Devils Vs Hull 24th September 2011
Saturday night see’s the Hull Stingrays come to town to take on the Devils in a Challenge Cup group game. This will be the third of the Devils challenge cup games and could be a must win game after the Devils split result against the Panthers. The Devils really need every point at this stage to make it out of the “Group of Death “and into round 2.
Taking a look at the Stingrays roster things are looking a lot more stable and organized than they did this time last year. Firstly Sylvain Cloutier has had the luxury of six months to prepare for the 11/12 season after agreeing to return for his third term as player coach.
This time looks to have been spent well building a squad properly as opposed to last year’s rushed month and a half recruitment that Cloutier was given following the club’s surprise reprieve at the 11th hour after the owners called it a day in the off season.
The off season began with a mass exodus from the club with no fewer than 14 players leaving many simply failing to earn new contracts whilst the likes of Kurtis Dulle, who’s signed for the Sydney Bears and Drew Bannister, who is now player coach at the Braehead Clan, were both made offers but opted not to return having been offered deals elsewhere.
Looking at the team signed for the new season Hull have just four returning alongside player Coach Cloutier those being Jereme Tendler who scored a club record 50 goals last season and was a massive re-signing for the club after many assumed that he would move on to pastures new, Jason Silverthorn last season’s Coaches Player of the Year, Ex Devil and newly appointed alternate captain, who averages 20 goals a season at Elite level, British forward Ryan Lake who has made a successful return to the sport last season after four years away and Canadian net minder Christian Boucher who begins his second season with the club.
Cloutier has brought in a wealth of new talent and experience to the club with the signing of the players he has played with before at Adirondack Frostbite. Firstly Defenseman Dmitry Rodin a 36 year old Estonian who is a veteran of 21 season’s experience (who has also played under the name Suur in the past) who has been made Alternate Captain, Defenseman Josh Mizerek who is 35 years old and has been named Captain and lastly 28 year old Czech power forward Frantisek Bakrlik.
Key signings in addition to this trio look to be, Dominic Osman from the ECHL a former team mate of Tendler’s and power forward Derek Campbell the notorious linesman’s eater who while disliked in Cardiff is no stranger to the league and will step up for his team mates where needed and chip in some points.
The Brit pack is young and hungry with key new signings being Dan Scott, 20, and Jack Watkins, 18 who join from the EPL and 16 year old Bobby Chamberlain who returns to his hometown side after time spent in the North American junior setup. Over all there are young six British players on the roster under the age of 23 which could prove to be a gamble or an act of abject genius.
It’s been a grim few opening games for the Stingrays losing their first three and then finally getting their first point on the weekend taking Coventry to overtime before eventually losing out, even though his team have shipped 20 goals so far Cloutier seems relaxed and had this to say on the weekend’s games.
“Over the last four games, there are about 18 minutes out of the 240 where we have not played very smart and that has cost us about four points,”
“It is still early. We have a good mix but we have a lot of young guys learning. We have to be patient with them; we knew that from the start.”
Hulls last game against the Nottingham Panthers resulted in a 6 – 2 defeat and as the game was doubling as both league and a Challenge Cup game the defeat will be doubly painful. Player Coach Cloutier was less understanding with the team after this defeat having this to say
“It is not good enough to just be in games any more, the guys have to pick it up,” said Cloutier. “We can’t just be in games for 20 minutes and not play for the other 40."
“We played a great first period and had a great five-on-three kill at the start of the second – then the wheels fell off."
“We had three turnovers and the puck ended in the back of our net. We can’t keep making these mistakes, especially against a team like that. It is hurting us.”
Hull will possibly have Ryan Lake out injured after the weekend’s game against Coventry in addition to forward Jack Watkins who is hopeful of returning to the Stingrays line-up this weekend after an injury in the preseason also against Coventry.
For my money the main strength here is the Experience at the core of the Imports who will really help and support the crop of young Brits, whilst this is a plus it may also be a minus as the experienced guys are a bit on the older side my worry would be that as the season drags on injuries could well become an issue.
Another strength is that Hull also now boast some proven snipers in Tendler and Osman and have a few others who should contribute to the goal tally in the likes of Jason Silverthorn and Derek Campbell they do on the other hand possibly lack in depth in scoring which could prove an issue.
The Devils had a mixed bag of results last weekend beating Sheffield in an emphatic display at home on Saturday 4 – 0 and then Sunday night going well ahead and being largely in control for most of the game only to see the Steelers claw their way back finally losing out 5 – 3 after a shorthanded goal and then an Empty net goal from Sheffield’s Mike Ramsay in the dying minutes of the game.
For a full write up of last weekend’s games take a look at Devil’s fan Holly Acott’s write up here http://theworldofsportbyateengirl.blogspot.com/
Devils have been without winger Max Birbraer after an injury in the pre-season but this weekend see's him make a welcome return to the roster. The knock on effect of this is that Luke Piggott will now not Ice for the Elite side and will instead Ice for the ENL team.
We can only speculate about the overall effect of Max’s return on the forward lines and assume that he we return on the first line alongside Scott Matzka and Jeff Pierce with Scott Dobben more than likely dropping back to the third line position he filled in the pre-season.
Getting back to normal after last Sundays server issues we'll be running Match Night Live for this game from 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. Should anything go wrong (which it shouldn’t) we will move over to Twitter for updates so follow us there 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 be offering discount bar meals before the game and will 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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