Junior Devils complete return series against Southern with a win and draw

July 23, 2012 - The Canterbury Junior Devils returned to home ice in Christchurch last weekend, facing two games against a Southern team looking to avenge their double losses the week before in Dunedin.

Game Report # 5: JEL 21 July 2012, Southern 1 v Canterbury 3

Behind the bench, Coaches Anatoly Khorozov and Mike Johnson - returning from overseas – readied their charges for what would be two very stern tests. They iced an identical line-up to the previous weekend, with Alex Egan recovering from his injury trouble, and Harry McBride returning to health, although Shaun Brown was still constrained with his damaged shoulder.

The game got under way in front of a good crowd of Canterbury supporters, along with the Southern support group, and again it was great to see the senior Canterbury Red Devils out in force to lend their voice to their Junior colleagues. The Referees immediately made an impact, with a quizzical call for a Canterbury penalty, and then shortly thereafter an equally inexplicable 2+10 to Southern Forward Aliberch-Wood. In what was unfortunately the trend for the game, the frequent whistle disrupted what could have been a greater spectacle from both teams.

As the Ref’s arm went up yet again mid way through the first, Southern converted on the delayed penalty regardless, with the perennial threat of Macharg and Hurring combining to do the damage, Hurring slamming it past Lee to give the visitors the lead.

The smaller ice made the game a lot tighter, and both sides were struggling to put together the same sort of cohesive plays they displayed the prior weekend. But with two minutes left in the period, Ga’bor Pribula found himself just on the blue line, and the puck on his blade. He shot-faked to freeze one defender, toe-dragged another, and then rifled a shot that hit the outside of the post. Not stopping to admire his handiwork, he battled into the corner to retrieve the puck again, looked up, and spotted Leon Forgues in between the circles. One precision pass later, Forgues had time to pick his spot beautifully and he slid a hard shot into the far corner of the net, all along the ice. 1-1.

Southern were then called for another bewildering 2+10, as both teams felt the frustration of a very different refereeing approach from the Dunedin officials. The ubiquitous catch-all “checking from behind” was again the call. Canterbury couldn’t convert on the PowerPlay however, and the teams took the first rest all square.

The second period opened to another penalty call, this time a soft cross check against Canterbury D Peter Pribula. He joined the procession of players trooping to the box with bemused looks on their faces. With 8 minutes gone, Canterbury missed a golden chance to take the lead shorthanded, killing yet another penalty, as Ga’bor Pribula found a seam from the midboards through the crease, but the chance just eluded Jake Ratcliffe on the weak side post.

But back to even strength two minutes later, the same line got their rewards, as Ratcliffe and Pribula worked a glorious two way passing play all the way down the ice, isolating the D’s to find Pribula alone in front of the net and the deadly little Hungarian does not miss from there. 2-1 Canterbury.

With several seconds having elapsed and no penalty, it was Southern danger man Jacob Hurring’s turn, as he was called for hooking to the amazement of both sets of supporters. A good Canterbury PowerPlay had the puck open in the Southern crease, but no one there to convert. As a Southern play fell on the ice, Alex Damm was called for tripping, and the Canterbury PK was called into action. It was now that Canterbury Captain Mason Kennedy produced the play of the game, if not the goal itself. Blocking a Southern shot on his own point, the puck rebounded into the neutral zone where Kennedy pounced on it. He streaked and deked all the way to the Southern goal leaving Southern D’s trailing with some sweet moves, but the ever-improving Hunter Waugh in Southern’s goal denied him with a stellar glove save.

The uneven nature of the game continued, with Canterbury missing a chance as the puck bobbled and bounced through the crease, and over/under hopeful Canterbury sticks.

Possibly the biggest cheer of the night went up during the period break groom, as a Referee misjudged the net and fell squarely on his behind. Freudian perhaps?

The final period was again a penalty heavy affair, with calls changing post-whistle, and neither team being able to settle. With Southern enjoying a 5 on 3 advantage, Hurring broke free but was denied by a Daniel Lee pad save, under great pressure from a back-checking Karl van Slooten. Shortly after, Hurring hit a perfect pass to release Luke Peat, but Lee made the glove snag to deny Peat his chance.

Forgues then hit the post for Canterbury after a sensational coast-to-coast move on a PowerPlay, then Ratcliffe had a golden chance to seal the game but hit it straight at the Goalie. The key play was made with five to go in the game, as Southern were battling to get something out of the game. Ratcliffe evaded a checker in the neutral zone, and with Ga’Bor Pribula anticipating the play and skating hard, sent a perfectly timed pass onto his stick just as he crossed the blue line at top speed. The Hungarian mini-assassin froze Waugh with a feint, and then deftly lifted a backhand into the net to put the Junior Devils in control at 3-1.

