So the Devils are back on home ice and ready to take on the Braehead Clan. With emotions running high, the Red Army welcomed legend Brad Voth into the BBT for the last time, gracing him with a standing ovation, whilst a montage of the Mayor’s time with the Devils played in the background. With anthems and the like out of the way, the game was underway, with the Devils starting strongly. Throughout the first few minutes of the opening twenty minutes, the Devils pressured the Clan defence, forcing their way through; holding them at bay was a solid wall in the shape of netminder, Jaakko Suomalainen, who was forced to make some fantastic saves.
Despite the continuing pressure from the welsh side, Clan
defenseman Drew Bannister managed to work his way through the Devils’ skaters
and slot the puck passed tender Lyle, at 9.11.
This seemed to kickstart the rest of the Scottish side, who began to
create more chances for themselves. With
more chances for the Clan came less for the Devils, and the Scottish first line
looked deadly. After several penalties,
the Devils find themselves on the PP, although all that comes from it is an
altercation between our own #25 Phil Hill and the remaining Clan players on the
ice. Unfortunately for the Devils, as
soon as the Clan reach full strength, Jade Galbraith is straight into the
Devils’ zone, throwing the puck on net, giving the Clan a 2-0 lead. He followed this up a minute later with his
second of the night at 18.41. First
period ends 3-0 Clan.
With the shots favouring the visiting team throughout the
first twenty minutes, it was going to take a serious pep-talk to changes the
way of play for the Devils. Coming out
after the intermission break, it seemed that whatever was said in the locker
room was slow to take effect, with the Clan camped out in the Devils’
zone. Despite this, the Cardiff boys
were not down and out, coming back with a vegence in the 26th
minute, when American forward Jeff Piece shot the puck into an open net, having
tricked both the defensemen and Jaakko Suomalainen into coming out too
far. Pierce then circled round and
received the pass off his skate, before moving the puck quickly from his stick
into the back of the net.
Throughout the period, both teams had seen several minor
penalties. Neither team managed to use
the accompanying advantages to their advantage, the five combined powerplays
all going without any goals. The
penalties that caused these powerplays were all, as already mentioned, minor
and most were inconsequential, almost to the point of boredom, at least until
the 36th minutes, when both Kenton Smith and Ryan Campbell both
being sent to the box for roughing, after get tangled together. Second period ended 3-1 Clan.
What I wouldn’t give to have been a fly on the wall in the Devils’ locker room during the 2nd intermission break! In a complete turnaround, Cardiff managed to score three goals in the space of ten minutes; the first, at 42.48, was from players/coach Gerad Adams, with some incredible end to end magic. Jeff Pierce then came in with his second of the night at 45.09, followed by Scott Dobben at 48.43 with the third. Unfortunately, despite the increase in intensity by the welsh side and the increase in saves Suomalainen was being called upon to make, the Devils failed to increase their lead. In fact, with only 31 seconds left on the clock, Jade Galbraith, scoring his third goal of the night, pulled the Clan level, just as the Red Army were getting ready to cheer home the win. Off into OT we went, 4-4 the score at the end of regulation.
But, unfortunately for the Red Army, overtime came and went,
with no goals for either side, despite the five minutes being Devils’
dominated. There were some close calls,
with Devils’ forward Scott Matzka going close with only 43 seconds remaining,
but it was not to be.
Into penalty shootout we went, a feat that will make any
Devils’ fan nervous… it is well known that we are not the best in shootouts,
but each time we give it our all. First
up for the Clan was MOM Jade Galbraith, who put the puck just wide of Stevie
Lyle. Devils’ first shooter was
defensemen Kenton Smith, who managed to put the puck passed Suomalainen and
give the Red Army some hope. The shots
continued, with the Clan’s Krestanovuch also scoring his to put the two sides
level. Both Richardson and Pierce
stepped up to the mark, both having their shots saved. Just like in regulation, Galbraith came back
for the Clan to score again and put them ahead two to one. Our final shooter, Kenton Smith, had to score
for us to remain in the game. However,
in a dark turn of events, the Clan tender managed to put his glove to good use
and stopped Smith’s shot, ending the shootout and the game. Final score 5-4 Clan, after OT and SO.
Despite the loss, the Devils definitely showed what they are
made out of, and gave Brad Voth a fantastic send off. We wish the Mayor all the best in whatever he
may find himself doing and hope he comes back to visit soon. Nobody be dishearten by the weekend’s result;
come on down to the BBT on Saturday (11th Feb) night, when the
Cardiff Devils welcome the Edinburgh Capitals.
Let’s go Devils!
