ENL Devils Review and Preview

The ENL Cardiff Devils come out of a tough weekend last weekend with 2 points a result which has moved them into 3rd place in the league. An outstanding and clinical performance v Oxford City Stars on Saturday put them in good step before their road trip to the woeful place that is Romford where  they managed a  disappointing result but put in a valiant effort with a short bench travelling.

Saturday's game v Oxford was going to be an interesting one as the previous games this season have ended 3-3 and 8-5 Devils. Oxford welcomed back Driscoll in net after his injury and it wasn't the best game for him to return to. A very good net minder but I think this was the wrong night for him to step back in. A fine performance from the ENL Devils on the whole got them their deserved two points with the period scores looking like 4-0 6-0 1-0.

A huge win for the team and some nice set up and individual skill helped the team along the way to the 2points. Despite being short handed, the Devils scored twice on the same PK then went on a 5-3 PP scoring on both to pretty much end the game after 30minutes gone.

After 6 goals, Oxford changed to their back up net minder. Despite scoring 5 on him, he looked a decent keeper who in my view should have started the match for them.

Scorer's from Saturday's game

Piggott x 4 | Hayes x 3 | Sedlak | C Jones | Powell | Deacon

You can see Saturday's Highlights here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCwXoqOPWto

The ENL Devils went into Sunday's game with Romford knowing it was going to be a tough task. Not an easy place to go as their team have 6-8 fighters and a team who like to bully others. Even the fans are in your face it's a very intimidating place to visit.

The first ended 2-2 but as the game on, the bullying affected the ENL and the game ended 10-4 Romford.

Scorer's from Sunday's game

Piggott | Deacon | Haslam | C Jones 

We spoke to Devils player Luke Piggott and got his view of last weekend. 

" The weekend promised to be a challenging one with the Oxford Stars visiting Cardiff and then a long road trip to Romford on the Sunday. On their last visit Oxford held us to a 2-2 tie with a fantastic performance from Chris Douglas between the pipes saving 58 of 60 shots in that game, so we knew that to win this game we would have to be very clinical with our shooting. We came out and did just that, offensively our game was superb with our lines clicking right from the start and put together some great plays followed by great execution against perhaps the best keeper in the league. The 11-0 scoreline was a credit to both our finishing and our defensive strength on the night.

The long trip to Romford is never an easy one but with a unbeaten run of 9 games behind the team we travelled to Rom Valley Way full of confidence. This was evident as we held the top of the table side to a 2-2 draw in the 1st period. Unfortunately as the game went on we lost our focus and small slip-ups in the style we play led to the Raiders gaining too many goal scoring chances in dangerous areas. Romford are an experienced team with 2 quality imports and will always punish you if you allow them too much space and time on the puck. Ultimately this is what led to our 10-4 loss. This weekend we have a double road-trip to the Isle of Wight and Slough. Wightlink are poised in 4th place just beneath us in the table so Saturdays game is a big 4 pointer for us. They will be 2 tough fixtures that will require the entire team to be switched on if we are to grind out more key points as we try to work our way up the table "

Up to date stats from 24-Nov-2011
1. Jamie Hayes (F) 18 23 17 40 
2. Luke Piggott (F) 14 13 19 32 
3. James Preece (F) 18 9 15 24 
4. Chris Jones (F) 18 17 5 22 
5. Adam Harding (F) 17 8 13 21 

There is no home game this weekend for the ENL Devils but two very big road games are on the cards  for them. Saturday away to Isle Of Wight who will be looking for revenge on the Devils after the last game at the tent and then onto Slough Sunday. This will be a big ask for the ENL Devils to bring home some points but they have enough fire power and grit in the ranks to pick up points wherever they play.

I urge any hockey fans who want to watch the future of the Cardiff Devils head down to any of the remaining home games that they have left this year. They deserve the support and would welcome more of the Red Army at their games.