Blaze Reignited ?
Saturday night see’s the Devils take on the Coventry blaze at home in Cardiff bay. This will be the third game between the two teams this season with the Blaze handing the Devils a pre-season 7 -3 defeat and then the Devils paying back the favor by shutting out the Blaze on their own Ice 0 – 2 in the first of their 2 Challenge cup group games. 
The Blaze have got off to a good start on the season having played 11 games winning 8 and losing just 3 in the league. Conversely they have struggled in the Challenge Cup group games taking just 3 points from their opening four games.
The Blaze faithful have yet to sing the praises of their team this year and there have been more than a few gripes about the new signings.
In the run up to last weekend’s games against league leaders the Belfast Giants and the Nottingham Panthers Blaze Coach Paul Thompson had this to say
“We are excited and looking forward to the games. We have had three good practices this week and will go into the weekend in positive mood.”
“The key in these games is to have full concentration for the 60 minutes and make the opposition work hard for their goals. We gifted Belfast a few goals last time. They are a talented hockey club and don’t need any gifts from us.”
“Both teams are flying right now and are the form teams in the league. It is going to be a big challenge but we want to set our stall out and take points of them this weekend to cut that gap.”
These words the Blaze players clearly took to heart, as they went out and stopped two winning streaks last weekend.
First into the fire this weekend the Belfast Giants who lost at home to the Blaze on Saturday night. This defeat ended the Giants winning streak of twelve straight wins. (Good news for us Devils fans really we don’t want another team beating that record in the very next season)
Looking at Saturdays Blaze game the two teams were goalless at the end of the first and stayed that way until the Blaze struck twice inside as many minutes with goals for Shea Guthrie and David Phillips in the middle of the second period.
The Blaze closed out the game in the third period with a goal from Luke Fulghum.
Despite being outshot by the Giants 2 to 1 in the third period, Peter Hirsch in the Blaze goal recorded his third shutout of the season stopping all 37 of the Giants shots
So final Blaze 3 – 0 Giants
Next into the flames were the Nottingham Panthers who saw the end of their seven game winning run losing to the Blaze 4 – 3 in front of a near sellout Crowd at the Skydome in Coventry.
The first period was action packed including fighting majors for Guillaume Lepine of Panthers and Bryan Jurynec of Blaze in the 10th minute. The Blaze ended on a high with two strikes, firstly from Robert Farmer at 16.07 and then a power play effort at 19.00 from Shea Guthrie.
Panthers showed what they are made of as they came powering back to level in the second period with goals from David-Alexandre Beauregard and then equalizing on a delayed penalty call with a marker from Jordan Fox.
Early third period indiscipline for the Panthers proved costly and landed them on a 5 on 3 penalty kill the Blaze capitalized going 3-2 ahead with a goal from Luke Fulghum and the Panthers problems worsened with another strike from Fulghum not long after.
A tense finish was set up when Beauregard grabbed his second on the power play at 57.01 but despite pulling net minder Craig Kowalski inside the final minute, Panthers were unable to score an equalizer.
Speaking after the two games Coventry coach Thompson told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire:
"I think what we've done is stamped our authority back."
"We are a team that's contending for a trophy this year."
Thompson added: "Credit to the guys they've been taking a lot of flak lately, some of it deserved and some of it not deserved, but teams have got to grow, I've said that time and time again."
"We've knocked over the top two, and convincingly. We've got games in hand so it was crucial we got these wins," he said.
Since the last Devils game against the Blaze they have had a change of Line up with the addition of 30 year old Dustin “The Machine” Wood who comes in to replace Gordon. Coming to the Blaze from Korean team Anyang Halla where he’s played for the last two seasons in Championship winning sides. Wood has a wealth of Experience having played in 301 career AHL games with the likes of the Manitoba Moose and the Syracuse Crunch, and 105 career DEL games with Kassel Huskies, ERC Ingolstad.
Winning man of the Match in his first two Games with the Blaze Wood looks to be the missing piece of the puzzle for the Blaze this season maybe?
After his opening game Coach Paul Thompson had this to say
“Dustin was naturally a bit tired on Sunday. He had a hell of a three days but he is a quality player and a quality person. He is just what we needed to add to the team.”
“If he can jump off a plane, have one practice and pick up two man of the match awards having not played a competitive game all season, then there is lots more to come from him. I am loving what I have seen so far.”
Scoring for the Blaze is primarily coming from Luke Fulgham (11 Goals, 9 assists), Owen Fussey ( 13 Goals, 5 assists) and Shea Guthrie ( 7 Goals, 10 Assists) and Matic Kralj ( 4 Goals , 13 Assists) who all featuring in the league’s top twenty scorers.
In nets the Blaze are backed up by Peter Hirsch who has posted 3 shut outs so far this season but who’s save percentage currently stands at 90%.
The Devils had a mixed weekend last weekend first off being slightly flattered by a 7 – 2 score line against the Dundee Stars on Saturday before taking on the Sheffield Steelers and coming away with a Narrow defeat away in the Challenge cup on Sunday. For a full report of the game http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/news/the-goods-mixed-fortunes/
The Devils Injury list continues to grow with Mark Smith now likely ruled out for the next four months, Stuart MacRae still day to day with a groin strain and player Coach Gerard Adams in some question after he took a puck to the ribs on Sunday in Sheffield.
Last Sundays defeat in Sheffield was a slip for the Devils in the cup qualifying “group of death” which unfortunately opens a door for the Blaze giving them a glimmer of hope. In theory the Blaze could now qualify if they beat us and we lose our final game and they win theirs. The Devils need to slam this door shut and at least take a point to keep the Blaze out of contention.
As always well be running the “Childish and amazngly Biased” Match Night Live service for this game, at the usual location of www.theinferno.co.uk/mnl if you'd like to help out or chip in with some comments on the night please contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com. You can also follow on Twitter for updates on @InfernoMNL
And don’t forget if you’re looking for somewhere to have a pint and a bite to eat before the game or a few beers afterwards the Pilot in Penarth is a short trip away and will also be open afterwards for post-match drinks, directions to the pub can be found here - http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/where-to-eatdrink/
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