This weekend saw the Solent Devils in the battle for the league title, beginning their huge double header on Saturday, at home to Bracknell Hornets.
Sam Rudkin and and Will Crossley holding off Conor Sheehan and Tom Fisher – photo courtesy of Dave Chapman
The Hornets beat the Devils in Bracknell just three weeks ago, taking the competition 2-1, giving Oxford City Stars some breathing room at the top of the table.This time, however, the Devils really wanted to get the two points, closing the gap on Oxford to just one point as both the Devils and Stars prepared to face each other for their final two games of the season.
The huge battle in Gosport started with both teams showing they were going to play a physical and fast game, not giving either any kind of chance in front of goal and they each managed to hold each other from the door for the entire first period, and despite a smattering of penalties the teams headed to the break 0-0.
After knocking the puck from the ice and in to the netting, Matt Jordan was sat in the penalty box to see the deadlock broken, four minutes in to the second period.Alex Trendall passing the puck to Mark Pitts in centre ice, Pitts taking it to the Hornets goal under pressure, a quick pass as Mitchell Murray followed in to support saw Murray knock the puck between the pipes.
Just past the half way point, the referee raised his hand to show a pending penalty against the Hornets after Conor Sheehan tripped Will Crossley in centre, and as Christian Cole headed out of the Devils goal to bring on an extra skater, Richard Facey was already heading across the Bracknell blue line.Under huge pressure, Facey dropped the puck back to Crossley, now back on his feet, and he knocked it through to Alex Murray, who fired a one timer straight past James Richardson, making the score 2-0.
From the face off in the third period, Mitch Murray passed to Trendall who went on the attack, his shot was knocked away by Richardson, but Pitts was there to bury the rebound.
Just over a minute later, a face off in the Devils zone was won by William Stead, scooping the puck out to Tony Barclay.As Christian Cole committed to stopping the shot from Barclay, he pushed the puck under the diving netminder to Tom Fisher, who had plenty of space to finish the play and start the Hornets scoring.
The next seven minutes saw the Hornets take three penalties, and concede three power play goals, Drew Campbell with the first, and Facey with a pair of his own.
Mark Pitts waiting for face off – photo courtesy of Dave Chapman
Two minutes later, Alex Murray picked up his second goal of the game on an even handed play that had Facey and Campbell pressuring the netminder for several shots, until he was so far out of the goal Murray would have been hard pressed to miss his target.
A minute later, the Hornets stung again, Tomas Gilheany setting up Fisher for his second of the evening.
To finish things off, the Devils once more beat Richardson,Mitch Murray with the goal to cap the game after an assist from his brother, Alex, and Kyle Goddard.
The 8-2 victory now saw the Devils sitting behind league leaders Oxford, by just one point and ready to head to Oxford for their second game of the weekend.
This being a “must win” game for both teams, gave it the feeling of a play-off game, but somehow the players were managing to stay grounded, focusing on the task ahead rather than letting the excitement get the better of them.
Both teams were playing fast, technical, physical hockey, pushing the other while trying to defend their own goal.
Fourteen minutes in, Drew Campbell took a penalty for hooking, when the Stars made a big push, Stewart Tait and Jake Florey providing the assists to Dax Hedges, as Hedges scored the only goal of the period.
Almost half way through the second period, ex-Devil and prolific scorer for Oxford, Matthew Lawday doubled the home team’s lead, Joe Edwards with the assist on goal two.
As the clock headed towards the half way point in the third period, Edwards picked up a goal of his own, Joshua Florey with the assist, now leaving the Devils 3-0 behind with just eleven minutes to play.
Devils captain, Alex Cole, picked up a late consolation goal with just over three to play in the game, the solo assist from Mark Pitts, but with such a short amount of time left, all the Oxford team needed to do was defend, which they did well, preventing the Devils scoring any more goals.
This victory for the Oxford City Stars saw them win the league, with one game remaining (to be played in Gosport, Saturday 7thApril), and be presented with the league cup on their home ice, in front of a huge crowd.
The Devils now begin their preparations for the play offs, while wanting to give a good account of themselves when they host Oxford in two weeks.
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