For their first game of the season, in the restructured NIHL, the Solent Devils headed to face Basingstoke Buffalo.
Head coach, Alex Murray, had been busy over the summer, with several new faces appearing on the Devils bench at the start of the game, but the new players were 
accompanied by many of the squad from previous years.
As the game started, the Buffalo looked hungry, this being their third game of the season with them showing two losses. Game one, they beat Haringey Huskies S2 6-3, but upon the discovery of an illegible player, the League cancelled the result and gave it to Haringey 5-0. Game two for the Buffalo, was a legitimate score, but Bracknell Hornets took the game 10-3.
Surging early, the Buffalo were rewarded with a goal after just over three minutes, when captain Neil Leary managed to squeeze the puck between the post and Christian Cole’s leg. The single assist on this goal coming from Mark Austen.
A pair of penalties sat by Basingstoke (Warren Jones for delay of game, followed by Kyle Goddard for holding) were successfully killed, and then Buffalo struck again – Matthew Levy getting an assist with Leary with Jones knocking it past Cole, putting the home team two goals in the lead.
The Devils were clearly frustrated by this, Murray changing lines and moving people around on the ice, captain Alex Cole trying to get the team moving and working together, and Richard Facey talking to a few of the team, trying to use his experience to motivate some action.
Facey, pushing hard, ended up getting in to a bit of a tussle with Blair Dubyk, the two players getting sent to the penalty box for roughing.
Drew Campbell joined Facey in the box less than a minute later, after getting a slashing penalty.
The Devils pulled together at this point, and when they were back to full strength started pushing forward themselves. With less than two minutes left in the period, new Devil, Will Crossley found Murray, who beat Aaron Craft in the Basingstoke goal, making it 2-1 at the end of the first.
Early in the second, Facey went back to the penalty box – this time for interference – but Basingstoke lost Austen for two minutes too, for roughing. Both players made it back to the ice, with the score unchanged.
Dubyk earned a penalty for holding, putting the Devils on a power play, Murray and Cole helping Mark Pitts to tie the game up with thirty five minutes left to play, with the Devils now visibly more in to the game than during the first period.
Facey, however, picked up another penalty, and was quickly followed to the box by Murray, leaving the Devils the wrong side of a 5 on 3 situation.
Buffalo couldn’t break through, and Facey then Murray returned to the ice with the score still level, a stalemate that was held through the remainder of the period.
The third period, saw the puck going back and forth on the ice, both netminders putting in some big saves, but eventually, Crossley and Campbell gave Facey the help he needed to finally push the Devils in to the lead with six minutes of play remaining.
With barely three minutes left, Buffalo called a time out, and when they returned to the ice, Craft was noticeably absent from the goal.
The puck was dropped in the Devils zone, and the extra man on the ice was doing his job, with the puck being moved around and around the area, with the Devils struggling to get more than a touch on it.
Basingstoke, couldn’t break through, and on a turn over followed by a long range shot, Facey picked up an unassisted goal, putting the Devils out of reach of the Buffalo, with just eleven seconds left on the clock.
The Devils were clearly pleased with themselves as they left the ice, the smiles on their faces visible even from the back of the stands.
Game two of the season, will see the Devils traveling to Peterborough to face the Phantoms, Sunday October 1st, face off at 5:30pm.
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