Oxford falls to the power of the Devils

Imperial Devils A were confident on the back of their recent win against Kent Knights and were prepared to dish out some punishment to Oxford who had beaten them in the first game of the season. The roster was uncertain as many players had other commitments, including exams the following day. Nevertheless a strong team showed up at Oxford, ready to take the fight to the Vikings.

Within moments of the match commencing Devils’ Centre, D. Belair (81), was called for roughing and proceeded to the sin bin. The Devils held out for the Penalty Kill, and shortly afterwards D. Belair scored his first (unassisted) at 7 minutes. The Vikings, perturbed, conceded again within minutes to first-time scorer Tim Runcorn (36) Club President, assisted by Lohner (67) and Grant (14). Determined not to concede again, Oxford woke up and contested the puck much more for the rest of the period. Despite several opportunities including Power Plays, the Devils could not add to their lead.

In the absence of Coach Coolegem, it fell to Team Captain Ed Grant to analyse the situation at the intermission. The focus was to convert more of the opportunities into shots and shots into goals. The team clearly took this onboard as the Devils scored again within 5 minutes, by Benani-Kamane (2). At this point the Vikings were visibly angry and with the Devils making good but fair physical play they were determined to hit back. Increasingly heated play culminated in a nightmare for the Devils with a simultaneous double penalty to Benani-Kamane and S. Belair (1) for roughing. In a disastrous 5 on 3 situation it was seconds before Oxford netted a goal. With one penalty cut short, the Devils were able to hold off 5 on 4 until back to full strength. Benani-Kamane shortly made up for his transgressions by slotting a fourth goal for the Devils to increase their lead. The intensity remained high but the period ended with no more penalties, just a parting goal by Benani-Kamane to make a hat-trick, this time assisted by Grant.

Comfortably 5-1 up the Devils were cautious about relaxing and knew they would be tested in the third period. This proved to be the case as 1 minute into the third Oxford scored. Another penalty for S. Belair for cross-checking and Oxford capitalised on the Power Play to score a third. The game seemed to be slipping away, especially as Goalie Collins (38) had been making some great saves. However, before long Oxford were similarly penalised for cross-checking and D. Belair scored on the Power Play, assisted by Halford (77). Back in the hunt, more raw passion was dumped into an already heated game. Roughing was called twice, once against Oxford and moments later against the Devils. The Vikings, if not already beaten, were subsequently broken as D. Belair forced a breakaway and scored a short-handed goal. With tension mounting by the second nerves ran high and the final play resulted in an interference penalty for Oxford and a 10 minute game misconduct against Devils’ Benani-Kamane. At 2 seconds remaining this was purely academic and the game was another victory for Devils A.