Hockey World, Hockey Girl - Week 7

It was a home and away against the Sheffield Steelers this weekend and it was definitely not a boring one!  While most Devils’ fans ( players and coaches) find themselves severely frustrated after the events of Saturday’s 5-2 loss in the Tin town, revenge was served as the Devils’ returned the favour in a thrilling 5-3 Welsh win on Sunday.

Fires were lit early on Saturday after Cardiff awoke to former Devils’ coach Gerad Adams promising to take advantage of our ‘many weaknesses’ – although he was being quoted in The Star, so give it a read yourself to decide how you think the comment was meant to be taken!

Both sides were definitely out for blood, with Andrew Hotham and Cullen Eddy getting their fists dirty just after the half-way point of the first period – both getting in some good hits before Hotham finally took Eddy to the ice.

The frustration continued to build for the visiting team as the Steelers scored two goals in two minutes, both featuring the efforts of top British D-man Ben O’Connor who was lacing up in his debut for Sheffield after signing a short term contract to fill the gap left by injuries to Robert Dowd and Pascal Morency.

Over the course of the weekend, O’Connor had 3 assists and 2 PIMS – demonstrating that the Steelers would be very lucky to extend his contract past these next couple of weeks.

Colton Fretter also had a good game on Saturday, playing a role in both of the first period goals for the Steelers.

Despite the home side dominating the first period, the Devils’ came out swinging after the intermission break!  After Joey Haddad was sent to the box just four minutes into the period, it looked as if the Devils’ scored in spite of the man disadvantage but ref Mike Hicks waved it off.  Apparently Trevor Hendrikx had taken up residence in the crease – it is hard to tell from the highlights but it was, as usual, a questionable decision.

(Highlights can be found here, courtesy of Steelers TV: http://www.sheffieldsteelers.co.uk/highlights-live-steelers-5-3-cardiff-devils-saturday--p194276)a

But our boys fought their way back to a level field after two wonderful goals from Haddad, just as he was coming out of the box, and Joey Martin about six minutes later.

Tempers reached boiling point as the game travelled into the third and final period; with the game all squared up both teams were desperate to get that all important goal and take the lead.  It truly looked like the game could go either way.

Unfortunately Sheffield took the lead early on and some harsh 5-on-3 penalties definitely took the momentum out of the Devils.  In fact, the away side managed to accumulate 64 PIMs in the final period of play, including a tango between Dougie Clarkson and Dustin Kohn, before frustrations boiled over at the final whistle.

There was a certain amount of confusion during the final minutes of the game – with the Devils’ 4-3 down, they were desperate to get that tying goal!  After a large amount of pushing and shoving in front of Doyle’s net (and some extremely blatant missed calls in my opinion), the puck was turned and Mathieu Roy went charging off towards the Devils’ empty net – only to be tripped and awarded an unassisted goal for his efforts.

While Bench Coach Neil Francis was upset (understatement!!) about the call, many on both sides of the ice are being completely understanding about the decision… It’s the events the followed the final whistle that are cause for concern.

After reviewing the video highlights extensively (it was extremely painful listening to David Simms commentary over and over! Pretty sure I was one replay away from my ears bleeding!), I believe we were hard done by in the DOPS’s decision to uphold Trevor Hendrikx one game ban after he received a Match Penalty for a supposed ‘sucker punch’ – Simms’ words, not mine – on Tyler Mosienko.

(The most recent update from the Department of Player Safety on the incident involving Trevor Hendrikx can be found here)

Jesse Mychan also earned himself a Game Penalty after being undressed by Cullen Eddy as the players all scrambled to be in on the action as the whistle blew, the final score 5-2 to the home side.

Going into Sunday, the Devils, both on the ice and off, were raring for revenge and the boys did not hold back in their effort to get it!

After a quick initial review, it was stated that Trevor Hendrikx would miss the game as the DOPS upheld the automatic one match suspension that comes with a Match Penalty, with the promise to further review the incident.  The Devils were also missing Carl Hudson from Sunday’s line-up after he picked up an undisclosed injury.

Cardiff born Matthew Myers did, however, return to the line-up after serving his two game suspension.

It was certainly a different story in the second match up in as many days for these two sides.  While Sheffield held the upper hand for the majority of the first period on Saturday night, Cardiff came out fighting on Sunday – scoring two goals within the first ten minutes!

As well as being downtrodden on the scoreboard, the Steelers were also facing a physical beating as the Devils continued to punch Sheffield-shaped holes in the board as they passed.  Both Doug Clarkson and Jesse Mychan received roughing penalties in the opening period but that was only the beginning of the bruises for the Northern side.

The deficit only increased for the Steelers going into the second period, as Mark Richardson added a wonderful power play goal to the tally, helping himself to the Man of the Match as he went.

Seemingly more awake, the Steelers made an attempt at a comeback in the third period, with troublemaker Tyler Mosienko scoring four minutes in to the period.

No (attempted) Sheffield come back would be complete without a bit of rough and tumble, or down right dirty play.  Forney found himself inside the penalty box at 46:43 with a 2+10 for check from behind – although it looked like he wrapped his stick around a Devils’ neck and yanked from where I was sat!

With the Steelers’ plight quelled, Brent Walton added his second of the night just after the halfway point of the period to restore the three-goal lead.  Jason Hewitt, the guy we all love to hate, managed to pull one back a minute or so later but the Devils were not letting this one go… Alternate captain Jake Morrisette helped himself to a shorthanded, empty net goal to cement the win and secure those all-important two league points.

After such an exciting weekend, its hard to wait until Saturday for more Devils’ hockey, but that’s when the Coventry Blaze come to town, looking to take two league points home before Cardiff travel up to the Skydome to play it out for crucial Challenge Cup points in their penultimate CC game!

If you can’t make it down to the BBT to cheer on the boys, make sure you’re there in spirit while you watch the game on the newly priced Devils’ webcast!

See you soon, Devils’ fans!

Final scores

Devils 3 - 5 Steelers (Saturday)
Devils 5 - 2 Steelers (Sunday)

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