Challenge Cup Time!

Hello folks!

This week saw the opening matches of the Challenge Cup quarter-finals, with our own Cardiff Devils, as well as the Fife Flyers and Sheffield Steelers, taking the lead in their two-leg series.

Cardiff and Belfast kicked off the festivities on Tuesday, as the Welsh side ventured to the Northern Irish capital to take on the reigning Elite League Champions at the Odyssey Arena. 

Despite missing Matthew Myers and Captain Tyson Marsh, the Devils managed to fight their way through three periods, and the refereeing of Mike Hicks, to come out with a 4-3 win.

After a scoreless first period, Cardiff scored first, through Joey Haddad on the powerplay, to take the lead.  Belfast equalised just over a minute later, through Man of the Match Colin Shields, but even grit and determination was not enough to stop the visiting side from scoring two more second period goals (Lord @ 36:56 and Morrisette @ 39:04), taking a 3-1 lead into the final period.

Cardiff continued their plight early in the third, with a second goal from Jake Morrisette to increase the Devils’ lead to three goals.

However, we all know that Belfast are not a team to lay down when the going gets tough, and the home side fought back gallantly (not a word I would use to describe Darryl Lloyd but eh).  They managed to score two goals in two minutes to bring the deficit back within one, the first of the two coming off a beautiful stretch pass from Calvin Elfring that bypassed every Devils’ player on the ice!

Of course, there had to be some drama with Hicks at the whistle – there is always is, right?  Tuesday night saw Cardiff on the penalty kill for most the final ten minutes, giving the Giants an incredible opportunity to push the game into overtime.   As a result, Doug Clarkson will miss tonight’s game against the Coventry Blaze, after being assessed a five-minute major for Spearing and a Game misconduct.  The DOPS’s decision and explanation on this ban can be found here: http://www.eliteleague.co.uk/ban-for-clarkson-p195694

Meanwhile, while I was having a panic attack as Belfast shot chance after chance into the glove, stick or body of wonder man Ben Bowns, our boys fought hard to keep their lead.  I can safely say I have never been so happy to hear the final buzzer! 

Although I was slightly disappointed we didn’t get to the see the Bownsy Wave…

Wednesday night saw a 6-4 win for the Fife Flyers over the Nottingham Panthers at the National Ice Centre, with the Scottish side icing five different scorers!

And, to round off the Challenge Cup games for this week, Gerad Adams and his Sheffield Steelers crossed the Scottish border to face off against the Dundee Stars, bringing home a 3-0 win to give them the advantage going into their second leg.

This coming week will see the second leg for both Sheffield vs Dundee and Cardiff vs Belfast, as well as the first leg for Coventry vs Braehead – all games taking place on Wednesday at 7:30pm.

But, tonight, we Devils’ fans will watch our boys face off against the Coventry Blaze tonight at the BBT (FO 7:30pm) before they travel up to the NIC tomorrow for an early 4pm FO against the Nottingham Panthers.  Good luck in both fellas, and safe trip to all of the Red Army making the long trip North tomorrow!

Happy hockey folks!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, folks!  Hope you all had fab time, cheering in 2015!

But to us hockey fans, the New Year does not start in January, as it does for those unfortunate many that do not follow our wonderful sport.  No, for us, the New Year starts in the Autumn, when it is just starting to get cold and the trees are orange (but not that nasty shade of orange that the Squeelers wear!!).

Now that the ‘actual’ New Year has come around, perhaps it’s time to look back on how far we’ve come.  So much has happened, both in terms of hockey and in life in general, since the start of the season that it is almost unbelievable that only three months has passed since the 2014-2015 season started.

Down in Cardiff, we were greeted with the welcome news that our precious club was to be rescued by Steve King and his partners from the hockey homeland.  After a terrible season the previous year, we were all looking forward to what this new conglomerate could bring to the Bay!  With the involvement of Todd Kelman and the promotion of Andrew Lord to player/coach, things were certainly looking up for us.

And what a team we have!  While familiar faces such as Josh Batch, Tyson Marsh and Mark Richardson all remained with the club, Lord and Kelman, with the help of long standing Bench Coach and former Devils’ player Neil Francis, worked tirelessly to bring new talent to the Welsh Capital.

Amongst the newcomers were now-crowd favourites Doug Clarkson and Trevor Hendrikx, as well as sharp shooters Brent Walton (and his little one, Colby, too) and Joey Haddad.  To help Richie and Batch on the blueline, Carl Hudson and Andrew Hotham (my personal favourite!) were drafted in.   And last, but certainly in no means least, GB netminders Ben Bowns and Mike Will were fitted between the pipes, bringing not only immense skill and dedication to this outlook, but also the Bownsy Wave!!! Where would we be without that after a hard-fought win?!

