Devils 4, Blaze 1 - Final
Hockey night in Cardiff and the boys welcomed the Coventry Blaze to the BBT, for the first game of a double-headed weekend. After Saturday's game, the Devils followed their rivals up to the Skydome to play them in the second game of the weekend. With this game begin a stretch of three games in five days for the Devils, they were desperate to get it off to a good start.
The game started with end-to-end action, and some hard hits from Cardiff's finest. With Blaze new boy Park Woo-Sang on the ice, our own Max Birbraer took it upon himself to welcome the South Korean to the BBT. The Blaze followed this up with two penalties, giving Cardiff a 5-on-3 opportunity. Unfortunately, the Blaze were prepared defensively, successfully killing off both penalties. But the lack of success on the powerplay didn't hold the Devils back when the game returned to even strength. At 7.15, powerhouse foward Phil Hill received the puck from Matzka and Voth, before sending it passed Blaze netminder Peter Hirsch to put Cardiff ahead by one. More end-to-end action followed with a couple of penalties for each team. Although both teams had some great chances, the goal light didn't light up again until 10:44, when Max Birbraer doubled Cardiff's lead to 2-0.
With ten minutes left of the first period, things were started to heat up. We all know that you cannot have a Cardiff/Coventry game without some physical play. We have already had Brian Jurynec trying to wind up our very own Brad Voth; when Voth didn't react to the instigator, Jurynec moved on to someone who would fight back. At 13:12, Devils' head coach Gerad Adams dropped the gloves with Jurynec, both earning themselves five for fighting. With the Devils already on fire, this round of handbags seemed to set them blazing. Within a minute later, Mark Richardson had added a third Devils' goal, with Hill adding his second of the night to the total not even thirty seconds later. Peter Hirsch managed to pull out some saves in the last couple of minutes, before the period finished 4-0 Devils.
After some incredible play by the Devils' defense in the first period, mainly from young Brit Josh Batch and forward/defensemen Scott Dobben, it was now time for the Blaze to step up their defense. With Hirsch now finding his feet, or his gloves and pads, the Devils were having to try extra hard to get the puck passed him. Before any more goals could be added to the Cardiff tally, Tim Burrows was sent to the box for intereference, giving Coventry the advantage. Unfortunately for the Blaze, the Devils stepped up their special units and were defending well, even getting lucky enough for some shorthanded chances, though nothing came of them. Despite having a worrying first period, Hirsch seemed to pick himself up during the intermission as he made his way through the second, stopping all Devils' chances on goal. Lyle also kept up his stellar performance, not allowing any of the Coventry chances to get passed him. Score at the end of the second, 4-0 Devils.
Now I don't know what was said in the away dressing room during the second intermission, but Thompson must have made an extreme impression on his players; just 4:40 in the third and the Blaze managed to pull a goal back, coming from Robert Farmer. With the score up to 4-1, we saw a couple of penalties, before goal scorers Birbraer and Farmer got into it, both earning themselves five for fighting, with Max getting the instigator and Farmer getting two for interference. David Phillips also got two for delay of game, giving the Devils a 4-on-3 advantage. With nothing coming from this extended penalty, there were a couple of other penalties but nothing could help the Blaze now. They played well for the last five minutes but the game finished 4-1 Devils.
