Saturday evening saw Streatham Redskins travel to the Gosport Arena, to take on Solent Devils in what was the fourth NIHL 1 cup game for each team this year.
Devils took charge early on, and looked to be dominating play, despite Redskins looking dangerous on the breakaway. Try as they might though, Devils could not manage to get through the Redskins defence, or beat William Sanderson between the pipes.
Fortunately, for the Devils, Sam Calder was equally up to the challenge at the other end of the ice, in the Devils goal.
Despite a smattering of penalties, the first period ended 0-0.
Andrew Magee – Photos are courtesy of Reece Gough
The second started, and from the face off the puck was taken to the Devils end of the rink. The puck was moved around the goal mouth, and with at least five people right in front of goal, Calder missed the puck in the scramble and it was poked through a gap between the net minder and the post, by Joe Allen.
A few minutes later, the play was in the Streatham end, when the Redskins managed a turnover, taking the puck down the ice at real speed, captain Joseph Johnston’s first shot was deflected by Calder, but Allen was there again to slip the puck past Calder once more.
With Mitch Murray in the penalty box for hooking, Redskins once again went on the attack, and David Savage – who already had an assist from Allen’s first goal – managed to fire the puck in from just inside the Devils blue line.
This goal prompted the Devils to call a time out, surely to discuss the fact that they had conceded three goals with just three and a half minutes of the period played.
No changes were made, and Calder headed back out to the Devils goal.
Just past the thirty minute mark, while on a power play due to Sanderson conceding a delay of game penalty, Canadian import, Richard Brown, sent the puck out of the Devils area to Ralfs Circenis, who passed the across the ice to George Norcliffe as Norcliffe got to the blue line.  This put him one on one with Sanderson. Norcliffe spotted a gap under Sanderson’s left arm, and fired the puck through it, finally getting the home team started with scoring.
As play resumed, Monty Gailer took a visit to the Devils penalty box for slashing. Despite being short handed, Norcliffe and Circenis went on another run, straight out of the Devils zone, this time with Circenis beating Sanderson, and reducing Redskins lead to one.
The third started much the same way, with both teams pushing hard. While the play was all in the Devils zone, Calder was down following a save. Adam Wood passed through to Johnson, who passed on to Allen, who got his hat trick as he once again slipped the puck past Calder’s outstretched leg.
Despite the Devils best efforts, they could not manage to get through the Redskins defence, and Sanderson continued to be a real force at the back.
With less than five minutes left to go, from a face off in the Devils zone, the puck was being moved fast around the area and the Redskins were managing to keep it in the blue line. Kamil Kinkor’s pass to Callum Best, saw Best get his second point of the game (assist on Savage’s goal) and made the score 5-2, which held until the final buzzer.
Sunday, Devils went on the road, this time to Gillingham to face the Invicta Dynamos.
Andrew Brown – Photos are courtesy of Reece Gough
Christian Cole took to the ice, after his night off the day before.
The first period, saw a pair of penalties for George Norcliffe (high sticks just after a minute, and hooking after eleven), but no goals from either team. Shots on goal, however, show how hard Cole was working, as he had faced down fifteen, whereas Damien King had to only contend with five.
Early in to the second, Dynamos were the first to get the scoring off to a start. While on a power play, due to too many Solent players on the ice, Steven Osman picked up his sixty fourth goal of the season, and his forty second for the Dynamos.
It took a few minutes, but the Devils managed to respond to this goal. Richard Facey and Ben Lock provided assists to Andrew Magee as he tied the game back up.
Somehow, this didn’t last, and Jacob Ranson beat Cole, just two minutes later. Assists were provided by Eriks Ozollapa and Arran Strawson.
Five minutes in to the third, Steve Gosset was sent to the sin bin for tripping, and Invicta used this to their advantage. Ondrej Zosiak sent the puck on to Nicky Lewis, who found Osman in the right position to get his second of the night.
Strawson then managed to get a second assist, as he provided the helper for Dynamos fourth goal, this one scored by Ozollapa.
Five minutes later, Monty Gailer’s pass to Mitch Murray, who sent the puck on, earned both players an assist each, as Magee picked it up and scored his second goal of the evening.
This only bought the score back to 4-2, but the Devils were battling to try and close the gap.
Entering the final minute, Callum Fowler got himself a goal, with another assist from Ozollapa. Then, as if that was not enough, Ozollapa scored his second and Ranson got an assist to go with his earlier goal.
Invicta Dynamos took the game 6-2 in front of their home crowd, and the Devils headed back to Gosport following their second loss in two days, with a week to prepare before their next double header weekend.
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