Saturday night, Solent Devils played host to NIHL league 2 champions, Oxford City Stars.
Christian Cole, facing down a shot – photo by Dave Chapman
Just two weeks earlier, the Devils left Oxpens Road after suffering a 3-1 loss to the Stars, and seeing the home team lift the cup on home ice, with one game left in the season. It was a sombre mood in the Gosport Arena as the warm up started, with the Devils seriously short benched, just fourteen players including netminder, Christian Cole, available to play.
The Stars not only outnumbered the Devils, they also looked very confident during the warm up, and when the two teams came back on the ice for the face off, there were many smiles on the Stars bench while the Devils continued to appear quiet and subdued.
As the game started, the Devils were working long shifts, with only two lines, letting each other get a good break was paramount, and, surprisingly, the Devils were playing a solid and physical game. As time went on, the Devils maintained the fast pace the Stars were playing at, and both teams matched each other for shots.
Just after half way through the period, after the puck was iced from the Stars zone, the face off was won by Alex Murray, who knocked the puck out to Richard Facey in the slot. Facey, in space, saw a gap between Mark Duffy and the goal post, and scored his forty third goal of the season, giving the Devils the early lead, and visibly giving the Devils a boost.
Seconds after the game restarted, Jake Florey was caught by the referee being unsportsmanlike, and was given two minutes in the penalty box. The Stars though, didn’t let this phase them, and while they couldn’t get through to the Devils goal, they stopped the Devils making it back through to theirs.
Both teams continued to hold each other at bay, through the remainder of the first and almost up until the half way point of the game. Alex Murray’s pass through the neutral zone to Mark Pitts, saw Pitts head towards the goal under pressure. Unfortunately, the pressure was too much for Pitts to finish, and he ended up on the ice, sliding past the goal and hitting the back boards. The puck though, had popped loose, and Facey was there to pick it up, Duffy, however, was blocking all possible angles to the goal, but Pitts was back up, and a quick pass across the front of the crease left Pitts just to knock it in to the net, doubling the Devils lead.
Once more, seconds after the game restarted, the Stars picked up a penalty. This time a two minute bench minor when a line change was too slow, and they ended up with too many men on the ice.
A few minutes later, the Stars took another penalty, this time with captain Andrew Cox heading to the sin bin after an interference call.
Disaster struck the Devils then too, when on the attack Alex Trendall took a knock, splitting his eyebrow and seeing him miss the rest of the game.
The third period, was some of the most intense hockey played in Gosport. The Stars were pushing to get back in to the game, and the Devils, while tired, were given the confidence and passion to keep playing hard with their two goal lead.
With just over two minutes left to go in the game, Duffy headed to the bench to bring on an extra skater, and the pressure on the Devils goal increased significantly. Defenders were throwing themselves in front of shots, Cole was diving about blocking everything that made it past the defence, and when Pitts cleared the puck against the boards and across the Devils blue line, Jamie Fitzpatrick picked it up with plenty of space, and despite the Stars defence trying to get back to block the goal, Fitzpatrick took his time to line up a long shot and with the crowd screaming, the puck hit the back of the net, sealing the Devils victory.
Christian Cole was given the Devils man of the match award at the end of the game, with his third shut out of the season, and as the Stars left the ice, the Devils stayed out to applaud their fans for the support this season.
Kyle Goddard with mascots Jacob Hammond and Eden Cerdan – photo by Dave Chapman
Speaking after the game, head coach Alex Murray praised his team on their victory “Really impressed with the guys, they put on a great performance and I am really proud of everyone.”
When asked about his performance on the night, Cole said “You don’t really plan the big saves, especially the acrobatic ones, it was a good performance from the whole team, not just myself. I can only do what I can do, the team help me out.”
The Devils now prepare for their play off games against Slough Jets this upcoming weekend.
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