Inferno Match Preview - Devils vs Stingrays 11th Oct 2014

This Saturday night sees the Hull Stingrays come to town. This will be the Stingrays second trip to the bay with the last visit resulting in a 3 -2 loss for the visiting side. The Stingrays are 4 Wins from 9 games in all competitions and after last weekend are keen to re-find this form.

The Stingrays saw a few changes over the summer with the departure of player coach Sylvian Cloutier and his replacement with new player coach Omar Pacha.

Upfront for Hull we have the return of import Carl Lauzon, and Brits Matty Davies; as Captain; and Sam Towner. 

We also see the return after a season away of Dominic Osman who racked up a rather impressive 50 goals in his last two season stint with the Stingrays. Joining him are Zach Hervato who is in his second pro season and Jordan Mayer who again has minimal pro experience both in their first full seasons as professionals.

Joining them are Eric Galbraith who brings some size to the lineup and Matt Larke and Cory Tanaka who is brother of Ex Hull and current Blaze played Cale Tanaka. All in all it’s an intresting if somewhat unproven forward group that may I think struggle in this year’s league, unless someone like Cory Tanaka proves to be the find of the offseason.

Player coach Omar Pacha has clearly had to work within a tight budget and with the non-arrival of Kurtis Dulle has been left seemingly very understaffed on defence.

New arrivals on the import front consist of Canadians Yan Turcotte and CJ Chartrain. Both of whom have minimal professional experience.

Brendan Jamison has been drafted in as a replacement for Dulle. Jamison spent last season in the ECHL playing 51 games and ending up on -5 for the season.

Rounding out the defensive group are young Brits Scott Robson, Tom Ralph, Jamie Chilcott,

In Nets the Stingrays start with David Brown this season. Brown has spent most of his of his career in the CHL splitting his season last season between the Alan Americans and the Wichita Thunder where he posted a 89% (ish) save percentage. His stats to date in the EIHL aren’t much to shout about with a 88% save Percentage and a 3.54 GAA. Backing him up is Hull native David Good.

Last weekend saw the Stingrays take a Loss to Dundee at home where three final-period goals ensured the win for Dundee Stars.

The Stingrays outshot Stars 20-6 in a first period which saw Carl Lauzon hit the bar before Zach Hervato did likewise from a penalty shot at 18.50.

Cory Tanaka finally put Stingrays in front 84 seconds into the middle session only for John Mitchell to level at 24.10.

Lauzon restored Stingrays' lead at 27.24 but back came Stars once more and Bari McKenzie made it 2-2 at 32.32.

Chris Blight put Stars ahead for the first time with a powerplay marker at 48.53 and John Dolan extended their advantage (56.53).

After Stingrays pulled net minder David Brown, Stars added a fifth through Rob Ricci with one second remaining.

Speaking in the press after this game Hulls captain Matty Davies has issued a rallying cry to his Rapid Solicitors Hull Stingrays team-mates.

Davies said: "I am very disappointed. The home form is becoming a bit of an issue now - it's not good enough.

"We dominated the game from start to finish but there were a few shifts when we slept and if you do those teams will pick you off.

"Our away form has been good but we have to start winning at home."

Davies added: "We have two away games now and I think it is the best thing for us. We need to get back to being solid, we need to find our form and come back on Sunday and have a really good game.

"You have to keep going in this league. If you don't get over it quickly and get back to what you have been doing this league will eat you up."

The Stingrays face the Steelers midweek before they play us at the weekend, barring any injuries in that game the ones to watch on Saturday look to be.

Carl Lauzon  4 Goals and 7 assists
Zach Hervato 4 Goals and 5 assists
Cory Tanaka 5 Goals and 3 assists
Jordan Mayer 4 Goals and 4 assists

With the Devils suffering two losses at the hands of the Giants last weekend, details here in case you missed the games http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/news/hockey-world-hockey-girl-week-5/ ,  they will no doubt be keen to get back on track and take the win this Saturday.

We will be running the 'ridiculously childish and disgustingly biased' Match Night Live service for this game, expect name calling, slurs and one eyed bias in epic proportions, at the usual location of http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/mnl

If you'd like to chip in with a comment or make a score prediction on the night you can contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com.