The Excel Hull Stingrays failed to qualify for the Elite League playoffs for the third consecutive season after a heartbreaking 5-2 loss to the Cardiff Devils, their third heavy loss to the Welsh club in three games.
The Stingrays required a victory over the Devils and an Edinburgh regulation loss at home to Manchester to set up a final day decider against their playoff rivals Edinburgh, however the Stingrays loss and Capitals 6-3 win over Phoenix ensured the Stingrays would finish in the bottom two for the third time.
The Devils began this game as they had finished their two previous encounters with the Stinrgays, both 7-1 victories. They suffocated the home side of chances and created their own chances through a speedy break out with forwards Matt Elich, who impressed throughout, Jason Silverthorn and Jay Latulippe leading the front line.
Meanwhile the Stingrays came out meaning business but quickly realised the difficulty of the task they faced as the Devils executed their game plan to a T, continuing their hoodoo over the Stingrays at the back end of this season.
They deservedly lead after a harsh, but correct, delay of game penalty was called on Matt Reynolds, with Mike Prpich capitalising on the powerplay with a team leading 33rd of the season.
The Stingrays managed a powerplay marker of their own, despite Cardiff's clear dominance throughout the game, as Antti Turunen met a Reynolds pass at the backdoor to fire past Devils netminder Peter Aubry for his first of the season.
With the period drawing to a close, a bad Stingrays change gave the former Edinburgh Capital, Jason Silverthorn, a chance to do his old side a favour. After a delaying his shot, Silverthorn eventually slotted past Cruickshank in the Stingrays goal to give the Devils a 2-1 lead going into the second.
With the news of the Capitals winning 3-1 at the end of the first rippling around the crowd, the Rays went forward with force on the Devils team defence for the first time in the game and that concerted pressure eventually resulted in a goal.
With the Devils pressing forward in an attempt to relieve the pressure, Reynolds blocked a Cardiff dump in and found Jason Kostadine on a 2-on-1, Kostadine neatly finished past Aubry and gave the Rays hope of a famous comeback.
That famous comeback failed to materialise however, as Cardiff goals from player-coach Gerard Adams, and the detested Brad Voth, within seven minutes of the beginning of the third put paid to the Stingrays season.
Further salt was rubbed into the Stingrays opened wound when, with eight minutes remaining, Matt Elich found himself in space on a breakaway. He calmly rounded netminder Cruickshank, who had attempted to surprise Elich with an unorthodox rush out of his crease, before slotting into the empty net.
And just like that the Stingrays hopes for a first playoff berth came crashing to a halt. An Edinburgh win over Manchester meant this game was mostly a pointless affair but nevertheless the Stingrays went out with a whimper rather than a bang.
The Stingrays now face a meaningless farewell game against Edinburgh on Sunday, in front of Sky cameras, before yet another long summer of rumour and speculation of what really went wrong.
Best Moments: Lee Esders fearless checking of messrs Voth and MacIver, Jeff Glowa's relentless , but ultimately failed, efforts to singlehandedly drag the Rays into the playoffs, a well worked powerplay that ended in a deserved first goal for Antti Turunen.
Worst Moments: Cardiff's fifth and final goal- slotted into an empty net after the Stingrays attempted to push forward, with netminder Cruickshank left to look silly after failing to meet the puck.
F Block MOM
Stingrays: Jeff Glowa (0+0) Not much more can be said about Glowa that has not already been said on both this blog and between every single Stingrays fan. Another game in which Glowa proved his invaluable worth to the Stingrays, battling for every puck, creeping through the Devils defence and skating his heart out for the club. If rumours are to be believed this could be one of Glowa's final games for the club. If so, thanks Jeff.
Devils: Matt Elich (1+1) Elich proved why he and the Devils are one of the fancied teams for the playoff crown. With speed to burn, a good work rate and a neat finish for his goal, he was the pick of a Devils side that perfectly executed a game plan on the Stingrays.
Stingrays Verdict (5/10): Perhaps a harsh five-out-of-ten but the Stingrays knew exactly what they had to do, and that was to win. A lack of passion and mainly hits, which has been a continuous theme in the past few years, was very evident, whether that was because they already knew the Capitals were winning, which it seemed like, or otherwise, there generally isn't any excuse in such a big games. One Brad Voth elbow to the head of Konstantin Kalmikov was all that it took to keep the normally dangerous Ukrainian out of the game and, despite his two assists, Matt Reynolds was largely ineffectual in his overall play. This has been one of, if not the best Stingrays side in the Elite League and it is a shame that their failure to qualify for the playoffs may result in an exodus of players. Only the play of Antti Turunen, Lee Esders, Jeff Glowa and occasionally James Cooke, gave Rays fans any hope for a playoff spot but in the end the Stingrays good run since Christmas has seen them somewhat expectedly fall short.
Strachan's Verdicit: "It's very disappointing. We put up a valiant effort but we came up short on the last weekend of the season. We worked really hard against Cardiff. We started off a little slowly, but once we got going we played a great second period and got right back in it.
"Unfortunately we gave up a couple of soft goals that should never have been conceded. It's happened all year. We play hard, hard, hard and then a couple of mental lapses and the opposition score."
SOG: 35-32PIM: 2-8
Playoff Race 09:
8th- Edinburgh GP53, W 18, OTL6, L29, GF171, GA238, GDIFF -69, PTS 42
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9th- Stingrays GP53, W 16, OTL5, L32, GF149, GA235, GDIFF -88, PTS 37
*Edinburgh qualify for the Elite League playoffs.
