Red Devils beaten by Stampede
Canterbury Red Devils ice hockey coach Matthew Sandford has criticised the referees after ‘borderline dirty’ play against the Southern Stampede.
The Red Devils season got off to a rough start by copping some dirty tactics from their Stampede rivals and losing 6-1, 7-4 in Queenstown over the weekend.
Sandford was disappointed with some of the foul play from the opposition on Friday and Saturday night at the Queenstown Ice Arena. He said the referees needed to keep a closer eye on dirty play on the fringes.
‘‘It was a pretty rough game – borderline dirty. There were some elbows in there, some head hits.
‘‘Our side were being down for stick penalties more than dirty play.’’ Sandford said he would like to see referees be more strict on players, who are using dirty tactics off the puck and improvements on professional fouls as the NZHIL season goes forward. ‘‘I will leave it up to the referees to sort.’’
While the Red Devils were punished by the defending champion Sandford said there were a lot of good signs for his side on the rink. The younger players also produced encouraging signs.
‘‘All the young guys played really well. It was a good weekend for them to get exposure.’’
He said standout players were goalkeeper Damien King, who saved 88 per cent of shots between both matches, and Matej Kos of the Czech Republic, who scored three in the Saturday match.
Sandford wasn’t worried about the first round results and had full confidence his team would bounce back in a fortnight’s time against the Botany Swarm in Auckland.
‘‘There was a lot of good come from the match and we will move forward from here.’’
The Red Devils are looking to make their seventh consecutive final in the National Ice Hockey League this year with a new-look squad after losing several key senior players.