EIHL Play-off Final Weekend Review (in four chapters)
I am rubbish at dealing with endings. As players and fans head back to their normal lives for the summer I cling desperately onto what remains of what has been an interesting and far too fleeting season of Elite League hockey: a sore throat, and the memories. And one of those is welcome to go away. The other I will cherish through the medium of the written word as I review all things play-offs for you over the next day or two.
And what a weekend it was. I had hoped to bring you reports sooner but all kinds of things got in the way, amongst them hotel dramas, late nights, protracted discussions about the state of UK hockey, the spirited singing of numerous topical songs and running from one end of Nottingham to the other on several occasions. But I’m here now and I shall provide for you a veritable cornucopia of hockey news and reviews, as is my raison d’etre.
Let’s begin.
I. Semi-final 1: Belfast Giants v Cardiff Devils
From the back row of the NIC I looked down upon the combatants for the weekend’s first bout of hockey, a duel between reigning league champions the Belfast Giants and the challengers, last year’s finalists the Cardiff Devils. The stage was set and we settled in for what promised to be a tight contest. Team news saw Chris Frank still sidelined with injury for the Devils and no Darryl Lloyd for the Giants, consternation prevailing among the Belfast fans as it was unclear whether or not he had picked up an injury. They wouldn’t scratch him for any other reason, surely?
Play-off finals weekend could not have started any better. The game exploded into life, a wraparound effort from Jon Pelle and a decent shot from Gerad Adams the best of the early attempts on goal, the Devils proving that despite any perceived disadvantage from being short-benched and missing imports, they were ready for the physical challenge ahead of them, as hits flew in left, right and centre, and fittingly first blood was theirs after just two and a half minutes, Scott Matzka scoring the first goal of the weekend and putting the cat amongst the Giant pigeons.
Belfast responded, an animated Jon Pelle going agonisingly close against his former team. The miniature forward has been off the boil this season in Northern Ireland but it could not be argued that he wasn’t up for it in the first period of this game. Devils netminder Stevie Lyle was forced to make an outstanding double save and there was so much collective in-taking of breath the oxygen supply in the arena must have been running dangerously low.
The first ten minutes had everything: hits, shots, saves, handbags, it was too exciting to write notes so the intricacies will have to be left to your imagination. Or read about in someone else’s report. What I do remember was Belfast’s equaliser, coming from the stick of Jeremy Rebek on the powerplay as Cardiff were twice penalised to give the Giants the 5-on-3 opportunity, the Captain picking out his spot and shooting cleanly past Lyle.
The game became really chippy after that, Adams out to prove that he and his side were not to be taken lightly, the Devils players goading the Giants, niggling them and muscling them off of the puck, their defence and in particular the brick-hard Jamie Vanderveeken frustrating their attempts to take the lead. Sadly they couldn’t reproduce that level of quality on their powerplays, and the first period drew to a close having grown somewhat quieter, however Adam Keefe seemed to have taken the bait laid out for him by Cardiff and he could have been called for inciting as the teams left the ice. Jolly good entertainment.
The second period was a battle. Cardiff were like a pack of terriers, tenacious, determined and dogged, hassling the Giants who couldn’t come up with an incisive moment anywhere on the ice. The physicality picked up early on after a huge hit from Nick Kuiper, and Keefe, still fired up, totally ran over Mark Smith, the referees lenient, allowing the physical side of things to manifest. Both teams had breakaway efforts, the Giants from Aaron Clarke and the Devils from Jeff Pierce who was skating like a man possessed but continued to be unlucky with his final touch.
