NOTTINGHAM, UK – Elite League champions Coventry Blaze are a team suffering from injuries which led to Danny Stewart relocating to defence and Jason Robinson missing from the line-up. The Blaze were also without Greg Owen and both Greg Chambers and Brian Lee took to the ice with injuries. Cardiff Devils were playing full strength and were able to rotate three strong lines throughout the 60 minutes.
There was pressure on both goalies at the start. A confrontation along the boards sees Matt Towe lose his helmet before Cowley checks Devils’ Tylor Michel behind the goal and gets called for Tripping at 8.39. In the resulting power play the Devils pepper Hirsch with plenty of shots. In the offensive zone, Matt Miller is checked hard into the boards and the puck fell to Jay Latulippe who is then checked high by Adam Calder in front of the goal the puck is chipped in by Phil Hill. An Elbowing penalty is called on Calder which gives the Devils another early power play opportunity.
Gerad Adam’s side takes advantage of this when Canadian Matt Miller fires home less than a minute later assisted by Jay Latulippe. This leaves Hirsch looking very uncomfortable after two goals in quick succession.
A spell of poor defence by the Devils then allows Blaze a lot of space in the Devils zone and while Lyle was left stranded Fulghum chipped in the first goal for the Blaze at 11:53. A few confrontations see Voth, Chambers, Hill and Stewart exchange opinions. Two close penalties in the final two minutes of the period allows the Blaze to play 5 on 3 for the final 1 and a half minutes of the first period with three good chances on goal.
In the second period, as Stewart is tied up along the boards with Finnerty, Brad Voth goes in hard on a check which causes a retaliation on Finnerty leaving him sprawled on the ice with no stick. No penalties are surprisingly called.
Stewart clashes with Miller and repeatedly slashes the Devil’s player which leads to a penalty being called by referee Carson. Devils heap more pressure on Hirsch and Miller converts the 3rd power play goal of the evening for his 34th of the season assisted by Phil Hill and Wes Jarvis.
Blaze defenceman Brian Lee went down injured in his own defensive zone and is unable to continue leaving the Blaze with only two genuine defenceman for the remainder of the second period.
Campbell of Blaze called for interference which gives devils almost a minute of 5 on 3 unable to capitalise on their chances. But shortly afterwards, Scott Romfo finds Phil Hill who takes his chance to fire home the Devils 4th goal of the game. The second period ends with a remarkable 24 shots on the Coventry goal and only 5 chances on GB International netminder Stevie Lyle.
Fulghum opened the scoring shortly after the start of the third period when Smith was called for hooking with a power play goal assisted by Weaver and Calder. A defensive error by the Devils allowed him to skate through the Devils zone.
Blaze were once again on the score sheet when Brad Cruikshank made it a one goal game with assists to Carlson and Soderstrom.
The Devils immediately call a time out and when play resumes there is the increased tension one might expect with a one goal game. Cowley nearly tied the game but struck the post from an acute angle and it was the Devils who managed to find the net next with ten minutes remaining in the game. Jay Latulippe slides home his side’s 5th goal of the afternoon, the assists being provided by Max Birbraer and Mark Smith.
Coventry continue to exert pressure on the Devils however they could find no way past Stevie Lyle in the Cardiff goal. Paul Thompson took the step to pull his netminder with two minutes of the game remaining and the Blaze were able to put the Devils rear-guard under intense pressure.
In the final minute of the game, the Devils were able to score on the empty net with Max Birbraer being assisted by Mark Smith for the game winning goal. Blaze lost their discipline in the final seconds of the game with Brian Lee taking a two minute roughing penalty and then with two seconds of the match remaining Danny Stewart picked up a needless ten minute misconduct penalty.
Coach Gerad Adams was delighted with his team’s performance and work ethic. He said “The team have learnt from their lapses of concentration in big games in the past and are constantly working to learn from their mistakes. I am very pleased with their performance as a team.” His Devils are now through to the final of the Playoff competition and will face the winner of the clash between the Belfast Giants and the Challenge Cup winning Nottingham Panthers.
Man of the Match for Coventry Blaze – Luke Fulghum
Man of the Match for Cardiff Devils – Phil Hill
Shots on Goal on Hirsch – 50 on Lyle – 28
Contact Victoria.Silverwood@prohockeynews.com
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