In the second part of their weekend, Solent Devils headed to Milton Keynes, to take on the Thunder on Sunday evening, following on from their 5-5 tie to Oxford City Stars in Gosport on Saturday.
Devils were given an early penalty, losing Ralfs Circenis after just two minutes for interference.
It took Thunder one minute to take advantage of this, when Harrison Goode and Ross Bowers got the puck through to Josh Nicklin, who slipped it past Christian Cole in the Devils goal for the second day in a row.
A short while later, the sin bin was in use again. Thunder losing Ryan Coffey for slashing, and Mitch Murray heading to the Devils side for roughing.
Exactly half way through the first period, Devils were given an advantage, as Simon Howard was caught hooking. Just before Howard returned to the ice, Paul Gore was sent to join him for delay of game. Devils, however, couldn’t get the better of Thunder, and both players returned to the ice with the score still 1-0.
The Devils persistence finally paid off, when Head Coach, Alex Murray scored, with assists from alternate captain Richard Facey, and captain Alex Cole.
Harrison Goode quickly picked up a goal to go with his earlier assist, this time the help coming from his brother, Connor.
The players hit the ice for the second period, and it didn’t take long until Howard was back in the sin bin, this time for boarding.
Devils managed to make the best use of this power play, Cole picking up his second assist, this time with Shaun Rudkin helping to give Murray his second, and evening the score again.
Just after half way, Murray got an assist to go with his two goals, Rudkin getting another, this time the goal being scored by Alex Trendall, pushing the Devils in to the lead for the first time in the game.
George Norcliffe, the Devils highest scorer this season, obviously wanted to make his presence known, and with the help of Facey and Cirecnis picked up his fifteenth goal of the season.
Shaun Rudkin, however, was sent to the sin bin for charging. Thunder, once again managed to use this to their advantage, Nicklin getting his second of the game, Bowers getting a second assist, and Thunder captain Jamie Line getting an assist for himself.
Early in to the third, while defending, Cole caused a delay of game. Devils managed to hold on to their lead and killed off the penalty.
Mitch Murray and Richard Brown bagged themselves assists, as they helped Alex Murray get his hat trick, half way through the third, making the score 5-3 for the visitors.
Seconds later, Bowers got his third assist, Alex Whyte got his first, and Line got a goal to go with his earlier assist, bringing Thunder back to within a goal of the Devils.
Thunder were pulling out all the stops, and it didn’t take long until Nicklin got his hat trick, Whyte getting another assist, and alternate captain, Thomas Castle getting an assist too.
Both teams managed to hold it for the last few minutes of the game, resulting in a 5-5 draw, keeping Thunder three points ahead of Devils in the league.
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