BRACKNELL Bees began their pre-season preparations with a brace of defeats to Telford Tigers, writes John Slater.

On Sunday, they fell to a 4-1 reverse in an ill-tempered clash against last season’s table-toppers.

The first period was the quietest but the action got started early when with little more than a minute gone the Tigers took an early lead through ex-Bee Dan Davies, assisted by Max Birbraer.

A tripping penalty after five minutes on Bees player/coach Lukas Smital saw their defence pushed into action to kill off the powerplay advantage which they did effectively despite Tom Annetts having to be alert in the Bees net.

The rest of the period settled into comfortable possession for both sides with the Tigers edging the chances.

It was as the first period hooter sounded that tempers flared for the first time with Martin Ondrej of the Tigers and James Galazzi of the Bees clashing, receiving six and 10 minutes for roughing

accordingly.

Tigers Blahoslav Novak and Joe Graham also became involved, as well as Bees star Milan Kostourek, with the latter and Graham receiving roughing minors. Novak received six minutes for roughing.

Just 13 seconds into the third period Smital was assessed a hooking minor, but the Bees still had a man advantage and as they pushed Josh Smith came close for the Bees on a good break, ringing the puck off the Tigers crossbar.

Nathan Salem and Frantisek Bakrlik then came together and were both called for holding before Smital voiced his disapproval of the call and was himself given a 10-minute misconduct penalty.

With five minutes remaining in the second period tempers flared again as Smith and Dan Davies fought, both receiving double roughing minors for their efforts.

This was quickly followed from the next faceoff as Bees' Lewis Turner, Matt Foord and Bakrlik clashed with Tigers' Dan Scott, Macaulay Heywood and James Smith – all six players receiving two plus two for roughing and 10-minute misconducts.

Chances at both ends of the ice were well saved by Annetts and Sam Gospel and the period ran out with the Tigers still holding the one-goal lead.

Two early penalties on the Tigers at the start of the third period gave the Bees a good opportunity to level the scores up as first Rick Plant and then Ondrej received roughing and interference penalties respectively.

The Bees pushed forward but Gospel stood firm in the Tigers net, before another clash between Sam Zajac and Callum Fowler resulted in more penalties being assessed with Marcus Maynard then picking up a charging penalty less than a minute later.

Birbraer extended the Tigers' lead to two goals but with 10 minutes to go in the game there was still all to play for.

The Bees struck to narrow the deficit as Kostourek finally found a way past Gospel, and for the next five minutes the Bees pressed hard looking for the game-tying goal.

However, it was the Tigers who would break Bees hearts with two goals in less than a minute, through Adam Taylor and Birbraer’s second.

With less than a minute on the clock and no way back for the Bees tempers again flared, Joe Graham of the Tigers dropping the gloves and trying to engage Fowler.

The Bees man opted not to engage and Graham received a two plus 10 penalty, but with only five seconds remaining in the game things erupted once more as first Novak and Fowler clashed, then Zajac and Bakrlik squared off before netminders Gospel and Annetts also dropped the gloves.

With only five seconds remaining and tempers still high the last five seconds were allowed to run off the clock with no further action.

Man-of-the-match awards went to Annetts and Gospel.

ON SATURDAY the Tigers prevailed 4-2 in a less heated encounter which included an electric start as Novak opened the scoring with a little under two minutes on the board.

The Bees then found themselves shorthanded as Matt Foord was penalised for tripping, but Smital tied the scores up less than 90 seconds after the Tigers had taken the lead.

The Bees then had another penalty to kill off as Josh Tetlow was called for hooking with just under seven minutes gone in the game but again the Bees stood firm.

The rest of the first period was scoreless but the chances kept coming at both ends of the ice as the teams looked for the go-ahead goal.

The Tigers took two quick penalties as the period ran down and the Bees had the chance to take the lead as they found themselves with a five-on-three powerplay opportunity, but they failed to do so.

With just under seven minutes gone in the second period the Tigers took the lead as Peter Szabo found the net and shortly after, they extended their lead as Maynard also found a way past Alex Mettam in the Bees net.

Two goals down the Bees had another powerplay opportunity only 30 seconds after the Tigers' third goal as a rare clipping penalty was called on Telford.

The game was swinging from one end of the ice to the other at pace with both netminders needing to be in good form to turn away shot after shot, but the Bees narrowed the gap at the thirty three 33-minute mark as Smith got the final touch past Tom Murday in the Tigers net.

With time running out on the second period tempers frayed, as first Matt Towalski was called for holding the stick before Birbraer was called for hooking only fourteen 14 seconds later.

Nathan Salem and Jan Bendik then clashed, both receiving roughing minors as time expired on the second period.

Chances came thick and fast in the third period but Novak sealed the victory late on.

A late slashing penalty on Smital, with little more than two minutes left in the game, saw the Tigers with one last powerplay chance but again the Bees defence stood firm as the final hooter sounded and the Tigers completed the win.

Man-of-the-match awards went to Fowler and Maynard.

THE Bees have announced Daniel Elkington Photography will provide match night filming of all home games for the 2015-16 campaign.