The season is finally upon us, and the Devils kicked off in spectacular fashion… with a spectacular loss. It was the theory circling the Red Army that, although we knew this opening weekend would be hard, this would be a chance to show that we can better the Panthers despite what the playoff final demonstrated. Unfortunately, we haven’t got off to the best of starts. With over three hundred fans making the long, tedious journey up to Nottingham, it was definite that everyone was excited to see the team play.
With the Devils in black, we knew they meant business. Despite missing number 23, Max Birbraer – thought to be due to a possible injury sustained in Wednesday’s preseason game against Coventry-, the team looked strong at the start; also missing from the bench was bench coach Neil Francis, who was served with a match penalty at the end of the playoff final. Additions to the line up came in the form of Adam Harding and Luke Piggott, who played in the 7-3 defeat to Coventry on Wednesday.
With the Panthers making two early trips to the penalty box, both before a minute had past, the boys in black were dominating the game. With newly appointed Captain Stuart MacRae coming extremely close, forward Sam Smith put the Devils ahead with a goal at just 2:20 into the game. From then the Devils stayed strong, even when coach and assistant coach, Gerad Adams and Scott Matzka took penalties within seconds of each other. The Devils managed to hold the Panthers back and successfully killed both penalties.
With the Devils’ lines taking a new form, everything started to go a bit haywire. We are used to seeing Voth with Hill, but tonight Voth played with Burrows and Davies. Phil Hill was even described to be looking a little timid throughout the night. Although I don’t personally think so, some people could put the first, if not all the Panthers’ goals down to the unfamiliarity of the Devils’ lines. But for whatever the reason, the Panthers came back with a goal of their own at 9:53 of the first period. The second came at 16:00, on the power-play. The first period ended 2-1 Panthers.
In the second period, the Devils’ defense was all over the place, with the forwards not far behind. On the power-play we got no shots and on the power-kill we conceded too many. We were able to fall back on the amazing skills of goaltender Stevie Lyle for a while, most fans hoping that things would pick up, but it was only a matter of time before Stevie folded. Third Panthers goal came at 30:55 on the power-play.
During the second, it looked like the Devils might be able to pull it back a little. Just before the third Panthers goal, Jeff Pierce broke away towards the net. Now, unfortunately for Devils’ fans, Mike Hicks was refereeing the game, and when Pierce was tripped from behind during his breakaway, Hicks called slashing and sent him to the box, instead of giving Pierce a penalty shot. If anyone was at the Cardiff/Nottingham game at the BBT in February, then you will know what it feels like to witness a game refereed by Hicks. This game was no different. Before the second period ended, Beauregard of the Panthers, who scored the second goal for the home team, managed to extend their lead to 5-1, gaining himself the two goals needed for a hat-trick.
Despite the quality of play throughout most of the first two periods, the Devils started the third strongly. For most of the last 20:00, both teams played an end-to-end game, with not much happening. However, despite the pick-up in play for the Devils, they were not able to hold back David Clarke from adding a final sixth goal to the tally, leaving the final score at 6-1 Panthers. Man of the match for Cardiff was number 17, Mark Richardson, with Jordan Fox getting the award for the home team.
Hope anyone travelling back from the game has a safe trip. The Devils play the Panthers at the BBT tomorrow night, puck drop at 6pm, and it is sure to be an interesting game… especially due to the change in referee!
