Devils Vs Stingrays 18th December

14th Dec 2011 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

Sunday night see’s the Devils make the trip to Hull too take on the Hull Stingrays. This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams this season with the results being split so far with a win for the Devils on the first meeting in the Challenge Cup then a draw in the second Cup game and finally a win for the Stingrays in the first of this year’s league games on Penalties. We’ve already had tempers flare on the Ice in the last two meetings and with the likes of Derek Campbell in the Stingray side this could be another fiery clash.

It’s been another turbulent few weeks for the Stingrays who are currently on a six-game losing streak, sit eighth in the league and are just six points clear of second-bottom team the Dundee Stars. In a dismal start to the season the Stingrays have lost 24 games in all competitions so far this season. Shockingly 11 of them have been by the one goal so things could be a lot brighter for them.

There have been several roster changes at the Stingrays since we last paid them first with the departure of misfiring forward Frantisek Bakrlik and then two weeks later the release of defenseman Josh Mizerek leaving the team short benched for their double header road trip to Sunny Scotland.

On Saturday the Stingrays took on the Braehead Clan away in Scotland and managed to hold them scoreless in the first period despite both teams having several power play chances, the second period remained level with an early goal from Jeremy Tendler being balanced out by a late goal from the Clans Brock McPherson.

The Third period saw the Clan come out strong and score a pair of goals from Jordan Krestanovich, things then worsened for the Stingrays when Mike Bayrack scored the clans fourth goal of the night.

Despite a valiant attempt to fight back the Clan proved too much for Hull and a late consolation goal was nothing more than that with Tendler scoring a second goal on the power play for the only goal in the third. Final score Braehead Clan 4 - 2 Hull Stingrays.

Sunday night saw the Stingrays play the second leg on their Scottish road trip taking on the Edinburgh Capitals at home in what proved to be a game of 12 goals and a penalty shootout.

The Stingrays got off to the best of starts going 2 goals up inside the first five minutes, with Derek Campbell and Sam McCluskey both netting. However Stingrays failed to build on this lead and the Capitals got one back before the end of the first with a goal from Marcis Zembergs.

Only 10 seconds into period 2 and Campbell scored his second of the night and 100th all-time EIHL goal to give Stingrays a 3-1 lead. This seemed to spark the Capitals a run of poor play by the Stingrays saw the Capitals hit back with three goals without reply through Rene Jarolin, Sean Menton and Marcis Zembergs to turn the game around.

Before the period end Stingrays the Stingrays struck back scoring twice more through a Jereme Tendler double to see the Stingrays take back a slim lead, the period ending 5-4.

The third period brought another complete turnaround with Capitals edging ahead with strikes by Richard Hartmann 37 seconds in and then Jiri Hanzal, only for Tendler to complete a straight hat trick with the game tying goal for Stingrays on the power play.

The biggest surprise was that ended the scoring in regulation and indeed overtime and therefore to a shootout we went and after Tendler and Zembergs had counted in the opening rounds it was left to Jiri Hanzal to fire in the winning shot. Final score a close loss for the Stingrays Edinburgh Capitals 7 – 6 Hull Stingrays.

Speaking after the loses at the weekend player coach Cloutier had this to say

“Considering we only had 11 skaters, I thought we did a great job all weekend”

“In Braehead, we were doing well to be level with them going into the third, then they got a lucky bounce for their second goal which gave them some momentum and it was tough for us.”

“I’m not one to make excuses but if we had a full team I think we could have beaten them.”

“Against Edinburgh, we got the offence we were looking for, but we let it slip at the other end. But we only really had three D-men and it’s always going to be pretty tough when you’re down on numbers so I’ve got no complaints.”

Cloutier also added “Tends (Jeremy Tendler) had a big weekend, he has a hot stick right now and we need him to keep it going."

“He is a goal scorer and he is one of those players who goes through a little slump and then scores goals in bunches."

“Last season he went a few weeks without scoring and still got 50 – but he knows how to put the puck in the net.”

In other Stingray team news newly returned defenseman Kurtis Dulle has been handed the captain’s armband again following Josh Mizerek’s sudden departure. Dulle was captain of the team during the 2010-11 campaign, but missed the start of this season before returning in October to help shore up the team’s leaky defence.

Scoring dangers from the Rays come from the unlikely trio of Jason Silverthron currently on 39 points, last year’s top scores and top scorer last weekend for the Stingrays Jeremy Tendler on 31 points and Derek Campbell on 29 points (he’s the unlikely part really). Between the Pipes Hull have Christian Boucher who is currently ranked 8th in the league with an 89% save percentage and an average of 3.5 goals against.

Comparing this head to head with the Devils we have Max Birbraer on 30, Scott Matzka on 29 points and Jeff Pierce on 26 points. Between nets of the Devils we have Stevie Lyle currently ranked 4th with a 91% save percentage and an average of just 2.4 goals against.

The two teams stack up well and Cloutier seems to have his tactics against the Devils worked out finally getting his first win over the Devils since 2009 the last time the two teams meet. Look for Hull to play a spoiling game with a strong trap they will look to score first then choke the life out of the game or to score on the Breakaway or shorthanded, as always Campbell will look to agitate and generate the odd man advantage.

The Devils face the Edinburgh Capitals at home on Saturday while the Stingrays face the joys of a Saturday night off regardless of this both teams will be short benched for this game with the Devils missing Mark Smith for the rest of the season and with a question mark still over Gerard Adams and Jeff Pierce who were both absent last weekend, while Hull will be an import down after the release of Mizerek and have Ryan Lake out injured so iced just 11 skaters last weekend.

We will be looking to run the “Childish and amazingly Biased” Match Night Live service for this game if we can get people to provide updates if you’re heading up and can help please let us know. Providing we get volunteers we will run Match night live at the usual location of www.theinferno.co.uk/mnl if you'd like to help out or chip in with some comments on the night please contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com. You can also follow on Twitter for updates on @InfernoMNL

And you’re looking for somewhere to have a pint and a bite to eat before the game or a few beers afterwards we’d suggest the Pilot in Penarth which is a short trip away and will also be open afterwards for post-match drinks, directions to the pub can be found here - http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/where-to-eatdrink/