Devils - Blaze 2010 Pre-season Friendly

The Cardiff Devils clashed with the Coventry Blaze in the Cardiff Bay Ice Arena, in a friendly to kick off their 2010 2011 campaign. It marked the first time the entire team was on the ice together, with Kenton Smith only flying in the day of the match, so maybe the result, against a Coventry team who have been together over a week and already played one competitive match, was a foregone conclusion.  The team gave a good account for themselves however and gained in confidence as the game progressed.

Devils started with a strong forecheck but within 45 seconds Voth had picked up his first penalty of the season. 2 minutes for hooking. On the powerplay Blaze took the lead almost straight away, With Carlson screening the netminder. The shot from the point was blocked, and the puck dropped perfectly for Carlson to tap into the empty net with Lyle looking around for the puck. Blaze take a 0-1 lead.

Devils tried to get back into the game and got a PP of their own when Birbraer was taken out as he chased the loose puck. Surprisingly both Lee and Cruickshank both got 2 minutes for hooking although it looked like only Lee hooking him. Devils got a 5-on-3 but the Devils  obviously haven't had many PP practices and failed to make anything of it. Jaeger got his angles right but the Devils didn't really test him that much and the Blaze survived the 2 minutes quite comfortably.

Cardiff seemed to be having most of the possession and chances, though that was partially down to the Blaze continuing to take penalties and gift the Devils PP chances. Unfortunately for one PP Cardiff forgot they had the advantage and only iced 4 players for around 40 seconds. Voth also picked up a 2+10 for a check to the head.

After a break down the right wing by Cruickshank was stopped by a solid Sawyer check/slap to the face, the puck fell loose into the corner (which hadn't yet melted away). Sawyer looked favourite to get to it, but was hooked then held by Cruickshank without penalty. Chambers managed to get the puck, and after feeding it on to Owen, Zanon was allowed to advance towards the net-minder unopposed and he fired the puck just inside the near post and past Lyle giving the Blaze a 0-2 lead.

Coventry had only really had two chances and scored both. They started to dominate the rest of the period though and after a scramble in the Devils crease the Blaze contrived to miss two open nets. With a couple of minutes left in the period, Pelle appeared to stand on the puck and fall over with no Blaze player near him. Hicks though gave Lee 2 minutes for tripping.

Into the second period, and the Devils started to look tired already. The Blaze were starting to pass the puck around well whilst Chambers was making the Devils defence look like statues as he danced he way around him. 6 minutes into the period though, and after chasing a loose puck Matzka was sent into the boards head first with a check from behind by Soderstrom. No whistle from Hicks, but within a second Birbraer had got to Soderstrom, dropped the gloves and gave Sodastream one hell of a beating. Sodapop skated off to the dressing room with his eye looking like it had been moved to his cheek and didn't ice again. Sodapop got 5 minutes for fighting but nothing for the check from behind. Birbraer got 5 minutes for fighting plus 2+10 for beating the crap out of his announcement. Or Instigating, I forget which.

The fight seemed to lift the Devils a bit who started to create chances of their own again. Voth reminded Blaze fans why he is so popular with them. Chasing down a puck towards the net, a Blaze defender tried to push him away as Jaeger collected the bouncing puck. Voth wasn't deviating his route though and the Blaze defenceman bounced off him and straight into Jaeger, catching him in the head. Blaze fans and players went nuts, but to fair to Voth he was never skating at Jaeger and would almost certainly/most probably/perhaps skated past him without incident had the Blaze player not got involved.

Next shift and with the same players on the ice, Voth's presence created a mad scramble in front of the net. As Voth looked like he might score, Carlson charged across the ice full speed and cross-checked Voth from behind. He was fortunate to get only 2 mins. The PP lasted only a couple of seconds though. Michel put a Blaze player on his butt with a cracking shoulder check from standing, but was given 2 minutes for a cross-check which left both sets of player bemused and giggling.

Devils collected a loose puck in their own zone but a misspass from Adams gifted Chambers a chance in front of the net all alone, and he took his time to deke past Lyle and slide the puck into the net stretching the Blaze lead to 3.

Carlson seemed to have a bee in his bonnet last night and something seemed to have got him worked up. From a face-off, he seemed to grab Finnerty and after the two grappled with each other, they both finally got their gloves off and started throwing punches. Well, Finnerty did whilst I could have sworn at one point Carlson seemed to start cowering. Carlson quickly dropped to his knees on the ice, but just as quickly bounced back up - though I'm not sure whether that was of his own doing or Finnerty dragging him backup. Either way, Finnerty got in several more punches before seemingly stopping as Carlson didn't look like he wanted to fight any more. The linesmen started to move in only for Carlson to start to throw a punch or two, allowing Finnerty to throw even more punches and get the take-down. Both players got 5 minutes for fighting, but bizarrely Finnerty got 2+10 for Instigating. Not quite sure how that can be the case. Perhaps I was right and you get 2+10 this season for comfortably winning a fight.

After having made several good reaction saves, Lyle had a clanger. A tame wrist shot from Owen, Lyle seemed to have it covered with his glove hand and went down as if he had saved it, only for the light to go on. Presumably the holes in the ice had spread to his glove. Devils 0-4 Blaze

Into the final period and the Blaze started to take their foot off the gas a bit and gave a couple of the youngsters some ice time. The second period had been stopped twice due to gaps in the ice by the boards. The third period was stopped for a hole in the ice by the DJ stand. The game was stopped for around 10 minutes whilst he was worked on and I thought the game would be abandoned. But no - the game resumed (and after the game the PI crew solved the problem by putting cones around it for the skating session).

The delay seemed to inject some energy into the Devils players who had looked tired before it. After Sawyer had picked up a hooking penalty, the Blaze won the face off, but somehow Finnerty won the puck back and cleared it. Hill chased down the puck and (quite surprisingly) burnt the Blaze players for speed. Skating into the zone he fired a slapshot passed Jaeger and destroying his shut out.

The Devils 1st line was starting to get some connection and the passing was starting to work. A quick counter attack saw Birbraer burst down the wing into the zone, and his cross-ice pass was picked up by Matzka who danced his way past a couple of Blaze D-men and slid the puck home to give the scoreline a bit more respectability and finishing the scoring Devils 2-4 Blaze

Cardiff had chances to score a third in the dying minutes but it was not to be.

Both teams meet again Wednesday night at the Skydome in Coventry, before the season proper starts this Saturday away against the Sheffield Steelers.