Swindon Wildcats 0, Cardiff Fire 6

Tamas Elias, a 23-year-old forward born in Hungary, led Cardiff Fire to a convincing away win in the National Ice Hockey League.

Elias, who is in his sixth season playing ice hockey in Cardiff, netted two goals and added an assist for Fire.

Iwan Davies (2+0), Jackson Price (1+1) and Sam Bryant (1+0) were the other Fire scorers in a convincing road win.

The next test for head coach Mark Smith and his Fire players is against Peterborough Phantoms away next Saturday, while they have back-to-back home fixtures over the last weekend of this month.

Guildford visit the Viola Arena in Cardiff Bay on Saturday, January 26 (6.30pm), while Oxford City Stars are visitors the next evening (6pm).

Teenage goaltender Lewis Davies, a Great Britain under-18 international kept a shut-out against Wildcats.

Lewis, from Penarth, started watching ice hockey at the age of four when his brother, Owain, was playing and took up the sport two years later while he was a pupil at Barry’s Ysgol St Curig.

He came through the Cardiff junior system, was a regular within the South West conference systems and represented England in the Quebec tournament. 

Fire’s win against Wildcats lifted them into ninth place in the National League South Two table, level on points with Bristol Pitbulls. Coach Smith’s Cardiff team, crucially, have three games in hand.

His aim is to steer Fire into the play-offs and they are only two points behind Phantoms, the team they travel to play next weekend.

Former Cardiff Devils Elite League defenceman Smith has almost a decade of professional ice hockey experience and is working to instil a strong work ethic and culture of accountability within the team. 

He is also Fire’s director of player development and is combining the two roles.

Phil Manny, another former Devils player, is Fire’s assistant coach.

Match stats: 

Scorers, Fire: Iwan Davies 2+0, Jackson Price 1+1, Tamas Elias 2+1, Sam Bryant 1+0, Stephen Deacon 0+1, Alan Armour 0+1, Jordan Powell 0+2, Phil Manny 0+1, Ross Wilkinsin 0+1, Chris Fox 0+1

Period scores (Wildcats first): 0-1; 0-3 (0-4); 0-2 (0-6.

Shots on goal: Wildcats (on Davies) 25, Fire (on Perre) 52

Penalties in minutes: Wildcats  4+12+4=20, Fire 8+12+6=26

English Ice Hockey Association

NIHL South 2 (Wilkinson) 2018/19

			P	W	OW	OL	L	PIM	F	A	Pts
1		Chelmsford Chieftains	18	15	0	2	1	549	140	43	32
2		Slough Jets	17	13	2	0	2	243	120	56	30
3		Solent Devils	16	14	0	0	2	347	118	41	28
4		Oxford City Stars	14	12	0	0	2	259	109	34	24
5		Raiders Junior S2	16	9	1	1	5	483	85	63	21
6		Bracknell Hornets	15	8	1	1	5	440	94	61	19
7		Guildford	17	7	1	2	7	303	60	57	18
8		Peterborough Phantoms	17	5	4	0	8	336	83	73	18
9		Cardiff Fire	14	7	1	0	6	575	67	70	16
10		Bristol Pitbulls	17	6	1	2	8	266	71	76	16
11		Haringey Huskies	16	5	0	1	10	593	60	84	11
12		Invicta	17	4	0	1	12	338	54	94	9
13		Basingstoke Buffalo	12	3	0	0	9	207	34	74	6
14		Swindon Wildcats 2	16	0	0	1	15	266	22	120	1
15		Lee Valley Lions	16	0	0	0	16	285	31	202	0