Now, of course, there are several other guys who joined the team, as well as several who remained from previous years, but if I got started on talking about them all, we’d be here all day!  I could go on for days, and that’s just talking about what great guys they are – without even mentioning their hockey talent!

Of course, we have to remember those we’ve lost – although most of them have hung around the league!  At the beginning of the season, we welcomed back Gerad Adams and Phil Hill back to the Tent, with their new Sque- I mean Steelers team.  Crowd favourites such as Chris Blight,

A lot of critics were cautious about this new team of ours, but the boys have certainly proved, week in and week out, that we are here to stay.  Just like in days gone passed, the BBT is once again a placed to be feared by visiting teams!  No longer can the likes of Adam Keefe and Darryl Lloyd (yuck!) come waltzing into our place and push us around; Heno has certainly seen to that!

With loud renditions of ‘you got battered’ ringing throughout the bay, I can truly say I am proud to be a Devils’ fan.  Our boys stand up and take names wherever they go.  And the Red Army are behind them 100% of the way.

At this point, I’m pretty sure Coventry’s Brian Stewart gears up extremely reluctantly before every Devils’ game, no matter which Planet Ice arena they are playing in – he must be havin nightmares of @WildthingJ74’s ‘stewwwwwwart’ taunts by now!

Now, as we move forward into 2015, with wins against both the Hull Stingrays and the Fife Flyers in our opening games of the New Year, our team sits joint 2^nd in the League, with three games in hand over the league leading Braehead Clan .  With our guys proving there is nothing they can’t do, there are no words to describe how excited I am for what is to come!

Happy New Year, folks!  Hope you all had fab time, cheering in 2015!

But to us hockey fans, the New Year does not start in January, as it does for those unfortunate many that do not follow our wonderful sport.  No, for us, the New Year starts in the Autumn, when it is just starting to get cold and the trees are orange (but not that nasty shade of orange that the Squeelers wear!!).

Now that the ‘actual’ New Year has come around, perhaps it’s time to look back on how far we’ve come.  So much has happened, both in terms of hockey and in life in general, since the start of the season that it is almost unbelievable that only three months has passed since the 2014-2015 season started.

Down in Cardiff, we were greeted with the welcome news that our precious club was to be rescued by Steve King and his partners from the hockey homeland.  After a terrible season the previous year, we were all looking forward to what this new conglomerate could bring to the Bay!  With the involvement of Todd Kelman and the promotion of Andrew Lord to player/coach, things were certainly looking up for us.

And what a team we have!  While familiar faces such as Josh Batch, Tyson Marsh and Mark Richardson all remained with the club, Lord and Kelman, with the help of long standing Bench Coach and former Devils’ player Neil Francis, worked tirelessly to bring new talent to the Welsh Capital.

Amongst the newcomers were now-crowd favourites Doug Clarkson and Trevor Hendrikx, as well as sharp shooters Brent Walton (and his little one, Colby, too) and Joey Haddad.  To help Richie and Batch on the blueline, Carl Hudson and Andrew Hotham (my personal favourite!) were drafted in.   And last, but certainly in no means least, GB netminders Ben Bowns and Mike Will were fitted between the pipes, bringing not only immense skill and dedication to this outlook, but also the Bownsy Wave!!! Where would we be without that after a hard-fought win?!

Now, of course, there are several other guys who joined the team, as well as several who remained from previous years, but if I got started on talking about them all, we’d be here all day!  I could go on for days, and that’s just talking about what great guys they are – without even mentioning their hockey talent!

Of course, we have to remember those we’ve lost – although most of them have hung around the league!  At the beginning of the season, we welcomed back Gerad Adams and Phil Hill back to the Tent, with their new Sque- I mean Steelers team.  Crowd favourites such as Chris Blight,

A lot of critics were cautious about this new team of ours, but the boys have certainly proved, week in and week out, that we are here to stay.  Just like in days gone passed, the BBT is once again a placed to be feared by visiting teams!  No longer can the likes of Adam Keefe and Darryl Lloyd (yuck!) come waltzing into our place and push us around; Heno has certainly seen to that!

With loud renditions of ‘you got battered’ ringing throughout the bay, I can truly say I am proud to be a Devils’ fan.  Our boys stand up and take names wherever they go.  And the Red Army are behind them 100% of the way.

At this point, I’m pretty sure Coventry’s Brian Stewart gears up extremely reluctantly before every Devils’ game, no matter which Planet Ice arena they are playing in – he must be havin nightmares of @WildthingJ74’s ‘stewwwwwwart’ taunts by now!

Now, as we move forward into 2015, with wins against both the Hull Stingrays and the Fife Flyers in our opening games of the New Year, our team sits joint 2^nd in the League, with three games in hand over the league leading Braehead Clan .  With our guys proving there is nothing they can’t do, there are no words to describe how excited I am for what is to come!