Five goals not enough for win against Streatham for Devils

The first game of 2016 saw Solent Devils travelling to Streatham to face the Redskins, in their third NIHL South Cup game of the season.

Obviously both teams were well rested, and raring to go, as they both came out firing.  Just twenty seven seconds in, Redskins lost Adam Wood for high sticking, but just eighteen seconds later – despite being short-handed – Jack Tarczycki beat Sam Calder in the Devils goal and put the home team a goal up.

With Wood still sat in the sin-bin, Shaun Rudkin and Richard Facey provided assists to George Norcliffe as he tied the game back up, making it 1-1 with just over two minutes played.

Before the clock read seven minutes played, Facey provided a second assist to Norcliffe, who put the Devils in the lead with his second goal of the game.

The Redskins equalised, one minute later.  The goal coming from Wood – his sixteenth since the start of the season. Assists were provided by Kamil Kinkor and James Warman.

The game was a furious battle now, and the fans were enjoying a real event.  It was obvious, that having four goals in the first half of the first period, and it didn’t take long before the home fans were cheering again.

Wood got himself another point, this time with Chris Wiggins, both providing helpers to Kinkor, as he put the Redskins back in the lead.

Devils head coach, Alex Murray received a two minute penalty for high sticks.  The Devils managed to defend well, and as Murray returned to the ice, the score remained 3-2.

Heading in to the break, Kinkor had the puck and went hard toward the Devils goal.  This resulted in him receiving his third point and second goal of the game.

The first line change for the Redskins after the break, resulted in too many men on the ice, for which they received a two minute bench penalty, but it took a full six and a half minutes of this period for the next goal to be scored.

Once again, it was the home fans cheering, Warman picking up another assist as he helped Steven Fisher get himself on the scoresheet.

Now sitting at 5-2 down, it wouldn’t have been surprising to see the Devils heads droop.  This was not the case however, and Ralfs Circenis helped Norcliffe get his hat-trick.

Thirty nine seconds later, with another assist from Circenis, Norcliffe made the Redskins lead just one goal, his fourth goal of the game and fourteenth of the season making the score 5-4.

Six minutes later, Murray received help from Canadian import, Richard Brown, and tied things back up, now with just over twenty four minutes left in the game.

The third period, was as entertaining as the previous two, however William Sanderson between the Redskins pipes managed to be too much of a challenge for the Devils to beat a sixth time, despite their best efforts.

At the other end of the ice, however, Ryan Giles gave an assist to Kinkor as he got his hat-trick, putting the Redskins in the lead, and ultimately winning the game.

This goal, and the win it brought Streatham, means the Redskins advance to the Semi Finals of the Cup, despite having one more game to play – In Gosport to Solent Devils on the 6th of February.

The next Devils home game will be Saturday 9th January, with face off at 5pm, when they face off against Oxford City Stars.