Devils Catch Up; Road to Playoffs

Locking in 2nd, Proclaimed Milestones, Aching Pains

League Record So Far; 36 – 13 – 3, 75pts, 2nd Place

It has been a hot minute since the last article and build up/review, but life does what life brings. It has also been an up and down period of games since the last write up, with a home stand to protect, the title to hunt down and a runner up place to consolidate.

All they had to do was beat the Giants or the Steelers over a 3 game stretch across 5 days. Easy.

Belfast Part One

The Giants home games left something to be desired, particularly the first, as this was the last game in a pretty good home stand. Only Flyers snatched a win by a shootout, which left the good guys unbeaten in regulation during this stretch.

A game that was dominated by the home team, left a lot of sour tastes after the final buzzer, as they lost their focus toward the end and were downed 5-3 for their efforts. This being a next to nothing game for them was one thing, but seeing the team play extremely passively did upset the faithful.

Getting a convincing win and securing second place is what should be expected, even the coach wasn’t happy with that performance. Which meant a visit to champions Sheffield would be the next place to secure that, after winning their previous two games and utterly embarrassing them in the process. Not an easy feat.

The brightest part of those games was first and foremost the 100th EIHL goal for club favourite, Evan Mosey, scored shorthanded. On a smart breakaway that left Jackson Whistle undressed and wounded. It was a very classy goal and utterly deserved.

Relief to the EIHL stattos and those who have erected shrines dedicated to the player. Each to their own.

Ultimately, despite the possession, the amount of shots (59) and SOG 35:31 in favour the good guys, Giants capitalised on their chances and blasted holes through Tyler Wall. For now, they were still in the hunt and Devils had to wait.

In the process, this ended the home stand run in regulation time to make it 4 – 1 – 1 over the stretch, Good but not quite perfect or where they should be going into playoffs.

Steelers Away

Next up, the impressive Steelers who were in full party mode. This made the season series match up include three 4 zip games, 2:1 in favour of the champions. There was no slowing them down and they cruised past a team that was a shadow of the roster that thumped them the same result the other way just 10 days prior.

That result tied the series to 3 each, with Steelers edging on the GS with 16:13 to their favour and two shutouts of three during this season long battle. These clashes will be looked at for the Devils who would aim to improve on the previous season, which was 4:2 for the good blokes.

Belfast Part Two

Finally, the Devils faced off again at home against the Giants, who by now had their best chance to close the gap on 2nd and take advantage of the fallen warriors from South Wales.

For the home team, this was a chance to put the pessimism to bed and close out the series with a win to tie it and confirm themselves as the first losers of the season for the title.

The game started perfectly for the Giants, taking advantage of sloppy defensive play and going ahead first but it wouldn’t take the home team long to even up and push the lead Mosey again on the special teams, this time for the power play and Brandt finding twine.

Early in the second they extended their lead to 3-1 and the barn was rocking. This was slowly chipped away as Giants fought back following another timeout after the third went in, to eventually tie things up in the third and send it to OT.

This was now make or break for the season and in all fairness, as much as the performances were lacking in clinical finesse, the vibe of these games felt like real playoff hockey.

This was the feeling going into the extras and eventually the good guys found a way to get the puck behind the Giants set up, which saw Cox doing Cox things to set up Crawford for the OT GWG.

That game levelled the tie for the second season straight with 21 GS each. Improvements minimally for Devils however, scoring 3 more and conceding 2 less overall compared to last season.

However, job done and second secured. Relief at last and now to finish the season against desperate teams.

Final Stretch

First up was Dundee and this was a game I was not able to attend. From the game sheet and rewatching the highlights, this was a typical end of season games where you could expect Devils to build a good system and put points on the board and Dundee to fight for anything they could get.

That game didn’t disappoint, as Devils won 6-3 on the night and there was plenty of entertainment.

Gloves were dropped, with James Phelan getting manhandled twice but played a good villain for his team by trying to taunt the opposing bench and fans alike.

There was plenty of goals including a hat trick for the GOAT that also saw him notch 500 GP in the EIHL overall for the club, according to the EIHL, though this massively differs from other, more professional and trusted sources.

I would say it is more like 504 GP on that night, with 587 points scored in all EIHL competitions and 223 goals scored via Elite Prospects, which all clubs use to boost insights into new signings for example.

Here is Joey Martins’ EP page; https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/38518/joey-martin?league=EIHL&tournament-league=EIHL%20Cup – bare in mind, there is some data missing, which isn’t surprising as the league records on their own website do not stretch back to 2015/16 season for example where there seems to be sizeable discrepancies in the records.

Therefore, I predominantly use the EIHL website as a guide and source for current day to day games.

There was multi-point nights for Arniel, Cox and Wilde and even Pietroniro got in on the scoring. Two players who are normally certs for getting a goal was league goal scoring leaders Spencer Naas (32) and Cole Sanford (27).

Sanford to his credit recorded a primary assist but with two games left for both, this could end a good season personally for the Star whilst for the Devils, having a prolific goal scorer is something that might just be hurting their lofty ambitions.

Crunch Time

The final weekend before the road to the playoffs sees a home clash against old rivals Blaze and massive disappointments Clan on the road to finish the campaign and coach Russells inaugural season.

He is the third coach since Andrew Lord departed for Greenvilles pastures, making this season one of the best league wise, but still searching for a meaningful trophy. Will the playoffs provide?

The previous season saw the club finish fourth on the same amount of points currently (75) and the season prior to that, the first one post-lockdown in third with 74 points. So, small wins when you can take them.

Back to back failures of reaching the Challenge Cup final and only obtaining bronze in the IIHF Continental Cup will show the club they need to seriously invest in higher end players to bring to the Devils to compete with Giants and Steelers.

However before that rumour filled summer fest begins, the task is set to finish this season strong and on a high.