Devils @ Stars - Inferno Match Preview

18th Sep 2013 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

Saturday night see’s the Devils take on current  league leaders the Dundee Stars away in Dundee. The Devils seemed to have Dundees number last season winning the series 3 – 1 but this year as things stand Dundee look to be a very different team.

Speaking in the press about his recruiting strategy this year Dundee Coach Jeff Hutchins had this to say -

“My goal was to recruit with me as the worst forward on our team – I wanted all my import forwards to be better than me”

“My job as coach isn’t to score goals, it’s to win games”

“I don’t have a point in four games and I’m not concerned as I’m playing a more defensive role. I got more respect as a coach over the last four games than if I was top scorer and we lost them all."

“My job as coach isn’t to score goals, it’s to win games.”

For an in-depth look at the Stars line up we’d suggest that you check out the fairly excellent Chasing the Dragons blog season preview series here http://chasingthedragons.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/ten-teams-a-little-more-than-ten-days-8-dundee-stars/

There has been one change to the Stars roster since this was written with on  trial D man Andreas Persson opting to leave the Club. Dundee Stars head coach, Jeff Hutchins, confirmed that Swedish defenseman Andreas Persson was leaving the club with immediate effect.

Hutchins has this to say - "He was offered to stay but didn't feel this league suited his style of play. We wish him well in his future endeavours."

Last weekend saw the Stars at home twice taking on two of the Arena big boys Nottingham and Sheffield. Taking on the Panthers first up on Friday in a game that saw a fairly even opening session with both sides on the attack but it was Stars who were sharper in front of goal and this was shown as they skated to a 2-0 lead thanks to counters from Brock McPherson at 11.15 and Wirll on the powerplay at 14.40.

Even this early Panthers frustration was in evidence and this resulted in a fight between Leigh Salters and Stars’ Tysen Dowzak, with the former picking up an extra 2+10 for his instigation.

The second period saw Corey Neilson’s men come more into the game but a solid home defence held firm, ensuring there was to be no further scoring at the period break.

Into period three and Panthers were quickly within a goal as skipper David Clarke found the home net on the powerplay only 1.35 in. Stars quickly regained their two-goal lead when Kashirsky scored his first of the night at 44.21 but back came the visitors again with Salters firing in at 45.49.

Panthers had barely ended their celebrations when Stars were skating up the other end of the rink and Kashirsky was on hand to make it 4-2 only some 24 seconds later.

Panthers were unable to mount a serious challenge after that despite a shot count of 20 to 10 in the period but it was to be Stars’ night and it was they who rounded off the scoring at 57.24 when Wirll shot past Craig Kowalski for his second goal of the game to end a great night for Jeff Hutchins’ charges.

Final Score  Dundee Stars 5 – 2  Nottingham Panthers

Sunday saw the Stars the only unbeaten side in the league after winning their fourth straight game, fending off a Steelers fight back it was a home side full of confidence that took the initiative and opened the scoring with a counter from Brock McPherson after 7.10 on the clock while his side were on the powerplay.

Steelers hit back shortly afterwards with Maxime Lacroix continuing his goal scoring form from the previous night at 12.08 but it was to be Stars who led at the first interval after Mike Wirll shot them ahead again at 16.15.

Period two saw Stars have less of the chances but excel in what was available to them by seeming to take control of the game with two further strikes without reply. Bill Bagron made it 3-1 at 25.31 and on the powerplay Nico Sacchetti added a fourth at 33.38.

A Steelers powerplay goal by Ryan Galiardi only 73 seconds into period three gave the visitors the momentum they needed and at 50.03 again on the powerplay it was Stefan Meyer on hand to fire past Dan Bakala to bring the visitors to within a single goal.

Frantic play after that as Stars repelled the Steelers attack to the end of the game and despite goaltender Frank Doyle being removed with over a minute remaining it was the Stars faithful who were celebrating their continued top of the league status at the final buzzer.

Final Score Dundee Stars 4 – 3 Sheffield Steelers

 Dundee face the Belfast Giants away on Friday prior to our game on Saturday so will lose some of the valuable “home” advantage as they have a bit of a Journey back from Belfast to deal with and aside from the departure of Persson and barring any injures on Friday they should be at full strength going into Sundays game.

For my money the ones to watch for Dundee are Mike Wirll, Brock McPherson and their new Net minder Dan Bakala who looks to be a real find and at this early stage in the season has a rather worrying ( for us anyway) 95% save Percentage.

The Devils go into the weekend after a turbulent week which saw the departure of Defencemen Adam Ross, the Arrival of new forward Jake Morrisette and the shifting on forward Max Birbraer to a more defensive role. In addition to this there is still a question mark over the return of starting net minder Dan LaCosta.

We will be trying to run the “ridiculously childish and disgustingly biased” Match Night Live service for this game, expect name calling, slurs and one eyed bias in epic proportions, at the usual location of http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/mnl

If you’re making the trip up to Dundee and you'd like to help out by texting updates (we’d be happy to hear from you) or if you’d like to chip in with a comment or prediction on the night please contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com.