Weekend Review; Devils take 2 points, then fall in Steeltown

League Record So Far; 29 – 16 – 2, 60pts, 4th Place

L10GP; 6 – 4 – 0, Trend = Steady

Permutations and false prophecies

Devils erupted into action vs Stars at home before heading up to a waiting Steelers team to put their hat in the bag for a revived title claim.

Results almost went their way on the Saturday night as Steelers settled things in OT vs Flames, Blaze were denied a comeback vs Clan and Giants survived the Flyers, with Panthers eventually skating away with max points vs Storm.

The league itself catastrophically ruled out the Devils for the title, claiming they were aiming to maintain 4th overall. That was an absolutely embarrassing assessment of the organisation and the disrespect has been certainly palpable.

As stated over the past few weeks, the chips are down, some winners weren’t bagged, but never say never until it is definitely impossible.

After these games, there would be 7 left, so every game matters. This is now playoff hockey. This team needs to produce and going out now will certainly mire a pretty good season overall.

Story vs Stars

Devils dominated Stars at home, winning 7:3 and never looked like they were under pressure or in trouble. There were of course some dubious calls and pretty ridiculous game management decisions on the ice (both players and officials) and there was even a fight from the Goat himself.

Once Devils opened up the scoring, they were set firmly in cruise control. There was a determination from them that was expected, but not entirely. Many times there has been an up met by a low or a continuous run of lows.

Along with a hammering by England in the rugby, Welsh sporting hopes were decimated, especially in the Vindico.

Thankfully, by the time the 5th went in, that was firmly out of sight, out of mind. The arena was rocking, largely thanks to the hordes of activities groups attending but the energy was not what I had expected. It was vibrant and the team fed off it.

The main point I thought was the most pertinent was the fact the team played right up to the final buzzer. Even with 17s left, following a restart, they pushed to keep the shots flying and the away team under pressure.

That was a response.

MacDonald on the night got back to scoring ways, notching two lamp lighters with a helper, Tyler Busch also got a goal with 2 primary assists and Ryan Barrow partnered with 2 secondary assists with him. Their line was everywhere and doing all the greasy, gritty work.

Sometimes it didn’t pay off, but the endeavour was there but for the Donaghey goal, that was nearly all Barrow with a great drive to net and almost followed up his play as it lead to a classy snapper by Donaghey with some brilliant, direct, hard passes that caught Stars flat footed.

The final goal was direct but the first was scrappy, with Schoonbaert finding the net from a loose puck in broken play. The build up however was exactly what we expect from the 4th line. It is good to see the newer players contribute and put in strong performances.

Almquist also got on the board, the 6th goal putting the Stars ripple of a comeback to bed, despite the assists from the officials for some of those goals.

Special notes on special teams

All of the Stars’ goals were on the PP, which wasn’t good news for the leagues best PK. It still has a large enough lead on the chasers, but it was also good to see the teams own PP improve with 2 of their own.

They maintain 6th overall but went over 23% for the first time in a long while.

Devils gave up a lot more looks than they should have, despite how decent Stars genuinely can be. 55 shots against with 28 on net and 3 PPG’s is a cause for concern, as Steelers had a similar average in terms of production the night before, albeit with extra hockey.

However, on the PP, neither team capitalised against each other for the Flames, Steelers game. Going into the Sunday match up, both are similar in terms of PP, however on the PK, Steelers languish down in 8th overall with 74.26%.

They do have one of the best discipline records so far, sitting in 2nd, amazingly behind Stars, who collected 13 PIMS during their game vs Devils, nearly twice above their average on the season so far (by 20s).

This will be another game where the special teams could help to decide it. Both teams have had 11 players each record a PPG with Devils edging their success rate at 30:29 scored.

Story vs Steelers

Next up for Devils is a familiar opponent this year, as they hit the road to Sheffield to face down the Steelers in a barn they haven’t won (league) in since 1st October 2023. (Despite what the league has stated, again).

This entire campaign has told a story of two barns. In Cardiff, Devils win. In Sheffield, Steelers win. No matter the competition.

Will this be the night that script gets flipped?

Devils head up to the Yorkshire outfit on a bonafide streak, winning their last 5GP, whereas the hosts have 3 dubs in their L5GP, with an extra point from a rare OTL.

It is their 2nd league match up in the Utilita with the rest in the cup so far this season. However, the Devils used home advantage to rampantly dump out their hosts in the cup before being blanked in a lacklustre final midweek.

On the night, the story continued its prose, with victory going to the home team, however, Devils ran the hosts close, but the game itself was largely settled after the 2nd went in.

Both of the goals came from defensive lapses, especially with lack of compete off the puck, a lesson that should have been learned at least a few weeks ago in Belfast.

The good guys did hit back, as well as taking a PPG to make it a one goal game. In the closing minutes, Tansey on a breakaway flipped the biscuit through Bowns, which in all fairness, a D man breaking out, chased by a pack of Devils, should have been stone walled with ease.

A late, late consolation with the extra skater wasn’t enough, as the fell short again in Steeltown.

The positives to take away was that compete overall right until the end, so there is no chance they won’t give this up. With 7 games and 9 points to make up, they have a task on their hands.

It isn’t easy either. Games vs Panthers and Steelers away, Giants at home as well as Blaze, will decide the fate of their season in the end.

Keeping the pace

Despite the narrow loss vs Steelers, they are still in the hunt, with Giants losing in a shootout on the night as well, as Blaze in regulation, they are still there in the conversation. In terms of form, they are 2nd so far with 8 from 10 points in that last stretch of 5 games.

For the players individually, some form continues.

Sanford is currently at 5 points in his L5GP, taking a goal and 2 assists on the weekend.

O’Brien has continued his string of games on form, going 4 from his L5GP.

MacDonald is also on the same trajectory after his multi-point game vs Stars.

In the same vein, Busch also had 4 points in his last 5GP, with one more needed for 20 on the regular season.

Perlini is now 7 points from 200 in all EIHL competitions and 5 games from 300 played. He was back on the scoresheet this weekend.

Donaghey this weekend has stepped up to chip in on offense, now level with Sam Duggan for points overall in the EIHL, 69.

Barrow, with 4 games from 150 in the EIHL, has started making a mark on the scoresheet for all of his efforts of late. He should be one of the first on the minds of the owners of who they want to bring back for next season.

Here are my 3 stars from this weekend