Jets soar over Devils

This weekend saw the Solent Devils and Slough Jets have a rare weekend where two teams play both their NIHL fixtures, back to back.

Saturday night started in Slough, as the Devils headed up to face Lukas Smital’s Jets.
It was a relatively quiet first period, with just three minor penalties and no goals, but plenty of up and down action on the ice.

Slough struck early in the second period though, beating Devils netminder Christian Cole, Adam Rosbottom providing the assist to Lukas Smital, providing the only goal in the period.

The third saw the Devils equalise, Richard Facey putting the puck in to the net past Matthew Smital following help from Dan Lackey.

The deadlock did not last long however, as Lukas Smital and Sean Norris saw Jets captain, Daniel Rose though to pushing the Jets back in to the lead.

Minutes later, the Devils were celebrating once more, but much to their dismay, referee Timothy Pickett hadn’t actually seen the puck inside the net and waved off the goal, leaving the score 2-1.

As the clock ticked down, the Devils pulled Cole from the goal in an attempt to increase the pressure on the Jets, but Norris managed to pick up the puck on the Jets blue line and headed at the Devils goal, closely pursued by Alex Murray and Evan Crockford.

As Norris headed towards the goal, colliding with the two players, he stumbled and fell, ending up in the net as the puck slid past the goal.

Ref Pickett believed their to be some wrong doing by the Devils, however, so awarded the Jets a goal with less than a minute of time left in the game and resulting in a 3-1 victory for the home team.

Sunday, with the Devils back in Gosport looking to make up for the previous evening saw Lukas Smital open the scoring once more, just over half way through the first period, with an assist from Luke Reynolds.

Two minutes later, Alex Murray had levelled the score, his unassisted goal starting deep in the Devils zone and him speeding down the ice to slot the puck over Smital junior’s shoulder.

Two minutes after that, Mitch Murray put the Devils in to the lead for the first time in the weekend, his assist coming from Drew Campbell and Alex Trendall.

The second period, however, saw things go downhill for the Devils, as the Jets picked up four goals in ten minutes – Robert Horsfall with the first, a pair from Daniel Rose and another from Smital.

Rose picked up his hat trick goal less than a minute in to the third, making the score 6-2 to the visitors and leaving the Devils fans in silence.

Alex Murray managed to get the fans cheering once more though, as Richard Facey helped him put another goal on the boards, shortening the gap between the two teams.

All hope for the Devils was extinguished though, as Harry Harcup scored with six left on the clock, and was quickly followed up by a hat trick goal from Smital.

At the final buzzer, a jubilant Jets left the ice with the score standing 8-3 as the Devils applauded the fans for their support over the difficult weekend.

The Devils will be looking to improve over the week before their next match Sunday evening, away in Peterborough against the Phantoms.