For the second time in 10 days the 8th place Smiths Falls Bears defeat the nationally ranked (3rd) Brockville Braves. A disappointment for the team and the fans but in reality not totally unexpected. The team has been on a great run, we had a ton of injuries and those damn “No Name” Bears!

For those not in attendance in Smiths Falls last night ( I bet over half of the announced attendance were Braves fans) or watching on HockeyTV, it was a great game from this fan’s perspective. We received superlative goaltending from Liam Soulière and sparkling, near miss, offence from the balance of the team.

Those near misses hurt. There was one in the second period when the puck came out from behind the Bear’s goal, Smith was nowhere in sight, a couple of Braves there but nobody could shovel it home ! In that same period some hard work by Josh Sprat saw him get the puck out to Simon Mack, screaming in from the blueline down the slot. All alone, no score. In the third period, another scramble in the Bear’s end, pick comes across the crease, Phil Gilmour was there but couldn’t bang it home in the gaping open space. It was the story of the night.

Our goals were of two different varieties. Tyler McBay ( he is so smooth, wanna call him Sweet Lou") fired a “seeing eye” shot from the left point which found the back of the net thru a maze of players. Proving one of Neil’s fav comments about shooting on net. Eric Fath’s goal was probably only shot from a little closer to the net. It was a true “PRO” type shot that rocketed past Jake Smith in the Bear’s net. I don’t think Cary Price could have stopped that one.

Those “No Name” Bears are a real good team. They started off really strong in September (Showcase) then started to slide.Lately they have been trouble for every team in the league, not just our Braves. Who are these guys ? We were familiar with the highly toted Alex DiCarlo and Dopson in goal. Alex was traded to Pemby and Smith now appears to the No 1 tender.

When Phil Gilmour starts to connect, and he will, this team will take off on another winning streak. Phil scored in bunches last year and that pattern will return. Last season it was Eric Faith who seemed to have no luck around the net, this year it is Phil. When he starts to click, watch out.

Not offering excuses but we were missing four regulars last night; Matt Halle, Spencer Cosway, Josh “Seth” Jones and the team captain and leader, Fred Allaire. I was impressed with the efforts of Matt McQuaid and Gabe Barrow (AP from the Tikis). Matt impressed in the summer playing on a line with Paul Fine-Leese and Emerick Nadeau. Lots of speed. Gabe is an import from Toledo an has that gift of speed as well.

Give us our captain back along with the other three, let Phil starting notching goals and we will be more than Okay.