Wightlink Raiders 4-5 ENL DEVILS
Saturday saw the Cardiff ENL Devils back on the road again as they braved the adverse weather conditions to travel to their away game on the Isle of Wight. The Raiders have endured a mixed season since swapping the EPL for ENL last summer and many see them as the under-achievers of the season thus far. Still a professional outfit as the senior team on the island, they have a budget comparable to league leaders Invicta Dynamos, yet have failed to mount a serious title challenge. However any team that boasts the likes of Jeremy Cornish, John Sarno and Danny Hughes are going to be difficult to beat – and this holds particularly true when they are on their home ice. For those of you that have made the hop across the Solent will know that the rink on the island is significantly smaller than most and nobody is better adapted to playing on it than the home side. A reflection of this is shown by the ENL Devils previous visit which saw the Raiders run out 5-0 victors.
The Devils have come along way since their last visit to the island, and went into the game as the leagues ‘in-form’ side having gone on a 9-game unbeaten run. They were however, short benched with only 12 skaters and 2 goalies making the trip – with only 3 regular defencemen in the side. Corey Watkins was asked to fill in on defence and the versatile, hard-hitting skater made the transition with ease. In fact, it was Watkins that got the scoring off to a start as a gritty first period saw the two sides cancel each other out for most if it, until Watkins was able to force home the puck from in close after good work down low by Burrows and Fisher on the Powerplay. The Raiders did have their chances in the first period, but a solid period by Brabon returning to his former club, and some quick reaction clearances by the Devils defence made sure that they went into the first break a goal up.
The Devils got the start they wanted in the Second period by doubling their lead on 23.09 when David James fired past Toby Cooley’s blocker to find the top right corner of the net – a fine finish by the Devils Captain after a superb pass from the Red line by young defenceman Chris Hart. The Raiders rallied and less than 2 minutes later had opened their scoring for the night when Kieran Annis took advantage of a stray pass back into the Devils zone, picking up the puck and beating the glove of Brabon from the slot. The home side were then level on 27.53 as the hard-working Raiders penalty kill forced a turn-over and Steve Gossett scored from a Danny Hughes pass. The Devils then responded quickly and Dan Bowers rifled home from the hash-marks with a low and hard blocker side shot with Fisher and Hart both picking up their second assists of the evening. The action-packed period was not done yet, with both teams adding a further goal to their respective tally. First David James put the visitors 4-2 up on a delayed penalty call advantage, but import John Sarno kept the game tight as good work by the Raiders penalty kill again forced a short handed goal as Hughes intercepted the puck to race down the other end and feed the incoming Sarno for a one-timer from the slot. The period ending 3-4 in favour of the visitors to set up an enthralling final session.
The 3rd period certainly did not disappoint, and the Devils had an early opportunity to double their lead and give themselves a bit of a cushion when Corey Watkins was hauled down on a breakaway forcing referee Dean Smith to award a penalty shot. Top goal-scorer Steven Fisher stepped up only to have his backhand deke saved by the Raiders keeper Cooley to keep the home side in the game. Taking momentum from this, the Raiders equalized on 44.11 through Danny Hughes on the powerplay – a somewhat fortunate goal deflected in by the knee of Hughes following a shot from the point by Larter that was heading wide. Still this made viewing an edge-of-the-seat affair for those supporters that had defied the snow to make the game, as the game was now tied at 4-a-piece with 15 minutes to play. With 4 minutes and 13 seconds to play, Corey Watkins got what was to be the game-winning goal – helped by Fisher’s 3rd assist of the night and Burrows’ 4th. Naturally the home side piled on the pressure in search of an equalizer, but went a man-down as Cornish got 2+10 following huge check from behind on Watkins who was holing the puck up in the corner. Having seen out the penalty, the Devils had to be at their defensive best for the final couple minute and a half as the Raiders pulled their goalie to give them the numerical 6 on 5 advantage, the Devils clearing the zone 3 times only to agonizingly miss the empty net on all 3 occasions. But to their delight, the ENL Devils hung on to extend that unbeaten run to 10 games now, a win that was particularly sweet for Man-of-the-Match Mike Brabon facing his former club.
Match Stats:
Devils Scorers: Watkins (2+0) James (2+ 0) Bowers (1+ 0) Fisher (0+3) Burrows (0+4) Hart (0+3)
Man of Match: Mike Brabon
Period Scores: 0-1, 3-3, 1-1
« Back to News