Cardiff were ramping up the pressure; they had another great chance on the powerplay which almost sneaked by Stephen Murphy, there were scrums and scrambles in front of net and another stinging shot from Jeff Pierce, until finally Cardiff took a deserved 2-1 lead through Scott Dobben. They were running the show, the Giants were devoid of ideas and seemed to be lacking in oomph (yes, that’s a technical term), Keefe one of the few really throwing himself into the game, and battling with Devils’ defenceman Mark Richardson amongst others. There was a scramble in front of Lyle’s net before a riled Ryan Crane picked up a penalty; Cardiff were well and truly under the Giants’ skin, Belfast rattled and clearly frustrated, the Devils turning the screw. They could really have done with extending their lead as the chances were Belfast would re-group and come back stronger in the third, but their last chance of the period was unsuccessful. The second period had been a story of the two British netminders, both producing great performances to keep the score delicately poised going into the third.
And so it was back to the drawing board for the Giants, who desperately tried to claw their way back into the game from the top of the third, an unsuccessful powerplay closely followed by a sustained period of pressure with shots on goal from Deniset and Pelle well dealt with by Lyle. Was the inevitable comeback on? A gift of a 5-on-3 opportunity descended into a comedy of errors, misses and fluffed shots galore, and suddenly it seemed possible – Cardiff really could win this. Belfast just couldn’t get the puck in the net. Galvanised, it was the Devils’ turn to attack and the contest moved closer to a decisive conclusion when they made it a two-goal game, young Brit Luke Piggott extending the Welsh side’s lead. The Devils just wanted it more. But there was to be a twist in the tale as the Giants sucker-punched Cardiff scoring a surprise goal against the run of play with less than five minutes remaining, Lyle caught off-guard by a well-taken Aaron Clarke effort. Game most definitely back ON.
Stevie Lyle made a clutch of breathtaking saves over the course of the next few minutes; could the Devils hold on to secure an unexpected victory? It couldn’t be argued that they didn’t deserve it. But there was heartbreak in the form of the most unlikely goal of the season, the puck creeping behind Stevie Lyle who didn’t see it. It was a fatal mistake. The puck settled itself on the line and time seemed to slow down, but from somewhere, somehow, a stick poked through to put the puck across the line, just before the net was knocked off. There was a scrum and a few punches were thrown as tensions boiled over. It was an amazing last gasp effort and unsurprising that it was scored by the surely the longest arm on the ice, one belonging to Mike Hoffman.
A ten minute period of 4-on-4 overtime ice hockey would follow. My bladder protested but there was no way I was going anywhere. Belfast began their build-up play, passing the puck around, reeling in the Devils. The tension was immense. It was all one-way traffic, the Giants finally getting their act together, and there was plenty of drama, Craig Peacock and Jamie Vanderveeken almost coming to blows, and further handbags between Rob Dowd and Vanderveeken resulting in a period of 3-on-3 hockey which frankly looked a bit silly on Nottingham’s giant ice pad.
Still Belfast could not score. The horn sounded and it came to pass that a thrilling and hard-fought contest would be decided by penalty shots. I’m not sure who was dreading them more, my bladder or Cardiff, who have been notoriously hopeless in shoot-out situations, losing in all six of their attempts this season. The death knell was sounding. Or was it? The first penalty was taken by Kenton Smith, and he scored. Every single other penalty was either saved or missed. Things went distinctly red. The Devils players went mental. They’d done it again. They would yet again contest for the play-off trophy, and there was no doubting they had earned their spot, each and every player a star on the night, although Scott Matzka, Jamie Vanderveeken and Stevie Lyle could perhaps have claimed to have been uppermost in their victory.
It was later confirmed that Darryl Lloyd was a healthy scratch and Giants fans and neutrals alike struggled to fathom the reasoning behind the decision, and wonder if the feisty forward’s inclusion could have been the difference between the two sides, as there was a certain lack of sparkle from the Giants that surely a confidence player like Lloyd could have injected. We’ll never know, and I won’t take anything away from Cardiff’s performance: they were the better side and they deserved their victory. But y’know. It’s interesting to speculate. You’ve got to do it, to accumulate, apparently. Accumulate what I’m not sure – more questions, it seems. Anyway. Chapter II is beckoning me. It will be upon you shortly.
