Last nights Spider Monkey vs. Bandit game.

Last night the Spider Monkeys from the Ranger division met the Fort Worth Bandits from the Texan division. This was always slated to be a well matched game and in reality, no-one was dissappointed.

Both teams had equal numbers on the bench, Bandits coached my Ivey and the Monkeys coached by the toothless Upton. I think a total of 10 players and one goalie for each team.

Greg Perry, tended the pipes for the Bandits and Mike Best was between them for the Monkeys.

The Bandits took an early lead against the Monkeys in the first period from a shot from the right wing that took a nasty double deflection and wobbled and dipped past Bests shoulder for the opening goal.

The score stayed that way until the second, when the Bandits shot and missed, got a lucky rebound of the back boards, landing right on the stick of the left wing who had an open net to shoot on. The Monkeys grabbed one back on a shot that caught Perry standing up and snuck it past him and the post. The third goal from the Bandits came from a save from Best, that rebounded straight to the defense stick, which got hit from behind and snuck in past Best.

The fourth goal was stopped by Best and any goalies nightmare, rolling up Bests shoulder as he scrambled on all fours to stop it rolling into the net unsuccessfully.

The Monkeys now had to work to bring this game from the brink of disaster.

The third period was truely an exciting one, Best was a stone wall and let nothing in and the Monkeys snuck two past Perry as he stood proud on his post, sneaking underneath him making it a 4-3 game.

The last four minutes became a frantic effort on the part of the Monkeys, the goalie got pulled at 45 seconds to go and the Bandits kept the Monkeys away from their end and were rewarded for the win.

This was a well matched, well mannered game and could have gone either way.

Lady luck was on the side of the Bandits.... this time!