Devil’s Captain Russell Willey receiving the MVP award.
The Cardiff Devils welcomed the Manchester Phoenix to the ‘Big Blue Tent’ for the 6th game of the BSHA Planet Ice League on Saturday 5th July 2014.
The Phoenix arrived in Cardiff having been boosted by their win against the Phantoms on 14th June whilst the Devils were yet to register a win in the league. The teams had last met in the 2013 play-off finals when the Phoenix ran out 7:0 winners, so there was a lot to prove on both sides.
After a tense start in which the Devils were keen not to concede an early goal as they had done in their previous two fixtures, they took the lead with cheeky wraparound goal by Stephen Thomas. In an evenly matched first period, the Devils managed to keep the Phoenix at bay leading 1:0 at the end of the first period despite a promising looking breakaway for Phoenix captain Karl Nicholson that netminder Han O’Connor successfully snatched away from the top corner.
The second period began pretty much as it started with each team probing the opposition in an effort to exploit any weaknesses. Then the Phoenix drew level with goal from Anthony Booth. The Devils however quickly struck back with a brace from their captain Russell Willey who also had a hand in their 4th goal, which was a neat little one-two with Scott Turner who scored his first goal for the Devils. An especially impressive hit on Nicholson from Alex Weaver sent the Phoenix flying and doing what has been described by spectators as a near-Olympic level somersault in his sledge. By the end of the second period the Devils were leading 4:1 and the Phoenix knew that they had a tough game on their hands.
Not taking anything for granted, the Devils started the third period with a 5th goal, this time from Paul Furber, who shot from wide out on the right wing straight into the top left hand corner of the net. Phoenix threw everything they could at the resolute Devils defence where Weaver led by example putting in some tough challenges. The period also saw the only penalty of the game when Weaver was sent to the bin but even with the player-advantage the Phoenix could not capitalise. They were, however, rewarded with a late consolation goal from Nicholson that made the final score 5:2 to the Devils.
At the end of the game the Planet Ice Most Valuable Player was awarded to the Devil’s Captain Russell Willey. Devil’s coach David James was thrilled with the result.
“It was excellent to get a win under our belt and for me as a coach starting to see the improvement in my players as a team and to be told by people from outside the team how much we have improved is really good. But we still have a way to go.”
You can catch the return match in Altrincham on Saturday 12th July at 4:15pm.
