So this saw the return of the Devils to the Dome, a big welcome and thanks must go out to the travelling Devils fans. Quite a few made the trip up to Manchester, unfortunately the drum did too! I always wonder what Cardiff fans must think of our rink as its identical to the Cardiff Bay rink, except we have proper walls!
Anyway onto the game, this game provided an opportunity to reward Tony Hand for passing the 4,000 point mark in the previous nights demolition of the Stingrays. Tony, in his typical fashion, seemed to want to keep things quite! Not on your nelly this time Tony J
First Period: Crikey where did this Devils team come from! The first period again showed how close our two teams are, however if im honest Cardiff seemed to have a step or two extra in them. In a testament to how close the period was the first goal, for the Devils, appeared at the 14minute mark from Teplitsky. The period finished after much huff and puff with shots on goal fairly even. I was a little worried as I was not sure where a Phoenix goal was going to come from! Our shooting seemed a little off!
Second Period: More of the same, a lot of hard work put in by both teams, foreheads frowned some more when Cardiff extended their lead through Hill and Latulippe on the powerplay. SOG again even and at this stage I thought the score began to flatter the Devils.
Third Period: Blimey, the defecation certainly hit the ventilation (quote of the century from the Phoenix forum) in this period. The Phoenix finally got on the board through Luke Fulgham, then a collective nap allowed Cardiff to restore the 3 goal lead when 91 seconds later Campbell scored. Hopes were raised when the next to goals went in for the Phoenix through the leagues leading scored Beauregard and Fulgham with his second. However once again the Phoenix’ concentration let them down and Jarvis snuck in to make the score 5-3. It was in this period that a major ruckus occurred, and in my view, re-affirmed my view that the Devils (and in particular Voth) are a bunch of dirty gits! I think it was Kenton Smith working hard in front of the Devils goal who headed to the far corner to dig the puck out, he was then cross-checked three times by Voth before falling to the ice. At this point it all kicked off, and depending on who you believe Voth had Kyle Bruce literally by the throat!
Now enforcers have a place in hockey, even Brett has a colourful past! But if Voth did what he was supposed to have done he should be thrown out of the league!
Verdict: Bit of a strange game, was a close game but the Phoenix were not at their best! Too many centered passes with no one on the end of, too many times the Phoenix would score and then go to sleep and concede a goal! Having said that I was disappointed with the number of times the Cardiff goalie would push the net off its moorings! Plus the number of times he had to stop the game to complain bout the ice in the crease! Come on mate Murphy has to use the same crease but manages ok!
Attendance: Good crowd in, id say around 1,700 in!
Ah well as always if you have any comments/thoughts they are always appreciated!
P.s. My thanks to Richard Bullock for emailing The Angry Budgie offering his opinion on my previous post. Just goes to show that people do read this blog!!
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