Devils 5, Blaze 4 - Final Overtime
Have you ever watched something so enticing, so enthralling, so entertaining, that it felt like your heart would cease to beat at any moment? That's what awaited me at the Cardiff Bay Arena last night, where the Cardiff Devils were all set to continue their winning streak against the Coventry Blaze.
With an ever fierce rivalry - and a twenty-one game win streak - the atmosphere was almost certain to be hair-raising... and it didn't disappoint. Not only were the Red Army out in full force, but the Blaze had also wrestled up some extremely vocal fans. Everything up until this point was sure to make for a fantastic game... or should I say, five-tastic game!
Devils managed to pull off five amazing goals; four of them in regular time (scored by Max Birbraer (35.30), Phil Hill (37.57), followed by his second (47.58) and also with his second, Max Birbraer (49.27). With this showstopping performance, Birbraer managed to pick up the Man Of The Match award for Cardiff.) But even with these four fantastic goals, the Blaze managed to find four of their own (Dan Carlson (28.53), Ross Venus - scoring only 28 seconds after Max Birbraer equalized- (35.58), Brad Cruikshank (45.43) and Aaron Nell (55.50)), and forced the game into sudden-death overtime.
But fear not, as the Devils only allowed fifty-seven seconds - and what a heart-stopping fifty-seven seconds they were - of play to commence. That short-but eventful-space of time saw a Blaze breakout, executed by Dan Carlson (who originally opened the scoring), one that allowed Stevie Lyle to showoff his brilliance between the pipes, getting his whole body behind the puck and stopping it before it fully crossed the line. This was just one in the long line of brilliant saves made by both goaltenders; Brent Jaeger even managed to pick up the Man Of The Match award for the Blaze, stopping an incredible fifty-four shots out of fifty-nine, whereas Stevie Lyle managed to stop twenty-one out of twenty-five.
After almost losing their record breaking win streak, the Devils stepped up the pace. Control came in the form of Craig Weller, who claimed the puck from face-ff and made sure it went down the ice. Once his job was done, Weller dropped the puck to Ryan Finnerty and the rest was history; the Devils getting their twenty-second win in a row.
All in all, an amazing game to witness... but then, Devils/Blaze match-ups always are! Keep an eye for the next blog... and Good Luck Devils on Wednesday, against the Nottingham Panthers, in the Challenge Cup! If you haven't got your tickets, get them now! Puck-drop is at 7.30pm....
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