Double win for Ice Hockey B team against Cambridge

The Devils were confident going up against the bottom-of-the-league Cambridge, but remained cautious after their previous close call with Oxford Women’s.

The game saw the Devils with the first 3-line roster this term, and some changes to the individual lines. This clearly paid off as the Devils’ first line opened with a goal by Liljegren (23), assisted by Barakat (11) and Nolan (53), 1 minute into the first period. The game was still open and both teams were still learning the play leading to a goal for Cambridge after a defensive mistake. Line changes were occasionally fumbled, but the Devils’ Forwards took advantage of the more inexperienced Cambridge Defence to dominate the play. The Devils racked up 4 more throughout the first period by Walther Buel (87), Grabham (80), Barakat (11) and Jones (40). Constant pressure prevented Cambridge from leaving their zone and setting up any play, odd breakaways were ably turned away by Devils’ Defence.

Cambridge came back in the second period with a new-found energy and challenged the Devils far more. Play went end to end and the puck was heavily contested. Devils’ Forwards fell foul of the referee for physical play, but despite three separate penalties the Devils refused to concede on the Penalty Kill. With the final penalty ending in the third period the Devils were back to 5 men and had an opportunity to make up for the goal-less second period. Sadly this was not the case as the Devils slowly disintegrated from lack of energy. Unnecessarily long shifts and sloppy changes were causing the Devils to lose focus and Cambridge seized the chance using a breakaway to outskate the Defence and score. Still in the lead, this did not serve the wake-up call the Devils needed and Cambridge managed another shortly before the game was out. Overall, a win for the Devils; but with the negative goal difference from the Spitfires still against us a 5-3 win was not enough. Player of the match was given to Goalie, Gemma Bale (84).

A hand-picked team of two lines with the confidence of a previous win under their belts and ably supported by Bench Coaches Matt Dolan and Tim Runcorn (numbers 28 and 36 of the A-Team, the latter also club President) stepped on to the ice with the game in their hands. Immediately the Devils could sense Cambridge’s trepidation and despite their attempts to hide it the Devils pounced. Another early goal for Imperial, Barakat (11) scored on a breakaway after 4 minutes of fairly open play to set the tone for the match. This was followed up with 3 more in the first period; by scorers Jones (40), Liljegren (23) and Barakat (11) again.

A confident first period, but the Devils were determined to score again and maintain momentum unlike the previous game. Wise words from Dolan and Runcorn saw the team with the bit back between their teeth and ready for Cambridge who appeared to have just warmed up for the second period (much like before). The Devils maintained the upper hand but play was slowly degrading into coarse physical contact and bad passes. Defender Matt Nolan (53) fought through to score his maiden goal of the season, but this spurred Cambridge on. The Ref appeared to turn a blind eye to the girls’ indiscretions and there were cries from the bench of foul play but the Devils soldiered on until a forced defensive error let Cambridge put one in. Outraged the Devils next line took to the ice and scored in return, a hat-trick for Barakat (11).

Incensed, Cambridge took to dirty tactics targeting center, Liljegren (23), and holding her down on the ice. As the non-checking league the Devils were unsettled by rough play and were not used to fighting as commonly occurs in A-Team games. However, they held their own and would not be dragged down, nor concede again for the rest of the game.