Devils @ Blaze - Inferno Perview

18th Nov 2014 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

We’ve seen a lot of the Blaze this season already with this match being the 7th meeting between the two teams. After a first game of the per-season defeat to the blaze winning the 2nd game of the of the pre-season got things back on track for the Devils and the winning hasn’t stopped from there with another 4 Devils wins over the Coventry side so far this season.

There’s been a lot said about the Blaze side this year and no one has been more scathing than their own fans. Not naming any names but this post from the forum, from just before out last meetings with them, sums up most of what’s been said brilliantly -

“4 point weekend for the Devils, with the exception of Stewart, Tanaka, Cescon and Griffin as a Coventry fan we are a total shambles, God awful power play, forwards who can't hit a cows arse with a banjo and a defence leaving Stewart hung out to dry time and time again. Blaze have fallen from grace and the Thompson glory days are long gone, we have slipped behind the Clan and yourselves in the elite league pecking order”

The look on Coach Marc LeFebvre’s face in the picture above sums up their season so far pretty well and last weekend probably saw him pulling that same confused look on more than one occasion.

The Blaze needed wins at the weekend to keep their Challenge cup hopes alive and they kind of got them.. maybe..

Saturday new signing Jakub Sindel marked his debut with the game-winning goal as the Blaze posted a much needed Challenge Cup win over Hull Stingrays at the Skydome.

The Czech forward struck on the powerplay at 36.10 as Blaze took a step closer to reaching the quarter-finals.

Captain Ashley Tait (1.35) and Ross Venus (9.36) - his third goal in six games - had given Blaze a 2-0 lead but Zach Hervato (17.04 short-handed) and Carl Lauzon (24.58) made it 2-2.

Ryan O'Marra nudged Blaze back in front at 30.08 and Sindel extended their lead before Matty Davies (49.58 powerplay) cut the deficit but the home side held on.

Coach Marc LeFebvre had this to say "It was a huge win but we now need to get the job done tomorrow.
 
"I thought we started well but we made a costly mistake on the powerplay to let them back in it and then a breakdown made it 2-2.”
 
"But we kept plugging away and we had a couple of chances to put them away in the third but did not capitalise. It was a scrappy game but we found a way to win.”
 
"I am happy for Jakub to get the game-winner and he will only get better the more he gets to know his team-mates and the league."

Final Score
Blaze 4 – 3 Hull

Before frankly messing thing up on Sunday in Hull taking their Challenge Cup fate out of their own hands as having won 4-3 at the Skydome on Saturday night, Blaze knew another victory would have booked a quarter-final date with Braehead Clan.

Defeat in regulation time would also have eliminated them but a point means they must now rely on Cardiff Devils beating Stingrays in the final Group B tie to progress.

Russell Cowley - his first goal since September - fired Blaze in front with just four seconds remaining of the opening period.

Carl Lauzon levelled for Stingrays with a powerplay marker at 21.57 but Rory Rawlyk nudged Blaze back into the lead at 25.42 with his fourth goal in five games.

Two goals inside 80 seconds from Zach Hervato (47.39) and Matty Davies (48.59) saw Stingrays take the lead for the first time.

Blaze lost Craig Cescon for third man in at 53.29 and was also assessed a five-minute fighting major along with Stingrays' Eric Galbraith.

Former Hull forward Jereme Tendler tied the game up at 3-3 at 58.16 before Stingrays defenceman Yan Turcotte was ejected for abuse of official (62.03).

The game went into penalty shots with Hervato the only successful shooter and Tendler, Ryan O'Marra an Jakub Sindel missing for Blaze.

Final Score
Blaze 3 – 4 Hull

Coach Marc LeFebvre had this to say: "We have to rely on Cardiff now to get the job done for us. Not getting the two points was a missed opportunity. We always want to control our own destiny but now we have to rely on someone else doing it for us."
 
"We need a killer instinct to finish teams off, we have to be hungrier to finish teams off. Pucks are ending up in the back of our net because we are not doing the little things."

"It's about five times now this season we have had a lead going into the third period and let it slip away. But give the guys credit, they showed some character at the end there to tie it up and get a point to keep us in the competition. But we are in limbo now."
 
New signing  Czech forward Jakub Sindel experienced mixed emotions on his first weekend with Genting Casino Coventry Blaze.

He had this to say: "We should have won both games but our mistakes cost us. Now we are in a bad situation because we have to wait and we have to hope.

"It was a nice feeling [to get the game-winning goal] and it was a nice feeling just to win the game.”

The ones to watch for the Blaze based purely on stats so far this season are 

Ryan O'Marra on 5 Goals and 19 assists

Steven Goertzen  on 6 Goals and 13 Assists

Ashley Tait  on 3 Goals and 13 Assists

Rory Rawlyk  on 6 Goals and 9 Assists

In nets Brian Stewart will no doubt be hung out to dry and then lose his head in the third period but has posted an impressive 92.3% save percentage so far this season and a Goals against average of 2.77 so far this season.

The Blaze will as usual be running their webcast for this game details can be found here - http://www.cleancutsports.com/index.php/live-webcasts

We will be running the 'ridiculously childish and disgustingly biased' Match Night Live service for this game,as always expect name calling, slurs and bad jokes about keepers not being able to stop beach balls in epic proportions, at the usual location of http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/mnl

If you'd like to chip in with a comment or make a score prediction on the night you can contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com.