ENL Preview Invicta 17th December

ENL Devils played their last home game of 2011 v Streatham Redskins. The Devils found themselves 2-0 down very early on. Devils pulled a goal back shorthanded breakaway from Luke Piggott. End of 1st the score line sat at 3-1 Streatham. Devils changed their net minder with Luke Takel replacing Mike Brabon for the start of the second period. Chris Jones score on the PP to make it 3-2 before Robert Sedlak scored to tie the game at the end of the 2nd 3-3.

Devils needed a big effort in the 3rd to get the 2points. The period started slow and the Devils ran into some penalty trouble but despite being a man down, Luke Piggott picked up his second and third goals of the night. Luke Piggott completed his shorthanded hat trick with 10minutes left in the 3rd. This was more like the Devils we know and they started to pile the pressure on the Redskins net. Streatham called a timeout and decided to pull the net minder with around 1:10 left. Luke Piggott had a chance of a 4th on the empty net but hit the pipes and giving Redskins a chance to take it down the other end but a break up in the neutral zone saw Luke Piggott take the puck into the Redskins zone and slot his 4th of the game into the empty net. The scoring wasn't done there as 16 seconds later, Jordan Powell got in on the act and finished the game off completely. End of the game Devils win 7-3.

Here are your goals from Sunday and maybe (sorry Luke) the miss of the season...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDMtAV6WxOw

This weekend see's the final game of 2011 for the Devils with a trip to the friendly Invicta Dynamos. These games have always been interesting and no doubt a flash point will occur in these games with an ex Devil playing for the Dynamos. The only meeting this season with the teams have finished 8-3 to the Devils.

Up to date stats @ 11/12/2011

1. Jamie Hayes 23 26 25 51
2. Luke Piggott 19 23 23 46
3. Chris Jones 23 23 11 34
4. James Preece 23 10 19 29
5. Jason Stone 18 1 24 25

Invicta stats

1. Ryan Ellis (F) 16 15 21 36
2. Andy Smith (F) 16 17 15 32
3. Justin Noble (F) 15 15 10 25
4. Daniel Fudger (F) 16 3 14 17
5. Robbie Brown (F) 11 7 8 15

A Few words from Luke Piggott on the Redskins game and their trip to Invicta before a few weeks off..." Last weekend we played the Streatham Redskins at home for the first time this season, I stated in my preview last week that we needed to be wary of a travelling redskins side as despite being bottom of the league they are a squad of players who always put in full effort and Sunday was proof of that. The Redskins came with a full quota of players ready to play are hard road game and a combination of their hard work and our lack of the same meant we were trailing 3-1 after the first 20mins. As a team looking to push the top of the league teams losing to a bottom table team is not acceptable. We improved our game in the 2nd to level the game but there were still too many individual efforts and not enough of the Devils gritty gameplay that makes us successful. The 3rd was another step in the right direction again and ultimately is what secured us the 2 points on the night, despite a miss of an empty net that makes Maxi’s miss for the Devils in Coventry look good (be sure to check out the highlights for that one).

This weekend we have one of our favourite and most important fixtures of the season to date, Invicta away. This is a huge game with Invicta currently poised just beneath us in the table with 7 games in hand we need to take these 2 points back with us to maintain our current position in the league. I know all the boys are ready for it and wanting to repeat the same result we gained at home.”