Ice Hockey: Cody tells Capitals to lap up Marlies magic

Published on Friday 25 September 2009 09:42

CODY RUDKOWSKI has been hyped as potentially the best netminder in ice hockey's Elite League this season and the 31-year-old has the perfect stage on which to show his talent tomorrow against Toronto Marlies (face-off 1.30pm).

The Canadian knows exactly what to expect having played at the highest level, the NHL.

Rudkowski is looking forward to the clash even if it comes early in a season in which he hopes to re-establish himself after taking a year out to recover from illness.

Rudkowski said: "Playing Toronto will be hard. This is a big game for us and our fans. They probably won't have seen that calibre of hockey and, if you are a hockey fan, then you have to get excited (when major teams come). I've played over 100 games in their league and Marlies have some really phenomenal players.

"Some of them have played in the National Hockey League and there is a lot of talent in that league. Some of our players will not have played at that level before and it will surprise them. However, it's a privilege to be on the ice with these guys and the Capitals should go out and enjoy the experience."

The Murrayfield men had a full week to prepare under bench coach Jock Hay and skipper Martin Cingel following the confidence-boosting weekend double-header which earned them maximum league points at Hull Stingrays and a point in an overtime defeat at home to early league front-runners Nottingham Panthers. Rudkowski,

who played 13 games for Cincinatti Cyclones in the 2007-08 season before his temporary opt-out, said:

"That's three points out of a possible four and we have to be happy with that.

"Obviously, you want four points out of four but we'd only been here for a week and the team is still learning to work together.

"At Hull, we won 9-2 and really dominated the game. Against Nottingham, it was good but we were behind the eight ball a little in the second period."

Rinkside observers felt Rudkowski kept Capitals in the game during the tough middle session but the modest netminder claimed that it was the team worth ethic that got them back into the game.

"We were 3-1 down and gave ourselves a chance by battling back to 3-3 to take the game into sudden-death overtime.

"That's the kind of commitment we need from the guys if we are going to make our target of a top-four finish in the Elite League. We're going for it and we achieved the weekend results without coach Doug Christiansen who is one of our top players."

The American playcaller had surgery in midweek and will be out for some time after smashing his left knee in the first period of the season opener at Hull.

Bulldogs put bite on rivals

EDINBURGH Capitals face Toronto Marlies tomorrow having watched the Canadian side lose 1-0 to Hamilton Bulldogs in the opening game of the Gardiner Cup at Murrayfield last night.

The entire squad was there, including crocked forward and coach Doug Christiansen, who was on crutches following his knee operation in midweek.

Around 2,200 fans, the biggest ice hockey crowd since Tony Hand's testimonial, turned up to see the American Hockey League sides go head-to-head.

The only goal came from James T Wyman when he pounced on a bouncing puck close in to beat Marlies netminder James Reimer, who made some outstanding stops during the entertaining 60 minutes.

Hamilton logged only four penalty minutes and the Marlies eight as Edinburgh whistler Moray Hanson had a relatively easy night.