Solent Devils suffered their first defeat of the 2015/16 season, this Sunday, away to Oxford City Stars.
Once again, the supporters were treated to a truly exciting evening of hockey, and the game started with both teams on the attack. Following a turnover in the Oxford zone, Christian Cole was forced to make two saves in quick succession, and while trying to defend, George Norcliffe was sent to the sin bin for two minutes on a tripping call.
George Norcliffe making his way between two Oxford defenders Photos are courtesy pf Paul Foster
Oxford were not left with an advantage for long, as just 21 seconds later Andrew Cox was sent out on a hooking penalty.
As Cox returned the ice, the puck came to him at the sin bin door, who took the puck in to the zone, passed the puck across the ice to Joe Edwards, who sent the puck on to Josh Oliver who put the puck over Cole’s shoulder and in to the top corner of the net.
Jamie Fitzpatrick was given a two minutes penalty, as while preventing Whillock heading to the goal, it was viewed that Fitzpatrick was using his stick to hook the Stars attacker. The rest of the Devils, performed a great job killing the second penalty of the game, and Fitzpatrick re-joined the game with the score remaining at 1-0.
Oxford had a goal disallowed, as Dax Hedges knocked the puck in to the Solent goal using his hand. Luckily for Devils, the referee was in the right spot to see it and waved the goal off.
Just under two minutes left of the period, Domink Hegyi was given a hooking penalty, giving the Stars another power play, however, it was short lived as for the fourth time in the period the Referee had to perform the hooking signal, and sent Josh Oliver to the sin bin with just 19 seconds left in the first.
As the second got underway, Canadian import, Richard Brown, in his first game for the Devils this season, was sent to the sin bin for an interference call, once again giving the Stars the man advantage. This was the nineteenth power play for Oxford this season, and for only the third time of the year they managed to capitalise on it as Steve Osman sent the puck to the stick of Josh Florey from where it was slapped in to the back of the Devils net, making the score 2-0 in favour of the Stars.
This made the second period even more intense, and after a clash between Richard Facey and Joe Edwards, both players were given 2+2 penalties for roughing.
Following this, the sin bin could have benefited by having a revolving door with Stars receiving six more penalties and Devils being given five more just in the second period.
Having interruptions to their lines through most of the period, didn’t seem to cause Devils any problems, however, it was a different story for the Stars.
While on a power play, Devils managed to get their first goal just before the half way point. Head coach Alex Murray picked up a loose puck from a Stars rally, at the time George Norcliffe found space. A quick pass, and Norcliffe did what he has done so many times for the Devils, and put the puck in to the net.
Latvian born Ralfs Circenis made a return to the Devils line up, and was out on the ice for this game. 18 year old Circenis, played 28 games for Devils last year, then left over the summer to play at Basingstoke Bisons, however, after two games Bisons released Circenis and he came back to the Devils, causing great excitement among the fans. This proved a boost, when just five minutes after the first Devils goal, Circenis and Mitch Murray were given assists on a hugely debated goal. Stars claiming the puck was frozen under Shannon Long in goal and Devils claiming it wasn’t. Fortunately for the Devils, the referee agreed, and Captain Alex Cole was credited with his first goal of the season.
Christian Cole facing down a shot from Steve Osman Photos are courtesy pf Paul Foster
Two minutes later, Cole got his first assist of the season, finding Norcliffe available who took the puck the rest of the way, dancing around the Oxford defence and sent a low shot through Shannon Long’s legs in the Stars goal, and putting the Devils ahead for the first time in the game.
Not wanting to be outdone, the Murray brothers took to the ice, with Alex providing the assist to younger brother Mitch, making the score 4-2 in favour of the Devils heading in to the second break.
Whatever team talk happened in the Stars dressing room during the break clearly had an effect though, as they came out with their heads high in to the third period, which again was filled with visits to the sin bin for both teams – including a ten minute misconduct call on the Stars net minder Shannon Long.
It took four minutes for Joshua Ealey-Newman in his Stars debut, and Joshua Florey to get assists on Stars Captain, Darren Elliott’s goal. This was another goal that came with dispute, as the Devils goal seemed to be off its moorings, however, this was missed by the referee who gave the goal despite protests from the Devils on the ice.
Just over five minutes later, Stars managed to tie the game with Steve Osman providing the assist on a top corner goal from a huge shot from Josh Ealey-Newman.
After such a dramatic come back, all the Devils fans were hoping for one more goal, and the Devils players were trying hard to find that extra goal, breaking the streak of drawn games and get another win under their belt.
Unfortunately, at 4-4, Stars also were trying everything they could to get the win too, and it was their efforts that paid off, with one minute and ten seconds left of the game, Dax Hedges was set up by Osman and Elliot to nudge the Stars in to the lead, and ultimately take the game 5-4.
This coming weekend is a double header for the Solent Devils. Saturday 10th October sees them travel to London Raiders.  Sunday 11th October Devils host Milton Keynes Thunder at Gosport Arena, face off at 7pm.
You must be logged in to post a comment.