Cardiff Devils vs Coventry Blaze - 31/01/2013

What a way to end January 2013?!  Thursday 31th saw that Coventry Blaze make a mid week trip down to the BBT to face off against your Cardiff Devils!  With the Cardiff/Coventry rivalry as high-strung as ever, these match ups are not to be missed.  Before this game, Coventry were leading the way with 4 out of 7 wins against Cardiff, and Devils' fans were desperately praying it was time to level it up.

  The game started quickly with a minor league wrestling match from Adam Harding and his GB roommate Matt Selby, both earning themselves a five minute major at 2.01.  Also within the first five minutes, Cardiff saw Piggot, Batch and Davies all in to the penalty box (tripping 2.05, boarding 4.52, and, roughing 4.52 respectively) while Coventry also had to contend with several penalties themselves. One of these disadvantages lead to the Devils' first goal, scored by Mac Faulkner at 10.04.  Davies doubled the lead two minutes later, assisted by Richardson - this giving Cardiff a 2-0 lead going into the second period.

  With the home side on a role, Jesse Gimblett also added to the welsh side's tally, giving them a three goal advantage for most of the second twenty.  This was lessened to two when James Griffin finally got one on the board for his team, slipping it past Chris Whitley.

  Despite the history between these two clubs, the game did not see a lot of penalties. After the combination of 15 PIMs for Coventry in the first period and 11 PIMs for the Devils, the only penalty seen for the rest of the game was a tripping call on Stuart MacRae just four minutes into the second. Could these teams be turning over a new leaf... Or has it finally become clear who starts all the trouble?

Either way, after the pair of goals traded during the second, we only had more goals to come in the final period. Unfortunately for Cardiff fans, those goals weren't crossing the line behind Peter Hirsch. Earning himself the Blaze MOM award, Greg Leeb managed to level the score for his team, one at 2.50 and the other at 11.44. Neither side was able to get that winning goal, so the game went into overtime.

Although scheduled for five minutes of overtime, fans in the BBT didn't even see two. After a nail biting third period, and losing a 2 goal lead, captain Stuart MacRae was not going to take any chances. Just 1.30 into the OT period, he slotted the puck past Hirsch earning his side that extra crucial point!

Devils 4, Blaze 3 - OT Final

You can check out all of Holly's game write up's here http://theworldofsportbyateengirl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/cardiff-devils-vs-coventry-blaze-l.html