This weekend had the Solent Devils and the Milton Keynes Thunder meet twice, with Thunder hosting on Saturday and traveling down to Devils home ice on Sunday.
With Chelmsford Chieftains sitting pretty at the top of the table, the competition now is to see where the rest of the teams in NIHL South 1 will end up, and with Milton Keynes just four points above the Devils, these two games gave both teams everything to play for. 
On Saturday night, Thunder got off to a superb start, scoring just five minutes in to the game, showing their dominance on the home ice early, with leading goal scorer Jakub Klima finding the back of the net and captain, Ross Green providing the assist.
Four minutes later, Devils leading goal scorer, Richard Facey equalised, the assist on this goal coming from Devils captain, Alex Cole.
Mark Pitts helped Matt Lawday nudge the Devils in to the lead, just over a minute later. Devils, however, couldn’t hold the lead and Tom Mboya picked up an unassisted goal, levelling the score once more.
Second before the break, with Nidal Phillips in the penalty box for hooking, Facey provided an assist to Aiden Doughty, meaning that at the end of an exhilarating first period, the Devils headed to the locker room leading the game 3-2.
Devils pushed on after the break, and broke through early, Doughty providing Canadian striker, Drew Campbell. Campbell putting the puck away nicely, and doubling the Devils lead.
The play went back and forth for the rest of the period, but heading in to the second break, Thunder still trailed by two.
This was obviously an unacceptable prospect to Milton Keynes, and they came back hard and fast, Boris Ruzicka this time earning himself an assist as Mboya grabbed his second goal of the game.
It didn’t matter what they did though, including pulling the goalie for the last minute of the game, Milton Keynes couldn’t find the opening to tie things back up, and the Devils headed back to Gosport now trailing Milton Keynes by just two points in the league.
Sunday night, the teams stepped on to the ice in Gosport, and the two netminders from the previous evening both headed out, Christian Cole the man at the back for Devils, David Wride his counterpart for Thunder.
From the off, this was going to be one of the biggest games of the year, Thunder desperate to keep from the Devils reach, Devils desperate to repeat the day before and earn the two points that would mean they took the sixth spot from Milton Keynes.
Alex Cole – Photo courtesy of Dave Chapman
The puck dropped, and at fourteen seconds Lawday’s first shot was blocked by Wride. Thunder went straight on the offensive and as thirty seconds ticked past on the clock, the puck hit the post of the Devils goal.
It took just ninety four seconds for the first goal, Facey and Doughty caught up with the Milton Keynes defence, right in front of the goal, before Facey managed to knock it under the net minder’s legs.
Thunder pushed hard, trying to get back in to the game after conceding such an early goal, and as the puck slid over the blue line in to the Thunder end, Wride came out of his goal to knock it back towards the Devils end, but his swing sent the puck over the glass at the side, earning him a two minute delay of game penalty – sat by Adam Harris.
Milton Keynes continued looking dangerous, and successfully killed off the penalty, minutes later though, Connor Goode boarded Luke Tull, so Devils picked up another power play.
This time, Facey and Doughty helped make the score 2-0, Campbell finishing the job, bringing the puck from against the boards towards centre, with poise and control from years of experience, and as the net minder shifted for position, Campbell saw a puck sized gap between the shoulder pad and the post, so used it to his advantage.
The game continued in the second, both teams pushing for advantage, Klima holding the puck behind the Devils goal knocked it in to the path of Hallden Barnes-Garner, who managed to knock it past Cole and in to the Devils net.
As the seconds died down at the end of the period, Ollie Dennis was sat in the penalty box after slashing Klima’s stick away, when Harrison Goode took the puck from the Thunder zone, and let off a cannon from the Devils blue line, beating Cole again, and making the score 2-2 at the break.
Mark Baroni, Alex Murray and Christian Cole – Photo courtesy of Dave Chapman
The first ten minutes of the third, were more of the same, back and forth hockey, but both teams now visibly tiring. Luke Reynolds was sat in the penalty box for cross checking Matt Lawday, but the puck was in the Devils zone. Doughty’s quick pass to Mark Pitts, saw Pitts go down the wing, across to the front of the goal, and slide the puck between the net minder and the post.
The Devils were back in the lead, but weren’t finished there. Mark Baroni’s shot went high over the goal, bounced back off the glass to land in front of Pitts. Pitts, feet from the goal, and the net minder out of position, knocked the puck in to the goal once more.
Moments later, the puck was once more in the Thunder zone, Facey passing to Doughty at the wing. Doughty’s quick cross found Campbell, who went on to make it 5-2 to the Devils, just in time for the final buzzer.
The four point weekend, means that Devils managed to snatch sixth in the league from Milton Keynes. The question is now, can they keep it?
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