Southern stepped up their pressure, with Ben Harford in particular having an outstanding game, but with Kennedy, Peter Pribula and Alex Egan marshalling the D over the crucial last shifts, Canterbury held firm for the win. With 12 seconds left in the game, a Southern forward was the sole change at a face-off, immediately initiating a disturbing physical attack against key Canterbury import Ga’bor Pribula. But it would take more than an ugly, unprovoked altercation to throw this European off his stride. The Southern player was assessed a match penalty and sat out the Sunday game.

Coach Khorozov described it as a “real” hockey game, a tight, low-scoring affair and true test of character under pressure, with the players having to stay focussed to get the result.

Player of the game for Canterbury – Daniel Lee
Player of the game for Southern – Hunter Waugh

Game Report # 6: JEL 22 July 2012, Southern 2 v Canterbury 2

The Sunday morning game was even closer than the previous afternoon’s. An early Harry McBride penalty call sent a groan through the crowd, as the senior Canterbury Referees took charge of this one. With no fewer than six penalties to Canterbury alone on the first period, the game threatened a repeat of the disjointed Saturday affair, but from the second period onwards, fortunately the officials put the whistles away and largely let the players play.

With a very determined Southern team driving for their first win of the season, they again came out hard. As Canterbury defended a first period 5 on 3, Hurring connected with the Goal Gods again, after great Southern puck retention and pressure, sneaking one in short side after Tom Pratt found him with the pass. Canterbury got almost no offense going as they spent most of the period on the penalty kill, and were happy to go into the sheds down by just the single marker.

The Southerners then got a break, right at the start of the second period. On the very first shift, a weakly speculative shot was pushed to the crease from the corner by Queenstown native Ben Harford. He was likely as surprised as everyone else, when Harry McBride, stationed in front of his Goalie, attempted to direct the shot away from goal but managed only to deflect it up and ever-so-slowly over Lee’s waiting left pad and into the net. As Wayne Gretzky famously said, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, and so Southern celebrated as Canterbury stared into the abyss.

Gathering themselves, the Junior Devils wanted to show they were made of stern stuff this year, and they showed it the best way possible, hitting straight back just 20 seconds later. After winning the face off and good offensive zone pressure, a booming shot from the point by the younger Pribula (Peter), could not be held by Waugh, and as the puck spilled sideways, an off balance and falling Ratcliffe just managed to get enough on it to slide it into the net to reduce the deficit back to a single goal.

The teams were more settled now as thankfully 5 on 5 hockey was the order of the day, and speedy and skilful Queenstown winger Harrison Macharg was causing havoc in front of the Canterbury net, at one time going coast-to-coast, drawing an outstanding kick-save from Junior Devil netminder Lee to hold the score at 2-1.

With the period closing, Southern were accurately called for too many men on the ice as they were caught with six skaters in the offensive zone. Shaun Brown had a double chance on the ensuing PowerPlay, denied both times by Hunter Waugh, who is looking more and more comfortable in his role. The final minute saw Aliberch-Wood break in on a one on one with Lee, but again the Canterbury man denied Southern a greater lead.

Southern could see the finish line in sight with just one period remaining. But it was going to be a long 20 minutes, with Peter Pribula slapping a hard shot goalwards five minutes into the period, Waugh gloving it safely. Lee then blocked away a strong Harford wrister, before the game was stopped following a huge, clean hit by Mason Kennedy on the blue line. Ben Wallis was the unfortunate recipient, and took several minutes to be checked and helped off the ice.

With the clock running away from them, Canterbury intensified their efforts, demanding the impossible from exhausted limbs. With 4 minutes to go, Ratcliffe took a breakaway into the zone, but the puck ran away from him and the gilt-edged chance to tie it up was lost.

When Canterbury took a penalty (their only penalty in the last two periods) with 3 minutes left, the Southerners could virtually taste victory. But these Junior Devils would simply not lay down, and as Ratcliffe kept the puck in the Southern zone on the kill, it was fed back to big Karl van Slooten at the point, who unleashed a drive to the goal. The rebound fell invitingly to the one player the Southerners would not have wanted to see with time, space and a sighting of net – Ga’bor Pribula. He controlled it, and then slid it hard under Waugh, engaging that big, gratifying metallic sound goalscorers love, and sending the Canterbury bench and supporters into raptures. 2-2, and Canterbury had somehow salvaged the game.

A frantic last 2 ½ minutes then played out, as two battle-weary teams slugged it out, looking for a miracle punch, when there was none left for either. They almost looked thankful for the final buzzer, dead on their skates, both sides having given it everything.

So with Canterbury taking a hugely satisfying 7 out of 8 points against the Southerners over the last two weekends, and denying them a victory to take back to Dunedin and Queenstown, the JEL breaks for a couple of weeks. Attention shifts to the Red Devils, and their two huge games this weekend (28/29 July) against the NZIHL second placed West Auckland Admirals. Get down to Alpine to support the Devils!

Player of the game for Canterbury – Mason Kennedy
Player of the game for Southern – Harrison Macharg