In the Elite League, the festive season is defined by fine margins.
Kevin Moore’s Coventry Blaze snapped their three-game winless run by outlasting the Guildford Flames to win by a shootout in Surrey.
Paul Thompson blamed the “hockey gods” for the Cardiff Devils’ 4-3 overtime defeat against the Sheffield Steelers.
And Corey Neilson was full of praise for Fife Flyers netminder Shane Owen.
Welcome to Around the Rinks: our daily summary of every team’s post-game media remarks.
Around the Rinks: Saturday, 20 December
Guildford Flames 1-2 Coventry Blaze (Shootout)
Mat Robson, Coventry Blaze (Image: John Uwins)
Paul Dixon, Guildford Flames:
It was a difficult game, in the end. I thought, over the course of the game, we did a great job of getting pucks to the net, but we know [that may not be enough] on any given night against [Matt] Robson.
We’re talking about a one-one game in regulation, before we made a massive [penalty] kill in overtime. In the shootout, it’s fifty-fifty and we’re disappointed to drop a point at home. It’s important that we get every point we can and it’s always disappointing to lose at home, especially the last game before Christmas.
We’ve got to make sure that we stay positive through this period of three losses. Every game is important and we want to pick up points in every game.
Kevin Moore, Coventry Blaze:
There was a lot of grit from our team and it was awesome to see Kim Talberg pull a Sergei Federov and play defence for us. The team banded together in a really great way and gutted one out when we were short on the back end, playing with guys who are hurt.
Cardiff Devils 3-4 Sheffield Steelers (Overtime)
Matthew Greenfield, Sheffield Steelers (Image: James Assinder)
Paul Thompson, Cardiff Devils:
Well, sometimes the hockey gods aren’t with you because we were the far superior team: we created a lot of Grade-A opportunities and [Matt] Greenfield is the reason they come away with the extra point. I’m proud of all the guys, they carried out everything we practiced and we had three or four big chances to win it in the third period. Their guy made some big saves in periods of the game where we’d taken over. I’m pleased with the performance, but not the result.
Aaron Fox, Sheffield Steelers:
Quotes to follow.
Fife Flyers 1-2 Glasgow Clan
Garet Hunt, Fife Flyers (Image: Elite League)
Jamie Russell, Fife Flyers:
We were much better in the areas we wanted to tighten up: our wingers did a way better job on their points and we did a way better job defending the net front. That resulted in 20 fewer shots on goal. It would’ve been nice to capitalise on the powerplay at the end: we hit the post.
Corey Neilson, Glasgow Clan:
I thought it was a highly competitive match: both teams invested a lot physically. That was the most physically-competitive I’ve seen my team for a while. I’d like to shoutout both teams’ goaltenders: they were excellent. [Alex] Forbes has been playing on defence the last two games and he’s doing a great job. I really liked the leadership from our group. But, man, Shane [Owen], really turned back the clock: he was amazing.
