Match Night Live

Good evening! (If there's anyone out there of course...)

Chris here tonight, as always I can be reached before/during the game at matchnightlive@the-inferno.co.uk

Oops, sort of broke MNL there, this might cause it to refresh hopefully :E

Wahay, people have arrived at the BBT :)

Warmup is over, Devils obviously missing Milam and Macrae due to visa shenannigans

Couple of predictions in, Hazel says Devils to win 4-2, actually that turns out to be the only prediction :E

From the rink, Franny is speaking to Paul, although as always it seems most people have no idea what is being asked or said, and the ice is a mess, it's being dry cut at the moment but it doesn't look in such a good state :S

Sort of the default start to the season in the BBT, desperately need that new facility!

Hurrah, some more predictions, Robert says Devils to win 5-2 and Didiomete to rearrange Olson and Giudice due to the lack of the convict... :D

Keighleys predicting a 5-2 Devils win \o/

Carl says Devils to win 4-3 with Didiomete taking on anyone/everyone :P

The zamboni has managed to take the first layer of water off, 15mins to faceoff!

As expected, Coventrys dirty Rhino jerseys are horrendous, and allegedly all their players are ugly, these comments are obviously based on fact. :D

The lights are off, the officials are out, it's Dean Smith in charge tonight (Hurrah!)

Tonights intro has a choir of children players, i'm not sure if this is the new intro or just something put together for the preseason...

Aha, someone who can see a TV screen says it was a video of players in the gym again...

Sort of deathly quiet at the moment... Quite a few Blaze fans have made their way down for this opening game

Intro time! Lights are flashing, flags are out :D

A Blaze fan has predicted that the Devils will win with Didiomete slapping Olson about a bit, thanks for the prediction Paul :P

Blaze make their way onto the ice, essentially they've assembled a team of old men, youngsters and the odd convict, although he's not allowed into the country yet... :D

But now the Devils are on the ice, Osaer leading the team out to play \o/

Player announcement time, massive cheer for Didiomete as he's announced :D

Faulkner as captain for tonight with Macrae not yet here

Anthem time at the rink, but just incase anyone missed it, here's a view of this seasons Blaze jerseys... Forum link

Anthems over, trying to find out what the lines are, but here we go!

The puck is dropped, Faulkner takes the opening face off...

Opening line is... Faulkner, Blight & Hill, Marsh and M Smith on D

Didiomete tries to kill a Blaze player in the openeing minute, great start :D

Next line up is... Birbraer, Didiomete & Davies, Bath and K Smith on D

End to end stuff at the moment, and not all that friendly :P Piggot, Mckenzie, Harding are next up, not sure on the D pairing though

First penalty of the night goes to the Blaze, Giudice 2mins for hooking

Penalty timed at 3:05 it seems, although one texter says it was a Leeb who got the penalty... Ah the chaos of opening games :D

Apparently Domish is sporting a beard of epic proportions, ZZtop style beardage!

As Giudice comes back, Didiomete kills Domish along the boards, big cheer from our fans :D Just before Marsh missed an open net, but we'll forgive him :P

Another Blaze penalty, Domish 2mins for interference at 5:45, straight after Hirsch someone makes a good save on a shot from Hill

I'm not sure that's actual true, everyone knows Hirsch is bobbins, even Paul Thompson says so...

Devils called for icing at 6:44, and sounds like the Blaze have another penalty coming!

Blaze penalty timed at 7:02, Olson 2mins for cross-checking, Devils 5on3!

Domish back on the ice, Devils almost gift him a breakaway but he messes up and we regain possession, phew :D

Sounds like it's proper end to end at the moment, Hirsch keeps making saves and Domish messed up by celebrating too early for his goal that wasn't, the fool!

Blaze are back to full strength...

End to end, but Blaze haven't had the chance to get any clean shots away according to Ger-Devils, on the other hand the Devils are getting lots of shots but Hirsch has somehow found a way not to be entirely bobbins

Didiomete isn't as tall as some texters were expecting, but he's throwing lots of hits out, Osaer looking good as well :D

Egner makes a massive hit on Mckenzie, he was too scared to hit Didiomete... :E

Another Blaze penalty, this time Hirsch gets 2mins for delay of game at 11:29, and here comes a Devils penalty :(

Cowleys sitting the penalty for Hirsch, Devils have a bench penalty as it's 4on4, but i'm not sure what time it was called or who's sitting it

And it's all gone quiet...

Turns out the Devils penalty was called against Hill ,and it's 2mins for "face off violation" - anyone know what the heck that is?

Both teams are back to full strength, Hirsch has started to wobble, it's only ever a matter of time with him :P

It's all gone quiet again, although there may be a fight!

Didiomete vs. Olson!

Not sure why the system isn't updating properly, but it's Didiomete vs. Olson

Penalties timed at 15:33, K Smith 2mins for hooking, Didiomete 5mins for fighting

Olson had the bigger reach, but Didiomete didn't go down, Kensons hooking started the shenanigans off :E

Blaze penalty called at 15:33, Olson 5mins for fighting, leaves the Blaze on their first powerplay...

Couple of big saves from Osaer on the penalty kill, but the Devils are back to 5

Penalties called, Devils #22 and Blaze #17 who could actually be anyone :E

Penalties timed at 18:41, Blaze #17 (Cowley?) 2mins for holding the stick, Devils Marsh 2mins for hooking

And that's the end of the first period, Devils 0-0 Blaze, sounds like an entertaining game for the first friendly of the season!

Solid start to the game, pk and pp need some time to work/gel according to texters. Predictions that Thompson will be whinging about how many Smiths he has to play against again :P

Both teams back out for the second period

Osaer has brought his warmup dance back from Norway :D And here we go with the second period!

