Friday 3 April 2015

Ice Hockey: Devils 'LORD-ing' It Up in Cup Final Win

 
 
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300px-Sheffield_Steelers.svg   5jmehRii
 

 

SHEFFIELD STEELERS       1    -     2     CARDIFF DEVILS 

 

 
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Big crowd watch on at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield for Steelers v Devils


 
 


Two quick strikes by the Cardiff Devils in the second period was enough to see the Welsh side crowned Elite League Challenge Cup champions and add another crown to their illustrious history, after beating the Sheffield Steelers 2-1 in their opponent’s backyard at the Motor Point Arena in Sheffield.
From the drop of the puck it was played like a cup final, with both sides upping their hitting game and not giving any advantage to their opponents. The majority of the crowd inside the Motorpoint Arena wore the Orange of the Steelers, with those in the red who brought at least 1,000 fans from Cardiff did more than making up for being outnumbered.
Both teams tested the net minders early, with Ben Bowns in the Cardiff nets being called upon more than the Sheffield goaltender as the Steelers had the lion’s share of the puck.
Sheffield lost a man inside the opening ten minutes of the final, when the physical play culminated with both sides trying to take possession of the puck and when a scrum by the boards occurred, it saw Cardiff’s Josh Batch pushing a rival over and saw Tomas Petruska staying down and having to be helped off the ice with a leg injury. The first half of the game was big hit after big hit by both sides and made the contest a thoroughly enjoyable one to watch, with the officials letting the game flow and helped make it a very entertaining final.
Sheffield were the aggressors in the game, as the wave of black shirts saw the ‘home’ side having the better chances, but Bowns in the Devils net was doing a fantastic job in keeping the puck out. Cardiff started to create a couple of chances themselves, with the Devils forwards recycling the puck around and behind the Sheffield net. Which led to a scramble in front of the Steelers goal and with the nets coming off, Jonathon Phillips was called for tripping during the melee in the 13th minute. An unsuccessful power play for the visitors saw the Steelers kill off the man advantage for the Devils, in which saw the Sheffield side twice come close to scoring. One effort came from a blast at an angle that had Bowns saving the shot at his near post and with the home side seeing the net ripple; they thought they made the break through
The other chance fell to Jeff Legue who saw his shot fly over the bar and into the netting above the plexi glass, to see another wasted chance by the Steelers. Andrew Hotham then sat out for two minutes after being called for cross-checking in the 15th minute.
Cardiff was then awarded a penalty in the final embers of the first and would started the second period on the power play, after Jeff Legue got his stick caught in the skate of a Devils defenseman after he tried to hack the puck from him and despite his protests on what was a clear cut penalty against the Ontario native, it saw the visitors with the extra man advantage as the Sheffield man was called for slashing.
Cardiff looked a much faster outfit at the beginning of the second period and that was evident during their power play, to which the Devils forwards were moving the puck well and when Andrew Lord found himself in the slot and completely unmarked, he had the time to pick his spot and fire it by Josh Unice in the Sheffield nets for the 1-0 lead at 21.07, with Joey Martin and Carl Hudson assisting on the opening goal of the final. Sheffield, who had the better of the play in the first period, now found themselves trailing by one goal and that quickly became two, when a Trevor Hendrikx shot was tipped in by Chris Culligan near the front of the nets to put the Devils 2-0 up at 22.55.
Sheffield needed to try and quickly pull one back after the two quick fire goals, but Ben Bowns on more than one occasion saw him thwart the Steelers forwards as he made save after save. The Devils continued to exert pressure on the hosts, with the Cardiff forwards managing to always be the first to the loose puck every time and saw the hometown side clearly frustrated. The Welsh side were having the better shots in the second twenty, with the Steelers defense being forced into some desperate defending at times, to avoid giving up a third in the period as this surely would have meant curtains for them.
With the time running down, the Devils were close to making it three, when Andrew Lord managed to hold off an opposing player near the Sheffield goal and when he spotted his team mate skating in on goal, a fiercely struck shot on net which was well gloved by Josh Unice to keep it at a two goal game. As the horn sounded for the end of the period, the Steelers coach Gerard Adams had plenty to ponder in the period break, as his side were clearly lacking ideas having been stung by those two early goals.
In the third, the Devils were happy to just play defensively and stifle the play of the Steelers, with the home side pushing forward in their play and adding more pressure to the Cardiff defense. With every minute that went by, there was a mixture of emotions in the stands by both sets of supporters. For the Sheffield fans it was a case of seeing their side running out of time and unable to make any inroads on their foes. While for the Cardiff contingent, it was another minute nearer cup victory and was looking to be a fairly comfortable win for the Devils.
With the clock now showing less than ten minutes to play in the final, Devils Captain Tyson Marsh cleared the puck from danger, but could only shoot it out of play and received a 2 minute delay of game penalty at 50.35. This was a now or never situation for the Sheffield Steelers, yet they still continued to look for this perfect goal rather than just shooting on the net and hope for a rebound. Cardiff killed off the power play and three seconds after the penalty expired, Cullen Eddy managed to get to a loose puck and blast a shot through traffic and past Ben Bowns, to cut the lead to one goal and make it 2-1 with less than seven and half minutes left to play.
Sheffield was in the ascendancy now after that goal and it started a late rally by the Steelers on the Devils goal and saw the Welsh side with great difficulty in the closing stages of the match, trying to clear the puck away from goals. The Steelers piled forward with play being more down the Cardiff end in the remaining minutes of the game. Fans of both teams were on the edge of their seats, with the Orange army begging for a tying goal and for those in the Red and Green, it was a case of willing the clock to tick down quicker.
With less than a minute of play, Sheffield had the Devils on the ropes and was looking favorites to score again based on the run of play. The Steelers then pulled their netminder for the extra attacker and when they tried to find the empty net with five seconds remaining, the Devils fans started celebrating a bit prematurely and was forced to suffer a bit more, with three seconds being added to the clock. Cardiff managed to see the time out and with the Devils starting their celebrations, Matthieu Roy headed over towards the winning team and the Steelers joined him as the side had a mini scrum which was a minor sour note to end the game on as it was an good final.
 
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Devils Captain TYSON MARSH lifts the CHALLENGE CUP TROPHY
Things quickly calmed down and with both teams shaking hands after an entertaining final between the two teams, the Steelers then headed off to their locker room whilst the victorious Cardiff Devils led by Todd Kelman saw them lift the Challenge Cup and with a couple of games in hand on their title rivals, there is still a chance they could lift the Elite League crown yet.
An interesting point is - these two meet again on Wednesday evening back at the Motorpoint Arena and with both teams closing the gap on Braehead, it makes the game even more of a must win game for both. Cardiff was worthy winners and made it even sweeter to win it on their long time rivals ice pad to.
 
Shots on Goal:
Cardiff:     22      - (  9 ,   8,   5)
Sheffield:  26   - (7,   7,   12)
PENALTIES IN MINUTES :
Cardiff:     4  PIMS
Sheffield : 4  PIMS
 
Devils:  Andrew Lord 1+0, Chris Culligan 1+0, Joey Martin 0+1, Carl Hudson 0+1, Trevor Hendrikx 0+1, Josh Batch 0+1.
Steelers: Cullen Eddy 1+0

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