Festive Season Part One; Wrapped

League Record So Far; 16 – 3 – 4, 36pts, 1st Place (Tied)

L10GP; 8 – 0 – 2

Series vs Blaze; 3:0

CARDIFF, WALES – They see these games should be a ‘Boxing Day Classic’ for game then a Festive Classic in terms of the series.

For part one vs Blaze, it certainly lived up to the mark.

The first contest had almost everything but the kitchen sink, including multiple power play goals, exceptional goal tending, fists went free, questionable officiating, wild game management either way and it went right to the end to settle the business.

Talking points galore from this stanza, especially how calls were given and why for a game ejection on Brandt, then just a standard hooking call for Power, but more so for the capitulation on the PK.

It seemed that this team cannot have one without the other, either a responsive power play or a responsible PK. No in between and never both.

For a 9 goal thriller, two thirds of the those goals came from the power play, 4 to Blaze and thankfully, 2 incredible efforts from the good guys.

Ben Bowns likely had his worst 20 minutes in P2 for the season so far, which he would 100% want to forget, however seeing the character of the team to stick with it, trust the process and get things done (in regulation) were the better talking points.

Boxing Day shenanigans is to be expected and both teams delivered, the result was all the better for it.

Here are some key takeaways from the first game of the festive fixtures;

1. Devils still to lose since the Triple header disaster

There have been a few games where they have lost in OT since the 17th November skid vs Stars, letting in 4 goals within 15 minutes of play. They almost eclipsed that on the night vs Blaze on Boxing Day.

However, since then, they haven’t lost in regulation.

They have now gone 18 games since a regulation loss, earning 14 – 0 – 4 in the process.

2. Owner wanted a PP for Christmas, Coach challenged team to find a response for it, PP delivered

A slight switch up on the PP units was the magic that was needed, as called for previously, with Sanford, Ferguson, Kontos, MacDonald and Mosey combining twice on the night with some silky moves.

Not quite the preferred line but with this unit, there is speed, creativity and a presence around the net in Ferguson, with Kontos being the disruptive outlet for his group.

It took 16s to find the net, with Kontos calmly looking for a lane to wrist the puck at, finding a tip from MacDonalds’ stick, who was in the middle of 4 Blaze players in the mid-slot.

Then, early in the 3rd frame on the PP, following a great save by Robson, he was left trying his best impression you would see in the film Titanic, perfect for a painting.

This left a scramble in front of him with shooting options for Devils, with the net found on the third attempt from the play.

Starting from behind their own net, the breakout play saw a neat zone entry which took mere seconds to put Robson under pressure. The first shot left him on the deck, the follow up amazingly got blocked, then a heads up pass to Kontos for a wide open net.

Perhaps the Blaze ship was sinking before then, it was just a bit of mild turbulence in the middle dance that distracted their efforts to find safety.

3. Evan Mosey, Masterclass

Effort, industry, outlets, recoveries, a hands up for being the new back up tendy, he brought everything. The only negative was being on the ice for the 4th PPG against, which capped off a sour major PK.

Beyond that, his work rate to shut down passing lanes, find the easy pass in his own zone, breakout passes to move play into a new gear, his activation from not just the blue line, but from his own zone was sublime.

His awareness to track down errant pucks and safely play them on, even denying an embarrassing shot on Bowns which slipped through and hung too precariously in the blue paint before being picked up by Mosey.

His reward was the play on the PP, to help get things moving. It was that tenacious effort which steadied a rocky ship in icy waters, largely of their own making, but having that nuance to see beyond the current situation and being present in every moment.

4. Multi-point Nights

MacDonald had 3 points on the night, 1 goal and 2 helpers to go 5 in his last two games. Since a 3 game skid, he is now 10 points in his L5GP.

Sanford also tallied a couple of helpers, extending his run to a 6 game streak. He is now officially being tracked. Starting from the 7th December vs Clan, he has now gone 9 points across those games. It was also Sanfords’ 300th game, all time in the EIHL on Boxing Day.

The Goat also picked up a brace of points including the GWG with a sublime tip on the rush. He has been active, just shy of notching points each game, going a point per game in his L5 played, including a similar haul 5 games ago.

That was his 5th multi-point night in regular play this season, at 521 EIHL all time games played (unsure where the stat pre-game came from, but happy to have the data!)

All Time EIHL via EIHL website; 521 games, via EP; 475 EIHL, 100 EIHL Cup (575) and 29 EIHL Playoff GP (604) – as mentioned previously, there are huge discrepancies in the data for EIHL.

Kontos continues to chip in despite not looking very engaged per game. Aside from the last game (vs Storm), he was on a run of 5 straight games with points.

In his L5GP he is at a point per game pace, hitting the 100 EIHL game milestone also.

5. Penalty Kill Crime Scene

As stated previously, there wasn’t much to be desired on how the special teams were set up, then the recent inclusion of Lacroix in all situations as well as top line minutes was the most fanciful stretches of the imagination I have ever witnessed after watching, playing and enjoying ice hockey for since 1996.

It was speculated that the bubble would burst eventually and dutifully it did.

The first 2 PPGs for Blaze were nightmares. of which he was out for. The first, he left his man to close down the puck carrier at the DZ blue line for Blaze. Had he stayed with his man at the blue line, that outlet option would be gone.

This gave the carrier time to wait and essentially bait the forward, pass to his man, for an OMR, then a deft backhand feed to the mid slow point allowed for a snipe of a shot past Bowns.

Although the 2nd PPG came from an unfortunate deflect off Oligny’s stick, the coverage play at the point unchallenged hemmed in the PK group, leaving Lacroix looking like he was stuck in the mud.

The real butchering of the PK came after, with plays toward the short side of Bowns, the first of the two was from a weak challenge on the stick by Caponi, allowing Luciani loose on net and sniping above the glove of Bowns.

The final and 4th PPG on the 5 minute major, was just as disastrous and desperate by Devils, where Luciani pounced on an errant puck just pulled the defending PK unit off its guard, with a terrible goal to slip to the net. Bowns would certainly want that back.

That PK dropped Devils from mid table to 8th overall, now at 75.86% going into the rematch at the Skydome. Their own PP got a marginal improvement, yet still near the foot of the league in 9th with 16.13%.

At the half way point of the season almost and there are still questions for the special teams. However, a rare blip on the PK aside, they have a lot of positives.

Overturning the 4 goal blitz to answer back then win the game is huge energy for this team.

The Skydome awaits for part two.