Devils 5, Clan 4 - OT Final
Devils 2, Capitals 3 - SO Final
It was specials goals galore this weekend as our Cardiff
Devils faced off against two Celtic foes.
Saturday night saw the return of several former Devils,
including Ben Davies and Joe Myers (eek!!) to the BBT as Ryan Finnerty brought
his Braehead Clan to town.
Sunday saw a long trip across two borders to Murrayfield,
where the Devils’ overcame the fatigue of the overtime win the night before to
fight back from two goals behind, only to fall in the shootout 3-2.
While bus legs were
definitely a problem in the first period, the guys played a brilliant last 45
minutes of hockey. They definitely
had my heart in my mouth for the entire time, to say the least!
With over 100 PIMs (in total) across the two games this weekend,
you’d expect there to be a few special goals… our boys took that one to the
extreme! With the exception of
Joey Haddad’s beautiful overtime goal on Saturday, every single Devils’ goal
was either on the powerplay or while at a disadvantage (I think I woke my
little sister, I was yelling so much when Coach levelled the score with that
shorthanded goal on Sunday night!).
Seems like whatever Franny and Lord are preaching to those
units is definitely working this year!
This year’s team has been built with some incredibly well
rounded players, who are able to switch between offence and defence as easily
as they change socks, all while laying hits and taking (or giving!) punches
when necessary! This weekend we
saw Dougie Clarkson at his best, until Chris Frank interfered. We all know what No. 22 is capable of
and it can (very rarely!) be useful – unless you are the opposition.
After a dirty hit behind the away team’s net, Dougie handed
Frank his behind in a fight that the Braehead defenseman failed to show up
for! Three hits from 93 put Frank
down, but Dougie out; he did not return for the rest of the game and failed to
ice at all on Sunday.
I think we are all waiting with baited breath for news on
the big guy!
On the other hand, Hudson was also involved in some rough
and tumble this week, although the poor guy was suckered into it. After Zach Fitzgerald took offence to
Hudson’s open ice hit on the Braehead captain Matt Keith (something ref James
Aston also took offence to, giving Hudson a 5+match for checking to the head),
the Scottish #13 sucker punched Carl, completely taking the defenseman by
surprise – an extremely unfair fight by all accounts.
Fitzgerald was awarded 2 minutes for instigating plus
10minute misconduct and 5 minutes for fighting plus a game misconduct.
I, for one, was quite surprised when the Department of
Player Safety decided to side with us, instead of going against us like usual,
and removed any record of the incident from Carl’s record – allowing him back
on the ice for Sunday’s match up against Edinburgh.
Sunday night definitely proved to be a less high-strung game
against an improved Edinburgh side.
I’m not going to lie, the past couple of years, it has been almost
painful watching the Scottish side but I have a feeling this year could be
different.
They definitely proved they are a side to be reckoned with
on Sunday!
Having missed the opening fifteen – technical fault! What
can you do, eh? – I came into the game to see the Devils’ 1-0 down; I wasn’t
too worried, everyone lets in a fluke every now and then.
But after seeing Player/Coach Richard Hartmann’s goal to put
the Capitals two goals up going into the second, I was actually nibbling the
nails in apprehension! Whatever
the coaching pair said to the lads during the intermission seemed to take
effect immediately – in my opinion, we were just plain unlucky not to get the
winner after the guys levelled it up!
Throughout the entire last forty, the Welsh side pushed at
Tomas Hiadlovsky but both net-minders were putting on one hell of a show –
During the second period, the deficit could have been a lot worse, with Bowns
pulling out some incredible point blank saves on the Capitals’ forwards.
And of course, we cannot forget Riley Emmerson…. Having just
had his 10 game suspension reduced to 3 earlier in the week, and icing for his
first game after serving his three game suspension, Emmerson spent most the
game running his mouth at anyone who passed him – even ref Matt Thompson!
Emmerson also managed to get himself a 2+10 for checking to
the head in the third period, ensuring that he took no part in the overtime
period or penalty shootout, after squashing poor CJ between a rock and a hard
place when his head was down. No
26 continued to voice his opinions on his sentence from the penalty box
whenever Thompson got too close!
In the end,
both sides deserved the overtime point but only one team could walk away with
that precious extra tally.
A three point weekend is not something to be snuffed at and
I for one am definitely looking forward to next weekend’s fixtures, as the
Challenge Cup race heats up with a trip to Sheffield, the Steelers’ first game
in the Motorpoint after clearing up their icy problems, before the Panthers come
to town on Sunday! The lads will
definitely be looking to take four points in the coming games to continue
pushing towards one of those coveted trophies.
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