely not a sore loser, but probably feeling the pain of the loss of his favourite stick.