Pre-season Wrap Up

Pre-season Record; 6-1-1

Devils end their preseason with back to back defeats against a highly physical and tenacious Steelers outfit that had their work cut out for them every shift.

Steelers sealed their double win over Cardiff in OT, after a spirited comeback, that was engineered through costly mistakes and missed assignments from their hosts.

The game was an exciting tilt, marred by reckless play by Kevin Tansey, who charged and boarded Ryan Barrow viciously, that ended up with the Devils forward going to hospital and a game ejection from the Steelers Defenseman.

Brandt stepped up and in typical fashion, outmuscled his opponent, folding him to the ice, though more exchanges were sent, he only got a standard major penalty, while the Devils took advantage of the game misconduct and resulting 5 minute power play.

Barrow did add another goal to his impressive start, making it 7 from 8 before his night was ended by a dangerous hit through the numbers.

Another marker hit this preseason was a tally for Arniel who took the game to a 3-1 lead after all the commotion.

As previously stated, expectations for the visitors were to be aggressive and they didn’t disappoint. This swayed the 2nd half of the first frame until Tanseys irresponsible hit, with the game ebbing and flowing, both teams were dishing out some really good contact.

In the resulting aftermath and when the blood was cleaned up, the home team added their tallies and gratefully accepted a foolish error by Greenfield, ending the 2nd frame with the lead.

The last period saw a lapse in concentration from the home team, who couldn’t seem to maintain puck possession in the OZ or generate link up play with their passing. This lead to lots of intercepts, turnovers, giveaways and breakaways.

Booth joined his counterpart by chasing a puck he didn’t need to and would love to have a great Watling snipe, that got sent 5-hole back. Allen sent home the GWG for the visitors in OT.

On the night, Steelers just edged the SOG column 32:33, with Devils finding better success on the power play, 2:1.

So, where does this weekends battles leave the Devils?

Injuries – the main cause for concern at the start of the preseason was the roster in full, would it be flexible if injuries started to mount? The consensus from management was yes, however, there have been calls that would be echoed that even this early, perhaps another signing would help with a season that involves 4 competitions.

It can be easily argued that it is too early yet to be worried, however Waller took a knock that left out for the rest of Saturdays game and on Sunday, Richardson is still out and Barrow no doubt would be for some time.

Finishing – this was a major drawback from the previous season and though there have been goals, finishing is also attributed to completing passing and challenging for the puck.

No look passes and sloppy puck movement made turnovers easy for the Steelers, which wasn’t helped by a lot of giveaways. Still, the checking didn’t fail, but it did leave chances for breakaways which were converted in the end, when players missed their man or were too busy trying to mop up stray pucks from poorly executed plays.

Finally, finishing the game off is something the team itself needs to get used too. We have seen character come backs, relentless wearing down of opponents, outclassed visitors and battled through to a shootout win. Everything is there.

All the ingredients for success are in the toolkit for this team, now that preseason is over, those weaknesses would be worked on and the next stage will be the focus.

I would expect a gutsy performance in back to back Challenge Cup action in the opening weekend, so if there are any disheartened Devils fans ruing what could have been, the season is literally just about to begin.

My Three Stars vs Sheffield Steelers

Third Star; Trevor Cox – (2 A)

Second Star; Marcus Crawford – (2 A)

First Star; Patrick Watling – (2 G)