Olson and Didiomete return, both teams back to full strength, Davies apparently hurt Egner in a check late in the first period...

Ok, turns out it was another hit from Davies in the second period, Egner has limped off the ice, shots on goal for the first period were 6 on Hirsch, 10 on Osaer

Apologies, it's Egener, not Egner as i've been calling him :E

Domish gets flattened and we have a FIGHT! Birbraer killed Domish and his beard!

it's 5v5 on the ice, Guthrie started crying over Birbraers hit and decided to try fighting him

It's all kicking off according to the texters...

The fighting has stopped, now we're trying to sort the kit and penalties out...

Cowley is doing his best impression of Ashley Tait at Dean Smith :E

Blaze penalties timed at 23:34, Giudice and Guthrie 2mins for roughing

Devils penalties timed at 23:34, K Smith 2mins roughing, Birbraer 2mins interference, although Birbraer has left the ice to head to the changing rooms, texters didn't think he looked hurt though

Play resumes and it's handbags again, more penalties coming possibly...

Devils penalty timed at 24:54, Didiomete 2mins for interference

Blaze powerplay has warmed up quicker than ours, they're looking dangerous out there...

And Blaze open the scoring :( Rubbish line change from the Devils opens up the ice for Giudice and he makes it count

Blaze goal timed at 26:28, Giudice from Cowley and Olson - PPG

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLL

Devils goal from Birbraer, beautiful goal according to texters :D New goal music as well!

Birbraer from Didiomete and Marsh at 27:31 :D

After Osaer was forced into making save after save, it's Hirsch on the receiving end now...

Devils called for icing at 30:28, Blaze fans whinging about the Birbraer hit still :D

Devils penalty timed at 30:58, Piggot 2mins for hooking :(

Devils pk looked better that time, now back to full strength :)

Harding breakaway is somehow saved, 33:36 played

Good lord, the way some of the Blaze fans are going on, Birbraer hit Domish so hard he turned inside out, all the self-appointed referees have decided Birbraer intentionally hit Domish in his beard... :D

But don't worry, he's not lost his ZZ top beard, it's still there!

Egener trying to wind Birbraer up, obviously he's missing the bearded wonder as well :(

Birbraer and Davies playing well together, getting closer and closer to a goal, hopefully anyway...

Oooooh, Faulkner hits the post :(

Sam Smith decides he's going to try and bully Davies, it doesn't really work... :E

Just over 38mins played

39mins played, no sign of Domish since Birbraer hit him in the beard

And that's the end of the second, Devils 1-1 Blaze :)

Players back out for the third and final period...

Puck is dropped and we're underway for the 3rd, crowd is subdued as no sign of the beard again :(

Osaer looking very composed, Hirsch is slightly more flappy :D

Giudice skating around slashing harding whilst Smith is looking the other way

Ah no, Dean Smith is smarted than you Giudice, Blaze penalty timed at 41:49, Giudice 2mins for slashing

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL :D

Devils second goal timed at 42:39, Marsh from Blight and Faulkner - PPG

Marsh shot came from the blueline, lots of traffic and in it went, Hirsch was doing a handstand or something at the time

Davies hitting absolutely everything, really playing well again

Batch denied by Hirsch, then Osaers turn to make a save, sounds like a cracking game!

Didiomete playing well, no sign of Danton... :D

Faulkner misses a great opportunity for a 3rd

Another good save from Osaer, and shortly after he covers the puck, not sure what time

Devils fans thought they'd spotted Danton in the stands, then they remember he's not even allowed in the country, poor Danton :(

Hill flattens Griffin, in protest the Blaze ice the puck, timed at 47:13

Puck out of play, on play resuming another great save from Osaer :D

Didiomete boxing Hirsch in the net, no sign of Danton...

Guthrie the hard man takes on Birbraer, by tripping him up, gets a penalty for being a fool

Blaze penalty timed at 48:32, Guthrie 2mins for tripping

Penalties timed at 49:04, Griffin 2mins for slashing, Hill 2mins for cross-checking, coincidental penalties

Thompson looks to be in tears on the Blaze bench

Blaze back to full strength, or 5 as I guess Hill and Griffin are still sat in the penalty box

Hill and Griffin return to the ice, both teams at full strength, just over 51mins played

Texters are disappointed, Danton has done nothing all game :(

Hirsch save at 51:57, shot from Hill...

52:20 played, apparently tonights 50/50 has a special offer, 3 tickets for the price of 2...

Save after save from Osaer, Blaze seem to have picked up a bit

Devils turn to have a shot, Hill goes close, but not close enough :(

Cowley breakaway stopped by Osaer :D

Handbags timed at 54:28, no penalties this time I think...

Marsh beats Hirsch, but can't get the angle afterwards :(

Shortly afterwards, Hirsch decides it's about time he almost fumbles the puck into his own net, ah i've missed those :D

Mad scramble infront of Hirsh after another fumble, play stopped at 55:44

Great pass from Didiomete to Birbraer, but Hirsch just gets to it, 57mins played

Devils called for offside at 57:44 :(

Some great passing between Blight and Faulkner going on, and we're into the final 2mins

End to end stuff, into the final minute!

Red Army chant has started... but a penalty timed at 59:12 for K Smith, 2mins for slashing :(

Blaze call a timeout as the penalty is called

Devils clear the zone, 35seconds remaining!

10 seconds left!

Face off outside the blueline, called at 59:50 I assume, and it's all over, Devils win the first warmup :D

Wooot :D

Apparently there's no man of the match, we've got some 3 stars thing going on, 3rd = Didiomete, 2nd = Faulkner, 1st = Birbraer

That's all from me tonight, sounds like a great game for what was a friendly :)

Chris out.