Busy weekend ends in victory for Blaze
Sunday was a stressful day for the Coventry Blaze. Not because they were entertaining the Hull Stingrays, but because they had a prolonged flight home from the double header in Belfast from the previous two nights.
They were already running on a tight schedule and had delayed the face off until 6.30pm due to the flights, but delays in the airport in collecting baggage (and importantly sticks) meant that the game started 20 mins late, and that was with a shortened warm up and no ice cut before the game.
With two games already under their belts plus the poor preparation, you could excuse the Blaze for starting slowly with tired legs. They certainly had the latter but not the former as Greg Owen tipped in a Russell Cowley pass to open the scoring after 5.12 of the first period. Bryan Jurynec was also instrumental in the set-up of that opener.
Despite being clearly the better side, Coventry allowed Hull back in the game a little under two minutes later when Jereme Tendler’s shot was bundled over the line by Derek Campbell leaving the score at 1-1. Tendler was allowed far too much time and space in the Blaze zone by the defence and Peter Hirsch came out leaving too much space behind him for Hull to exploit.
It was another quick exchange of goals in the second as Owen Fussey crashed and banged the puck pretty much through Christian Boucher’s pads; Martin Ondrej levelling after some good build-up play by Campbell. Campbell appeared to be making up for his previous appearance at the Skydome with some sensible play and reasonable attacking hockey. It was that Derek Campbell that became a fan favourite at Coventry, not the red-misted version that we saw over the festive break.
Shea Guthrie broke the deadlock for a third time, blasting down the left wing and placing a shot beautifully over Boucher’s glove hand. He had Woo-Sang Park in support as part of the breakaway, but he chose to go it alone. Owen would add his second on the powerplay at 36.42 to extend the Blaze lead to two goals and from then on in it was plain sailing for the Blaze. Jonathan Weaver scored only his second goal of the season in the third period with some patient play through a crowd of players. For Blaze fans, this is a pleasing sight as the usually prolific defenseman has been through a tough time this season and he now appears to have found his scoring skates.
Two away games in Belfast are a tough ask for any team, and it was perhaps disappointing that Coventry left with zero points in hand. However, fighting through a spot of adversity and getting two points from the Hull game must have been very pleasing for the squad. Hopes of any title challenge are surely dashed now, but building for the playoffs and in particular ensuring that all-important 4th place must now be at the forefront of Paul Thompson’s mind.
The Blaze have a further three games this week; a friendly against Telford on Weds night, away to Fife on Saturday and home against the Braehead Clan on Sunday. No easy competitive game there, but it is certainly a weekend where the aim has to be four points and nothing less.
