Hockey World, Hockey Girl - Week 3

It was special team goals galore this weekend as our Cardiff Devils faced off against two Celtic foes. 

Saturday night saw the return of several former Devils, including Ben Davies and Joe Myers (eek!!) to the BBT as Ryan Finnerty brought his Braehead Clan to town. 

Sunday saw a long trip across two borders to Murrayfield, where the Devils’ overcame the fatigue of the overtime win the night before to fight back from two goals behind, only to fall in the shootout 3-2. 

While bus legs were definitely a problem in the first period, the guys played a brilliant last 45 minutes of hockey.  They definitely had my heart in my mouth for the entire time, to say the least!

With over 100 PIMs (in total) across the two games this weekend, you’d expect there to be a few special goals… our boys took that one to the extreme!  With the exception of Joey Haddad’s beautiful overtime goal on Saturday, every single Devils’ goal was either on the powerplay or while at a disadvantage (I think I woke my little sister, I was yelling so much when Coach levelled the score with that shorthanded goal on Sunday night!).

Seems like whatever Franny and Lord are preaching to those units is definitely working this year!

This year’s team has been built with some incredibly well rounded players, who are able to switch between offence and defence as easily as they change socks, all while laying hits and taking (or giving!) punches when necessary!  This weekend we saw Dougie Clarkson at his best, until Chris Frank interfered.  We all know what No. 22 is capable of and it can (very rarely!) be useful – unless you are the opposition. 

After a dirty hit behind the away team’s net, Dougie handed Frank his behind in a fight that the Braehead defenseman failed to show up for!  Three hits from 93 put Frank down, but Dougie out; he did not return for the rest of the game and failed to ice at all on Sunday.

I think we are all waiting with baited breath for news on the big guy!

On the other hand, Hudson was also involved in some rough and tumble this week, although the poor guy was suckered into it.  After Zach Fitzgerald took offence to Hudson’s open ice hit on the Braehead captain Matt Keith (something ref James Aston also took offence to, giving Hudson a 5+match for checking to the head), the Scottish #13 sucker punched Carl, completely taking the defenseman by surprise – an extremely unfair fight by all accounts.

Fitzgerald was awarded 2 minutes for instigating plus 10minute misconduct and 5 minutes for fighting plus a game misconduct.

I, for one, was quite surprised when the Department of Player Safety decided to side with us, instead of going against us like usual, and removed any record of the incident from Carl’s record – allowing him back on the ice for Sunday’s match up against Edinburgh.

Sunday night definitely proved to be a less high-strung game against an improved Edinburgh side.  I’m not going to lie, the past couple of years, it has been almost painful watching the Scottish side but I have a feeling this year could be different.

They definitely proved they are a side to be reckoned with on Sunday!

Having missed the opening fifteen – technical fault! What can you do, eh? – I came into the game to see the Devils’ 1-0 down; I wasn’t too worried, everyone lets in a fluke every now and then. 

But after seeing Player/Coach Richard Hartmann’s goal to put the Capitals two goals up going into the second, I was actually nibbling the nails in apprehension!  Whatever the coaching pair said to the lads during the intermission seemed to take effect immediately – in my opinion, we were just plain unlucky not to get the winner after the guys levelled it up!

Throughout the entire last forty, the Welsh side pushed at Tomas Hiadlovsky but both net-minders were putting on one hell of a show – During the second period, the deficit could have been a lot worse, with Bowns pulling out some incredible point blank saves on the Capitals’ forwards.

And of course, we cannot forget Riley Emmerson…. Having just had his 10 game suspension reduced to 3 earlier in the week, and icing for his first game after serving his three game suspension, Emmerson spent most the game running his mouth at anyone who passed him – even ref Matt Thompson!

Emmerson also managed to get himself a 2+10 for checking to the head in the third period, ensuring that he took no part in the overtime period or penalty shootout, after squashing poor CJ between a rock and a hard place when his head was down.  No 26 continued to voice his opinions on his sentence from the penalty box whenever Thompson got too close!

 In the end, both sides deserved the overtime point but only one team could walk away with that precious extra tally. 

A three point weekend is not something to be snuffed at and I for one am definitely looking forward to next weekend’s fixtures, as the Challenge Cup race heats up with a trip to Sheffield, the Steelers’ first game in the Motorpoint after clearing up their icy problems, before the Panthers come to town on Sunday!  The lads will definitely be looking to take four points in the coming games to continue pushing towards one of those coveted trophies. 

Final Scores

Devils 5 - 4 Clan - OT Final

Devils 2 - 3 Capitals - SO Final

You can check out more from Hollee here http://theworldofsportbyateengirl.blogspot.co.uk/