Canes travelled to the Sauna that was Bracknell ice rink on Friday night to face the Bracknell B52’s. Eager to get back to winning ways Canes sent a strong team to face the bombers. Both teams looked fairly even as the puck dropped. Canes took first blood when Nabbs sent Canes into the lead. Canes managed to hold their defensive lines and went into the break with the narrow lead.

Shortly after the re-start Canes doubled the lead, this time a goal from Forbes. Bracknell answered right back within 20 seconds to pull one back. The Second period was brought to a lengthy pause when one of the B52’s took a deflected pass to the head and knocked him unconscious. Luckily he came around fairly quickly but an ambulance was called as a precaution and he was sent for medical treatment. The game resumed and Bracknell turned up the heat and equalised just after the restart. The rest of the period was all Bracknell who attacked Canes and took advantage of some sloppy defensive passing and failure to clear our own zone. The Bombers took a 2 goal lead and Canes looked deflated, however after a time-out was called, Nabbs managed to squeeze one back to relive some pressure but Bracknell looked the more organised team going into the final period 4-3 up.

Canes entered the third period looking to turn the tables and they did just that with Nabbs completing a hat trick to square up the game. Yet again the Bombers fought right back to edge another lead shortly after. With the pendulum swinging from both sides the next goal would be massive and luckily it came from Forbes for his second of the night to tie up the game with 6 minutes left. Both teams were looking for a hero to win the game but time was running out. Canes came agonisingly close by hitting the post and then with a well rehearsed play in the dying seconds but the time simply ran out. Final score 5-5

The game ended as a fair result with a very cat and mouse style game. Both teams had some good attacking spells but couldn’t maintain the lead. Canes maybe could have edged it if it had not been for a couple of silly penalty at crucial times and some more clinical defending in front of net, but I think at least we showed good character to come back from behind twice in one game.

Man of the match for Canes: Matt Darnell