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The Canterbury Red Devils sounded an ominous warning to their competitors in their opening game of the 2009 season, as they forced Dunedin Coach Jens van Poucke into calling a timeout after only five minutes play in the first period.

Totally dominating the game from the puck drop, the Devils were up 3 nil within almost as many minutes after goals from Brett Salzl, Stefan Speck and Kyle Papai.

A clearly rattled Dunedin Thunder were unable to withstand the relentless pressure from their northern neighbours, who were making full use of their three well balanced lines, and even a superb effort by Thunder’s Ice Black netminder Rick Parry wasn’t enough to stem the flow of goals.

In his first season behind the bench for the Devils, head coach Keith Payne was more than satisfied with the weekend’s results.  “We’ve got three solid lines out there, and some classy players who just seem to really get on well together.  We weren’t too sure just what to expect from Thunder tonight, because we knew they’d come very close to upsetting the Swarm last weekend in Auckland.  We’d said to the guys to come out hard and make sure they backchecked well, and I’m pretty happy with how that worked out”.

In a physical encounter, the Devils were quick to snuff out any scoring opportunities from Dunedin, in particular their main strike weapon, Frenchman Jorane Fazende.  The excellent backchecking, particularly from newly promoted captain Loren Nowland, and committed defense from Dan Nicholls, was instrumental in keeping the shot count close to single figures for the Otago franchise.  Canterbury goaltender Justin Findlay, in his debut in the NZIHL, had a dream start with a shutout, but was quick to deflect praise to his defencemen;  “All our D’s played well tonight, especially Dan and Cengiz (Akyldiz) – they just never let them get a shot away”.  Akyldiz, debuting for the Devils after representing Turkey internationally, had a very good start to his season, notching a goal as well as a couple of assists thanks to his booming slapshot.

But the real star of Canterbury’s game was local hero Chris Eaden, who at just 18 years of age has already played in the National League for the two previous seasons.  After being named as one of the top goalscorers for New Zealand at the Div III World Championships earlier this year, Eaden proved that the Dunedin rink is a happy hunting ground after claiming a double hat-trick in each of the two games this weekend.  Surprisingly, Eaden scored 2 out of his 4 goals in the first game while his team was shorthanded, proving that even a man down, the Devils are quick to capitalise on any opportunity.

While Canterbury has perhaps been guilty in the past of relying too heavily on one or two foreign marquee players, this year the team has a much more balanced look about it, although the “Canadian Line” of Nowland,  Papai, and Salzl, all hailing from the spiritual home of ice hockey, showed just how dangerous they can be by blending a strong physical game with a deft understanding of the subtleties of the sport.  Local players such as Adam Soffer, Dale Harrop, Ryan Ruddle, Stefan Speck and Paris Heyd also demonstrated that the standard of development has improved substantially over recent years, as New Zealand Ice Hockey continues its commitment to nurture local talent.

In Game Two on Sunday evening, Canterbury made only one change to their lineup, putting Vince Mitalas between the pipes and resting Findlay, but the game itself was a virtual replay. With the Red Devils employing their “Shock and Awe” tactics and completely dominating territory and shots on goal,  they blitzed their way to a 15-2 scoreline, although the Dunedin team finally gave their home fans something to cheer about when they found the back of the net twice in the third period.

The Red Devils travel to Auckland in a few days to take on the West Auckland Admirals, and will be seeking to keep their two game streak intact as they complete their four game roadtrip, before hosting their first home game in early July.

Statistics

Game One

Canterbury                                                     Dunedin

Chris Eaden              4 Goals 2 Assists           Stephen Viok            2 Goals

Kyle Papai                3 Goals 1 Assist            Jorane Fazende        1 Assist

Ryan Ruddle             2 Goals 1 Assist            Simon Christos          2 Assists

Brett Salzl                1 Goal                            Duncan Sykes           1 Assist

Stefan Speck            1 Goal

Dan Nicholls             2 Assists

Cengiz Akyldiz           1 Assist

Dale Harrop             1 Assist

Loren Nowland          1 Assist

Shots on Goal 42 to 13

Canterbury                                                     Dunedin

Chris Eaden             4 Goals 3 Assists

Paris Heyd               3 Goals 5 Assists

Kyle Papai               2 Goals 3 Assists

Ryan Ruddle            1 Goal 3 Assists

Adam Soffer            1 Goal 2 Assists

Loren Nowland       1 Goal 2 Assists

Brett Salzl               1 Goal 1 Assist

Dale Harrop            1 Goal

Cengiz Akyldiz        1 Goal

Stefan Speck           2 Assists

Ryan Paskell           1 Assist

Jacques Kemp        1 Assist

Shots on Goal 51 to 13