Cardiff Devils produced a professional, uncompromising team performance to earn their place in Sunder’s Elite League play-off final.
Goals from Tyson Strachan, Matt Pope, Layne Ulmer and Justin Faryna swept Devils to a 4-0 semi-final victory against Fife Flyers.
It took almost 36 minutes for Devils to take the lead, while Flyers were still in the game until Pope made it 2-0 after 46-42.
“I like the way we didn’t try to force the issue,” said Devils head coach Andrew Lord. “The players stayed calm and kept pressing.
“The first five minutes or so we didn’t look ourselves and Ben Bowns was huge for us at that stage.
“Once we settled down we took over. Fife played hard, defended well and their goalie (Andy Iles) was phenomenal.”
Fife coach Todd Dutiaume said: “Devils are a fantastic hockey club. All credit to them.
“I’m proud of my guys, while Andy was fantastic for us in goal and kept us in it for a long time.”
Cardiff had twice as many shots as Flyers (38-19), who managed only four in the middle period.
Three goals in the third period clinched victory for Devils in the PredictorBet Play-Off semi-final.
Devils lost in the final against Sheffield Steelers a year ago and will now play the Yorkshire club or Nottingham Panthers, who face-off at 5pm.
Gardner Conference champions Fife have had an outstanding season and gave everything they had against Devils.
Cardiff were able to run four lines and wore Flyers down, killing off the game in the third when they cold have scored even more.
An early save from Fife goalie Iles at the feet of Josh Batch got the Scottish fans on the edge of their seats, after the Devils man was put in by Joey Martin.
Flyers started to get a grip in the game as Carlo Finucci tested Cardiff goalie Ben Bowns with a couple of chances, but could find no way through.
With Patrick Asselin on the bench for hooking, Martin almost walked the puck into the net for a shorthanded goal, but Iles stuck his leg out to deny him before his defence swept in to rescue.
Strachan had a couple of early chances in the second period as Fife found themselves on the back foot for the first few minutes of the middle session.
However the stalemate was soon broken when Iles was dragged out of position, denying Ulmer and Strachan showed excellent hand-eye coordination to fire the puck into a gaping net.
Shayne Stockton went close with an effort that flashed past shortly after, but it was the league champions that were one up after two periods.
Cardiff’s second came when Sean Bentivoglio’s shot was stopped by Iles and Pope was on hand to sweep up the rebound.
Only 70 seconds later Flyers were killed off by an Ulmer finish from close range before Faryna completed the scoring with a left sided snipe.
Match stats – Devils v Flyers:
Period scores (Devils first): 0-0; 1-0 (1-0); 3-0 (4-0).
Shots on goal: Devils (on Iles) 13+13+12=38; Flyers (on Bowns) 8+4+7=19.
Powerplays: Devils 0/2; Flyers 0/3.
Scorers, Devils: Tyson Strachan 1+0, Matt Pope 1+0, Layne Ulmer 1+2, Justin Faryna 1+1, Joey Haddad 0+1, Joey Mrtin 0+1, Sean Bentivoglio 0+1, Jake Morissette 0+1, Bryce Reddick 0+1.
Penalties in minutes: Devils 6+4+0=10; Flyers 6+2+0=8.
Referees: Tom Darnell and Stefan Hogarth
Stars of the game: Devils, Andrew Hotham; Flyers, Andy Iles.