Basingstoke 3 - 9 Cardiff Junior Devils

This was the game that the Under12’s had been waiting for all season. Up until last week Cardiff were in 9th position and Basingstoke 10th position in the league, but things changed when Basingstoke played Swindon and beat them 5 – 3, putting both Cardiff and Basingstoke in joint position.

Leaving Cardiff at 2 o’clock on a bright and sunny afternoon everyone was in high spirits for the game. On the roster were twin brothers Frank and Garth Peake, playing in their first game and also Jake Roberts and Iwan Davies, on loan from the Devils Under 10’s team.

From start to finish the junior Devils gave 100% effort, they battled hard to win every puck and to find the back of Basingstoke’s net.

The first period ended 0-0, both teams holding their own defensively, in this all important game.

Cardiff came out the stronger of the two teams in the second period. An unassisted goal by Owen Bradshaw saw Cardiff take the lead, this quickly followed by a goal from Scott Bird assisted by Kristoff Gibbon, the Devils were now on a roll. .

Basingstoke were quick to answer though with a shot that went straight though the legs of Ciaran Matthews, but the Devils kept the pressure on and were quick to respond thanks to Nat Schmidke who scored his first goal this season assisted by Scott Bird and Owen Bradshaw.

Now 3 – 1 up Cardiff felt they could win the game, and their confidence grew. To the delight of the travelling supporters the Devils netted a further three goals, giving them a comfortable 6-1 lead.

As the last 15 minutes of the final period played out, the Cardiff supporters could see all the hard work and training put in by the team throughout the season paying off, Cardiff were now heading for their well deserved first win.

Matty Palmer increased Cardiff’s lead, scoring his first goal of the season also, while Nat Schmidke added to his tally netting two more goals giving him his first hat-trick. It was a fantastic game of team hockey from the junior Devils.
Basingstoke fought back and scored two more goals taking their tally to three, but the game was well and truly won by the Devils by this point. Scott Bird scored the final goal of the game to give the Devils a 9-3 win. Goal assisted by Kristoff.

Netminder Ciaran Matthews proved his worth with 33 shots on goal and picking up the well deserved Man of the Match trophy. Excellent defending by Sam Edmonds saw him presented with Spirit of the Game.

The game was an amazing display of hockey by the whole team for which they should all be very proud of themselves; it was a well deserved win.

Coach Jon Oliver and Manager Nick Matthews commented: “seeing those kids win this game made this whole season worth all the time and effort”.

Manager Nick continued: “I would like to give the whole team credit for this win,

Ciaran Matthews, Adam Hughes, Sam Edmonds, Jake Roberts Garth & Frank Peake Bryony Roberts, Nat Schmidke, Matty Palmer, Kristoff Gibbon, Ellis Murphy, Scott Bird Owen Bradshaw Sam Bryant, Rebecca Ennerst. "

Game Stats

Goal Scorers:

Owen Bradshaw -unassisted Scott Bird - assisted by Kristoff Gibbon Owen Bradshaw - assisted by Nat Schmidtke Nat Schmidtke – assisted Scott Bird & Owen Bradshaw & Kristoff Gibbon - unassisted Matty Palmer - unassisted Nat Schmidke - assisted by Scott Bird & Owen Bradshaw Nat Schmidtke - assisted by Owen Bradshaw Scott Bird - assisted by Kristoff Gibbon

Shots on Goal:	Man of the Match:	Spirit of the Game:
	Ciaran Matthews	Sam Edmonds