BRACKNELL Bees player-coach Lukas Smital reached another milestone in his illustrious career on Saturday, writes Dave Wright.

He took his tally to 800 points in the England Premier Ice Hockey League during his side’s 5-4 home defeat at the hands of Peterborough Phantoms.

“Yes, it is good, but it makes me feel old,” said Smital, who is the league’s all-time leading points scorer.

“It always feels good when I achieve such a thing, especially as you always remember a milestone goal.”

So, what’s next for the Czech forward?

“Well, one target was to play until I was 35; now I’m 42 and still playing,” he replied. “But I don’t usually like setting targets, I just go day by day.”

Smital scored twice to help Bees hit back from 5-0 down, with four goals in the last 10 minutes in an incredibly exciting final period which had the fans out of their seats.

“We could easily have tied the game,” added Smital, who took Bees’ man-of-the-match award.

“We struggled for 40 minutes, but changed a few things in the third and after scoring our first, we gathered momentum and kept going, kept going.

“I was happy with the way we finished the game, but, most importantly for me, we didn’t give in and kept going. Unfortunately in the dying seconds it didn’t happen for us.”

Smital also disclosed on Saturday the Bees had released Krystof Kafan, the 26-year-old Czech-born forward who joined the club in the summer.

“It was one of those decisions you have to make,” said the player-coach. “It was basically for the team, trying to make it stronger.

“At times there are decisions I have to make like this. Do I like to do them? Definitely not.

“I like to work with people, but sometimes, unfortunately, these things need to happen.”

Asked about a replacement, Smital replied: “I am working on it. We are not a big budget team. I will see where we are financially first before making a decision.”