Solent Devils played away in Gillingham Sunday evening, in their second league match up against Invicta Dynamos this season.
Sam Calder was in goal for his first league start of the season, giving usual Devils net minder the night off, and right from the start Calder was tested. Not even two minutes in, Devils captain, Alex Cole, was sent to the sin bin for two minutes for tripping. While on the penalty kill, Dynamos managed to break through the Devils defence, and from the stick of Eriks Ozollapa, the puck ended up in the goal. Unfortunately for Dynamos, the amount of people that had ended up in the crease had meant the goal had moved, and therefore the refs said this Ozollapa’s goal did not count.
The whole of the first period, was spent going end to end, with both teams pushing hard in to the defence of the other, before the defending team would take control of the puck and head straight out on the attack.
Calder was instrumental for the Devils, in keeping the Dynamos from scoring in the first, with Ozollapa trying hard to get things going and Joshua Condren having a couple of chances, but neither of them managing to finish the job.
Richard Facey spent the first battling hard for the Devils, and in the final minute of the period the Devils thought they had finally scored. There was some serious discussion about this, and for the second time in the game a goal was waved off by the refs, as there was a belief the puck could have made it through the side of the net rather than between the pipes.
Coming out in to the second, the Devils were given a power play, in which Devils head coach, Alex Murray managed to find space between the Invicta defence and got a pass through to George Norcliffe, but the Dynamos net minder Damien King positioned himself just right and blocked the shot.
Minutes later, Steve Osman got a pass off to Slovakian import, Ondrej Zosiak who fired a huge slap shot through traffic, hard enough to make Calder’s water bottle jump up from the top of the net.
Being a goal down, didn’t deter the Devils, Alex Trendall and Ralfs Circenis teaming up to give the Devils fans something to cheer for, but unfortunately they couldn’t make it all the way.
Dynamos soon managed to score again, this time Osman managing to steal the puck and skip in to the Devils zone, tucking the puck round the post, and putting the home team a pair of goals in the lead.
Nicky Lewis, was called up for slashing, giving the Devils another power play, but despite Mitch Murray’s efforts the Devils still couldn’t get on the score sheet, and the end of the period the goal remained at 2-0 to the Dynamos.
It didn’t take long in to the third, and Dynamos managed to strike again. This time, Connor Redmond managing to beat Calder, with assists from Condren and Ozollapa.
Trendall and Circenis continued their pairing, with a fantastic shot from Trendall being saved by the gloved hand of King, once again keeping the Devils from breaking through.
After Mason Wild was held back from a hook from Harrison Lillis, the Devils went on the power play, this time however, Facey finally managed to get one past King, firing low from the middle straight in to the net.
With just two minutes to go, Circenis and Condren dropped the gloves, and each received 2+2, and then with just one minute left, the Devils called a time out with Calder not returning to the goal. Unfortunately, for the Devils, having the extra skater on the ice didn’t result in another goal for them, with Alex Murray making it back quick enough to deflect a shot from the half way line by Zosiak, and making sure the game finished 3-1.
Devils face off this weekend, against local rivals Wightlink Raiders. Gosport Ice Arena, at 7pm.
Image by David.Trevallion@prohockeynews.com
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