Chris Douglas and his Cardiff Fire team played far better at Ice Arena Wales than the 7-2 National League defeat suggests.
Player-Coach Douglas was between the pipes for Cardiff and his team played some fluent ice hockey against Slough Jets without being able to punish their visitors.
Jets were twice punished for too many men on the ice in the first four minutes, but they survived those scares.
The home team were rocked when Elliott Murdoch was thrown out on a five plus game penalty, while Jets’ were give two minutes against Sean Norris for roughing and another two against Lukas Smital for hooking.
Jets up to 6th after nights 7-2 win in Cardiff.. 🙂 https://t.co/m9wECoSmok
— Slough Jets Ice Hockey Club (@jethockey) October 7, 2018
That put Fire under pressure and they were 2-0 down after the opening period.
Matthew Smital, the son of Jets’ player-coach Lukas, was in goal for the opening two periods before making way to allow Brian Shepherd some action when their team were 6-1 ahead.
James Whiting went into goal for Fire in the last two and a half minutes.
Fire have played only two matches and their next fixture at Ice Arena Wales is against Bracknell Hornets on Sunday, October 14.
Here's the goals from our clash with @jethockey last night! 🔥🏒 pic.twitter.com/wkqTlefOav
— Cardiff Fire (@CardiffFireIHC) October 8, 2018
Match stats:
Period scores (Fire first): 0-2; 1-2 (1-4); 1-3 (2-7)
Shots: Fire 37, Jets 46.
Penalties in minutes: Fire 57, Jets 22.
Scorers, Devils: Stephen Deacon 1+0, Jordan Powell 1+0, Ross Wilkinson 0+1, Jackson Price 0+1,
Jets: Lukas Smital 1+3, Sean Morris 1+2, Nathan Darmanin 1+0, Ryan Handisides 1+0, Sam Talbot 1+0, Harry Harcup 1+1, Daniel Rose 1+1, Tom Fisher 0+1, Adam Rosbottom 0+1, Liam Underdown 0+1,
Other South Two results: Swindon Wildcats 2, Solent Devils 10; Chelmsford Chieftains 14, Basingstoke Buffalo 1; Peterborough 4, Bristol Pitbulls 3.
Fire fixtures during October
Saturday 13 Invicta (Kent) v Cardiff Fire (5.15pm)
Sunday 14 Cardiff Fire v Bracknell Hornets (6pm)
Saturday 20 Bristol Pitbulls v Cardiff Fire (5pm)
Saturday 27 Slough Jets v Cardiff Fire (5.45pm)
Sunday 28 Cardiff Fire v Lee Valley Lions (6pm)
NIHL South Two Leading Scorers
| GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |||||||||
| Ross Brears | Chelmsford Chieftains S1 | 6 | 16 | 19 | 35 | 2 | |||||||
| James Ayling | Chelmsford Chieftains S1 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 10 | |||||||
| Lukas Smital | Slough Jets S2 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 2 | |||||||
| Bradley Moore | Chelmsford Chieftains S1 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 10 | |||||||
| Alex Murray | Solent Devils S1 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 0 | |||||||
| Richard Facey | Solent Devils S1 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 4 | |||||||
| Joe Edwards | Oxford City Stars S2 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 4 | |||||||
| Courtney Grant | Chelmsford Chieftains S1 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 4 | |||||||
| Conor Pollard | Peterborough Phantoms South 2 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 2 | |||||||
| Shaun Yardley | Peterborough Phantoms South 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 2 | |||||||
| Michal Oravec | Oxford City Stars S2 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 2 | |||||||
| Samuel Talbot | Slough Jets S2 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 6 | |||||||
| Nicholas Alley | Peterborough Phantoms South 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 6 | |||||||
| Sean Norris | Slough Jets S2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 8 | |||||||
| Steven Osman | Bristol Pitbulls S2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 0 | |||||||
| Conor Redmond | Oxford City Stars S2 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 0 | |||||||
| Daniel Rose | Slough Jets S2 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 0 | |||||||
| Richard Hargreaves | Bristol Pitbulls S2 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 0 | |||||||
| Dax Hedges | Oxford City Stars S2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 16 | |||||||
| Matthew Lawday | Oxford City Stars S2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | |||||||