Devils win on road, but get raided at home

It was a double header weekend for the Solent Devils this weekend, Saturday night traveling to Bracknell to face the Hornets.

The Cole Brothers – Alex and Christian – defending the Devils goal at Bracknell Photo is courtesy of Kevin Slyfield Photography

It was the third league game of the season for both teams, and both teams were desperately looking for their first win of the season.

Things started poorly for the Hornets, with Josh Ealey-Newman being sent to the penalty box for interference, and he was followed just seconds later by Tom Avery on a charging call.

This opened the door for the Devils, Mason Wild and Mitch Murray providing the assists for Alex Murray to start the scoring.

Devils struck the back of the net again, less than half way through the first, when Alex Cole fed Richard Facey the puck, and he went on to beat Daniel Milton.

The second period, the puck went back and forth, with the Devils trying to maintain their lead and the Hornets trying to get back the goals they had given up in the first.

Both teams held fast, and despite the two teams trading penalties, as they went to the second break the score was still 2-0 to the Devils.

Early in to the third, the Hornets finally managed to beat Christian Cole, Jaroslav Kucej passing to Ben Ealey-Newman, who found Brandon Miles, with Miles finishing the job and cutting the Devils lead to just 1.

As the period went on, both teams were playing with passion, the Devils desperate to get a win under their belts, and the Hornets desperate not to lose another game.

As the clock ticked down, Milton left the goal to get an extra player on, and with the puck deep in the Devils zone, Facey intercepted it and passed it out to Mark Pitts.  Pitts, sent it on to Wild, who sent it out of the Devils zone and straight in to the empty net at the other end of the rink.

The Devils then held this until the end, taking the game 3-1.

Sunday, was the Devils first home game of the season, as Wightlink Raiders came across to the mainland.

The game was overseen by the Mayor of Gosport, Counsellor Lynn Hook, who started the game with a ceremonial puck drop following the national anthem.

The game was fast and hard, a treat for the fans who had come to watch this local derby.

One is The Mayor of Gosport – Councillor Lynn Hook with (from left to right) Mason Wild, Alex Murray, Richard Facey and Alex Cole

Raiders took an early lead, half way through the first, Jordan Gregory opening the scoring, helpers coming from Alex Sampford and Jaroslav Cesky.

Both teams played hard, giving no quarter, but it was a surprisingly quiet night in the penalty box.  After the game, Alex Murray commented “I think the refs played it quite well, he could see it was two teams playing quite hard and decided not to call everything.  I liked it, it kept the game going, it’s much better than stop – start hockey.”

The Devils managed to equalise half way through the third, when Richard Facey and Mitch Murray – who had both been attacking hard all night – broke through, and Murray got the puck past Matt Colclough.

Minutes later, however, with the puck in the Devils zone, Sampford intercepted a clearance on the blue line, looked up, and through traffic spotted a gap between Christian Cole’s knees, and managed to slot the puck through it, pushing the Raiders back in to the lead.

Mayor of Gosport – Councillor Lynn Hook presenting Christian Cole his Man of the Match award

Barely two minutes later, Aidan Doughty and George Norcliffe went on a run towards the Devils netminder, managing to engage Cole in one corner of the goal.  As Cole went to grab the puck, it slipped away from him and skittered across the front of the goal mouth.  Danny Ingoldsby was there to pick it up, and managed to lift it over Cole’s outstretched arm, bringing the score to 3-1.

“The speed is incredible,” said Counsellor Hook, “end to end play, it is fantastic, I will definitely be back.”

Counsellor Hook presented the Man of the Match awards following the game, and then went for a chat with Head Coach, Alex Murray, Captain, Alex Cole, and Alternate Captains, Richard Facey and Mason Wild.

Devils next game is against Bracknell Hornets, Sunday October 16th in Gosport.