Devils @ Blaze - Match Preview 16th November

14th Nov 2013 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

Hey hey this weekend see’s the Devils Embark on their league campaign against our geographical speaking nearest rivals the Coventry Blaze. The two teams have met twice this season in the Challenge Cup already with the Blaze coming off the worse on both occasions.

The Devils played just one game last weekend losing at home to the Hull Stingrays highlights of which you can see here http://www.cardiffdevils.com/news/devils-news/devils-v-stingrays-highlights/

The Blaze on the other hand have had a bit of a busier run and come into this game having lost their last three outings. Speaking about his teams form Coach Matt Soderstrom had this to say in the run up to last weekend.

 “I need everybody to work for 60 minutes, not a handful every game. It is not always the same guys, I just don’t know what I am going to get from night to night and that needs to change.”

"We have a big game coming up and we have to go out and prove ourselves against Sheffield, who are a good team."

Saturday saw the return of Steelers head coach Doug Christiansen’s and it was the perfect start for the visitors as they hit the front at 5.19 with Nate DiCasmirro on target and at 11.16 doubled their lead to take a 2-0 advantage into period two thanks to a scoring shot by Drew Fata.

On a penalty shot Rob Sirianni added a third for Steelers at 27.31 but at 29.23 on the power play the home side were on the board with Adam Henrich firing home.

Nip and tuck in the third session with no lack of effort form either side. One further goal did come the way of Blaze but it was too little too late when Michael Henrich scored his first goal in 12 games, counting only as a consolation in the end as Steelers claimed both road points.     

Final Score Coventry Blaze 2 – 4 Sheffield Steelers 

 
Speaking after the game Coach Matt Soderstrom had this to say “We created a lot of chances; I don’t know how many we missed. We out-chanced them but they out-scored us, which is what counts.
 
"I am happy with the effort but it was just one of those nights. It was frustrating but we need to take the positives out of the game.
 
"We need to build on the positives and stick together to get ourselves out of this."

Wednesday night saw the Blaze in action away to the Braehead Clan.

In the first period  the played flowed from end to end with both teams coming close on more than a few occasions  However, the only goal of the opening session came the way of the home team at 12.12 as Tristan Harper fired the puck home.

The opening of the second period saw both teams creating chances, however, both goaltenders were pulling off some big stops.We then had two goals in just over a minute as a strike from Michael Henrich at 33.29 had the visitors back on level terms. However, the hosts regained the lead at 34.48 with a goal from Ed McGrane.

For the second time in the game the Blaze restored equality as Kevin Harvey netted at 43.53. Both teams tried to get the game winner throughout the remainder of the period but neither could find that elusive goal and the went into overtime.

The overtime period saw the play go from end to end with the homes side getting the better of the chances. At 62.14 the game winner came the way of the hosts as Matt Towe sent the homes fans into a frenzy.
 
Final Score Braehead Clan 3 – 2 Coventry Blaze (After Overtime)

Coach Matt Soderstrom said: "Being short, we had to play just two centres for the whole game and four 'D', so a lot of guys logged a lot of minutes.”
 
"Braehead are a good team, they worked hard and put a lot of pressure on us but we managed to pull it back in the third and got a big point.”
 
"In overtime anything can happen and the bounce did not go our way. But I have to be happy with a point. We were short of bodies, it was a long journey and I got 100 per cent out of everyone."

The Blaze have been hugely short benched  of late missing long-term finger injury victim Benn Olson and even longer absentee Steven Chalmers in addition to the Wednesday s game saw them missing Gerome Giudice and Ashley Tait, and they also lost Russ Cowley to injury during the game.

Speaking on their short bench Blaze forward Mike Henrich, who has been playing on defence recently, added: “We have not had a full line-up for some time and we have to change certain positions and put guys in different roles but that’s how it goes. When we can start relying on our healthy guys again you will start to see a different team.”

I can’t see any indication on who’s back and when for the Blaze so Saturday could see the Devils face a very short benched indeed Blaze squad.

The ones to watch for the Blaze have to be

Adam Henrich  on 11 Goals and 23 Assists

Ryan Ginand on 21 Goals 11 Assists

Michael Henrich  on 6 Goals and 6 Assists

 The Devils come into this game missing defenseman Mak Smith from the current and short benched after recent departures.  On the plus side the recent addition of Tomas Kurka will no doubt add to the Devils fire power upfront which has been somewhat lacking of late.

You can catch us talking about this weekend’s upcoming games, last weekend’s game against Hull and the departure of Andrew Conboy here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMdjGBS1q-c  we also have yet another glimpse into Aled’s sock draw.

We will be running the “ridiculously childish and disgustingly biased” Match Night Live service for this game, expect name calling, slurs and one eyed bias and randomness 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 you can contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com.