CARDIFF DEVILS 6 TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 4
On Sunday, the Trade-Mart Dundee Stars were in Cardiff and looking for their second win of the season over the Devils, on their first visit to Ice Arena Wales.
By Kris Smith
The Stars made one change to their line-up from Saturday’s 5-4 overtime loss to Nottingham Panthers as Brython Preece was given the start in net over Anton Svensson and injured duo, Hugo Reinhardt and Ben Brown continued to miss out.
Dundee needed a good start on the road after the long bus drive to South Wales but they did not get off to the start they wanted as Joshua Waller fired the home side ahead after just more than two minutes of play.
However, as it was the Devils Teddy Toss event and after all the stuffed toys had been cleared from the ice, the Stars had settled themselves down and quickly got back on track, as Romans Semjonovs drew them level, two minutes later.
The Swede controlled a loose puck in the neutral zone and quickly moved forward before releasing a fast and accurate wrist shot into the top of Ben Bowns’ net.
Jeff Mason’s men then continued to get forward against the Devils and would take the lead inside eight minutes, as Carter Folk’s effort would be saved by Bowns but the rebound fell straight into the path of Ben Sokay and he sent a backhanded shot into the Cardiff net.
Both sides then went back and forth searching for the next goal and it would be scored in 16th minute, when Brodie Reid beat Preece with a quick one-time shot from the middle of the slot.
Dundee then had to survive a late penalty to make sure their stayed level heading into the first break and defended well to keep the score at 2-2.
In the second session, the Stars again made an attacking start and came close to regaining the lead, but a powerplay opportunity surprisingly saw them fall behind as the Devils scored shorthanded.
With Joshua Brittain in the box for a tripping foul, Cardiff tried to kill some time by taking the puck forward and Trevor Cox would see his attempted pass deflect off a stick, before bouncing off a Dundee defender, hitting Preece and then dropping into the Dundee net.
The remainder of the second period then saw Dundee come closer and closer to finding another equaliser but in the dying minutes of the middle session, the Stars had just finished killing off a minor penalty against Toms Rutkis for tripping, when Cox poked home his second.
Cardiff would go 4-2 in front after a goal mouth scramble saw the puck poked into the Stars net with just 10 seconds left on the clock and that put the Tayside team up against the ropes for the third period, but they would be feeling hard done by after having the better chances.
In the third period, the Devils found another quick goal to extend their cushion to three goals and Ryan Penny would add his name to the scoresheet on 43 minutes.
Preece made a great save to deny the initial effort but the puck sprung out to Penny and he smacked home a shot before the Welsh goalie could recover to make the second stop.
Although, the Stars once again showed their determined spirit and cut into the home team’s lead as Toms Rutkis sent a low shot past Bowns on 46 minutes.
The Devils then took two penalties inside a minute and that allowed Dundee to utilise the two-man advantage to cut the lead to just one goal as Sokay bagged his brace with a bullet-like shot into the top right corner from the top of the left circle.
Brodie DuPont’s men then killed off the remaining time of the second penalty and had to try and shut up shop to keep the Stars from tying the game inside the final minutes.
The Devils disrupted Dundee’s attacks well and would seal the two points with an empty net goal in the final minute, as Waller netted his second of the game into a vacant goal.
The Stars will be proud of their performance but have only one point to show from a weekend of defiant and battling hockey as they refused to go away when falling behind and next up is Wednesday’s first leg of the Challenge Cup Quarter-Finals against Fife Flyers, at home.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #25 Romans Semjonovs
Cardiff: #63 Trevor Cox
Goals
1st:
1-0 Joshua Waller (Joshua Brittain, Sam Duggan) 02:13
1-1 Romans Semjonovs (Philippe Sanche, Drydn Dow) 04:48
1-2 Ben Sokay (Carter Folk, Philippe Sanche) 07:57
2-2 Brodie Reid (Justin Crandall, Marcus Crawford) 15:43
2nd:
3-2 Trevor Cox (Mark Richardson, Marcus Crawford) 24:08 SHG
4-2 Trevor Cox (Joey Martin, Joshua Brittain) 39:50
3rd:
5-2 Ryan Penny (Ben Davies, Riley Brandt) 43:12
5-3 Toms Rutkis (Drydn Dow) 46:51
5-4 Ben Sokay (Philippe Sanche, Drydn Dow) 52:00 PPG
6-4 Joshua Waller (Joshua Brittain, Marcus Crawford) 58:57 ENG
All images: James Assinder.
