Weekend Preview - Devils Vs Blaze

17th Nov 2011 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

This weekend the Cardiff Devils take on the Coventry Blaze in back to back games starting on Saturday is Cardiff with the second leg being played in Coventry on Sunday. The Blaze currently sit 4th in the league, just ahead of the Devils which makes these games vital if the Devils want to keep in touch with the top four and keep in front of the Clan ( currently in 6th) who are chasing hard. 

The two teams have met three time already this season once in the pre-Season and twice in the challenge up, whilst the Blaze got the best of the first meeting winning the warm up match 7- 3 the Devils have won both of the Challenge Cup games in convincing style shutting out the Blaze in the Skydome 0-2 in September and taking a five goal lead in the return match in Cardiff in October final score there 6 -1. 

The Blaze squad  has strengthened since the last time we saw them in Cardiff with the addition of South Korean forward  Woo-Sang Park who played his first game for the Blaze in Hull last Saturday.

The game was a Challenge cup game and with neither team being able to qualify sounded to be more a battle to avoid last place than anything else. The Blaze got off to a slow start which saw Hull  take the only scoring in the first two periods with a first period goal for Dominic Osman and a second period marker for Jereme Tendler. 

The Blaze finally pulled one back with a 5 on 3 powerplay goal from Matic Kralj to make it a one goal game. Shea Guthrie tied the game up at with six minutes to go giving both teams a point each.

Sunday the Blaze took on the Dundee Stars at the Skydome, in a tough fought match which saw the Stars hitting back three times before finally succumbing to a 51st minute strike by Mike McLean which gave the Home side the win by the odd goal in seven.

The home side dominated the opening period and out shot their visitors by 17 to 6 but all they had to show for it was a goal on the powerplay from Greg Owen.

The Stars equalized with an early goal from John Dolan in the second period but were behind again in under a minute as Woo-Song Park on his home début fired Blaze 2-1 in front. The Stars levelled  not long after with a goal from Brent Hughes.

Into the third period and a 5 on 3 powerplay gave Blaze the opportunity to go 3-2 ahead with Luke Fulghum the marksman but only 29 seconds later short handed it was 3-3 as Stars player/coach Dan Ceman  struck.

Finally, in the Third period the Stars indiscipline let them down again it was a third Blaze powerplay goal of the night from McLean. After this the Stars couldn’t come back and the game ended 4 – 3 for the Blaze.

Speaking after the game Coach Paul Thompson said: “It wasn’t as close as the scoreline suggests.

“We had numerous chances and should have been more clinical but, credit to Dundee, they just would not go away.

“But we scored three powerplay goals. Our powerplay has struggled recently but we got that going again.”

Coach Paul Thompson felt South Korea international Woo-Sang Park made a good first impression for CPP Coventry Blaze this weekend.

Thompson said: “It was a good home début by Woo-Sang. He played well, got a goal and is already becoming a fans’ favourite, people are going to enjoy watching him."

Thompson went on to add

“He took a couple of punches and gave a couple back. I’m delighted that he has got that first game out the way.”

“He has a physical presence, and was very strong on face-offs. He still isn’t there but there was a lot that I liked.”

“I think he’s quite a character and with his salute to the crowd I’ll think he’s gone down well.”

“He gives us another option and he has gone down well in the room. The guys have taken to him and have made an effort to help him settle in.”

Park said: “The team has good players and a good coach and I like Coventry very much. I am pleased with my goal and winning. I like playing in England.”

My favourite comment of last weekend came from the Blaze website “  "Join the Woo-Sang Clan - Woo-Sang Park scores on home début “

The Blaze are a team loaded with offensive talent and have if last weekend is anything to go be a lethal power play which means that the Devils will need to steer clear of the penalty Box in this weekends games.

The Blaze top scores at the moment are Matic Kralj ( 26 points ), Luke Fulghum ( 24 points), Shea Guthrie ( 24 points) and Owen Fussey ( 23 points) who are all in the top twenty scorers in the league. With the addition of Woo-Sang park to their forward lines the Blaze represent a potent threat  especially on the Power-play.

The Blaze defence is the one area they look a little weak Peter Hirsch in goal currently sits in 6 place in the goalie standing with a save percentage of 90.3% while the Blaze D is a very offensively minded one with both Cowley and Domish liking to move the puck forward leaving Dustin Wood ( The Machine, Great nickname) and the over rated (in my opinion) David Phillips guarding the blue line.

Going to be a big one this weekend, the Devils stopped the Blaze dead in their two challenge Cup games scoring Eight goals with just one in answer from the Blaze. The Blaze will no doubt look to niggle and capitalize on the powerplay (sorry, third time I won't mention it again) with Bryan Jurynec's last performance in the tent we know he's the one to watch there. The Devils will need to play smart and clean and put away all of their chances to bring the points home.

The Devils had a mixed bag of results last weekend beating the Giants away in Belfast on Saturday  before  being edged out by the Clan in overtime on Sunday. For full details check out our weekend review here http://the-inferno.co.uk/news/looking-back-weekend-in-review/ and G's comments here http://www.cardiffdevils.com/news/g-post-game-13th-nov/

The Blaze are from what I can make out at full strength whilst the Devils are without Mark Smith and await a decision on Chris Frank who may possibly be suspended after a hit in last Sundays game ( http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sports/ice-hockey-news/2011/11/15/ice-hockey-devils-are-sweating-on-three-game-frank-ban-91466-29777058/ ) if the Devils do end up without Frank for the weekend we will no doubt see our remaining four D men struggle against a powerful Blaze forward pack. 

As always well be running the “Childish and amazingly Biased”  Match Night Live service for this game, at the usual location of www.theinferno.co.uk/mnl if you'd like to help out or chip in with some comments on the night please contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com. You can also follow on Twitter for updates on @InfernoMNL

And don’t forget if you’re looking for somewhere to have a pint and a bite to eat before the game or a few beers afterwards the Pilot in Penarth is a short trip away and will also be open afterwards for post-match drinks, directions to the pub can be found here - http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/where-to-eatdrink/