The Minnows from Manny, aka London Ogres by the denizens of Cardiff, fell in back to games vs the Cardiff Devils, who had a little extra quality from depth and astute goal tending to take home all the spoils this weekend.
Regular Season Record 4 – 0 – 2, 8pts, 4th Place
Cardiff leap frog the Storm in league action to go back to back weekends of back to back wins in both domestic competitions, setting up a mouth watering run in for the end of October. Here are they key takeaways from this weekends triumphant hockey.
- Brandon Alderson
One of the many standouts over the weekend was new signing Brandon Alderson, who earned 2G, 1A in both games, making for 3 goals in 3GP all comps, 4 points from 3GP all comps.
He is projected a whopping 75 points on EP, however this wouldn’t be an exact prediction, I would say 30+ for this season.
His PPG pace currently sits at 1.5 per game, so he looks to be a clever piece picked up for the club.
2. Tyler Busch
Another who has seen a lot of reward for their play is centre-man Tyler Busch. He was given a chance to play on the top line tonight, with Martin slotting on the third and Busch didn’t disappoint.
Game MOTM at home, with a goal and a helper, he returned the nod from the coach by opening the scoring on the road game. He also carried the FOW for the team, however he did also lose by the same (11 each way), yet Davies and Arniel also suffered the same in FOL.
3. Depth Production
Each game more pressure mounts for the top liners, as more players fill out the scoresheets. The road game personified the Devils current form, with a goal from each line, for the top line, it was Tyler Busch who notched the goal for their column.
This isn’t a bad thing, having goals from each line, each night is a positive ‘problem’ to have. 6 from the 7 goals scored were off the top line, with 3 from the third.
7 from 10 helpers were also from the middle deck, with blue liner contributions arriving via Marcus Crawford with 2 more apples and Crandall who slotted in on D this weekend, added another through a devastating point blast, clipping Davies for the 4th tally on the road.
4. Brickwall Bowns
Ben Bowns has been creating cause for concern amongst the fanbase by locking out team mate Callum Booth through his top notch goal tending. Again, another ‘positive’ problem to have for any team, when a goalie is trending up, keep them cooking.
He collected just 1 GAA across the two games, with a 96.66% SVS. He faced a total of 60 SOG, from a total of 97 attempts by Storm. Currently 3rd best overall, over taking his opposite number.
His team launched 118 shot attempts at his counterpart Evan Weninger, who has been fantastic for his team so far, Devils hit 78 SOG in total, keeping the production ticking.
5. Intensity
This has been an ongoing theme that even during defeat, 9 times out of 10, the level of work rate and effort both on and off the puck, has helped each aspect of the roster create turnovers, find opportunities and close down their rivals in tight games.
Each game has been a battle, with great hockey being played across the benches, t is the finer details that have gone under the radar as far as credit is due.
Injuries have meant some tinkering with the roster here and there, which so far hasn’t affected the team play. Over 100 attempts on net per weekend, over 70 SOG means offensively, with all lines contributing is one way to see it.
The other is the poke checks, the high press forechecks, the sublime back checking and defensive work from the forwards, smart break out passes and even through unforced turnovers or sloppy giveaways, they skate after the puck and fight for it again. That is Pete Russell hockey. Very sexy hockey.
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