Solent Devils had a visit from their closest rivals, Sunday night in Gosport. Raiders head coach, Jeremy Cornish, was conspicuous in his red coat stood on the bench, rather than geared up to join the rest of his team on the ice, however, the visitors still managed to put out a larger squad than the home team, who for various reasons only managed to put out two lines and two net minders.
Christian Cole in the Devils goal as the Raiders second hits the back of the net
From the start, both teams were trying to physically dominate the game, which was obviously noticed by the referees who tried to ensure the game progressed smoothly, rather than devolve in to a brawl.
Just before eight minutes were up, Devil Ralfs Circenis and Raider Jordan Gregory were having some words in the corner, which escalated to the two of them heading out in to the middle of the ice and dropping their gloves. Both received 2+2 for roughing.
Barely two minutes later, Devils were on the attack, when, Canadian import for the Devils, Richard Brown, ended up off to one side of the goal, when Ben Paynter from the Raiders started to get a bit physical. As Brown went to skate away, Paynter felt he needed to make his point, which resulted in all ten skaters on the ice, in the corner of the rink trying to pull their respective team mates apart.
The fallout from this, ended up with Brown spending two minutes in the sin bin, joined by Danny Ingoldsby from the Raiders. Unfortunately for Paynter, on his way to the sin bin he obviously said something the refs disagreed with, and was removed from the game and sent for an early shower.
Christian Cole in the Devils goal as the Raiders second hits the back of the net
Following on from this, with the Devils once again on the attack, Mitch Murry given two minutes for charging due to a late challenge deep in the Raiders zone. This however, was the last penalty for the Devils, meaning they spent the 47 minutes after Murray’s return to the ice with their lines intact.
This seemed to settle both teams down, and a proper game of hockey followed, with the play moving from end to end, and some fantastic displays of skill from both teams.
It took four minutes in to the second period, for the first goal of the game to be scored. Richard Facey had taken the puck almost all the way down the ice from deep in the Devils zone, but had his shot blocked by the left leg pad of Matthew Colclough in the Raiders goal. The rebound was picked up by Circenis, who was knocked in to the corner by Craig Tribe. Tribe got the puck out, and sent it on to Raiders captain, Jaroslav Cesky heading up the ice towards the Devils goal, who took a shot from just inside the Devils blue line that slipped past Christian Cole and put the visitors up 1-0.
Devils managed to prevent any more goals, however didn’t manage to get an equaliser themselves in the second, and closed out the period trailing.
Mitch Murray having a late attack blocked by Colclough in the Raiders goal
Coming in to the third, again from a breakaway in the Raiders zone Cesky sent the puck on to Daniel Rose who once again got the better of Cole.
The puck had barely dropped, when Raiders once again were on the attack. Four players (two from each team) were battling it out on the Devils blue line, when the puck was sent straight across the ice by Ryan Webb, the waiting Cesky fired an almighty one timer straight in to the Devils net, making it 3-0 to the Raiders.
It didn’t seem to matter what they did, the Devils still didn’t manage to get on the score sheet. The Raiders defence filled almost every hole a Devil tried to slip through, and the few times they did make it through Colclough was a true force at the back for Raiders and stopped anything that came his way.
Devils next home game is Sunday 22nd November, where they take on the London Raiders.
Photos courtesy of Dave Chapman
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