CARDIFF DEVILS 5 TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 4

The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars came up just short in Cardiff after they fought back from four-goals down to make it a one-goal game against the Devils, in what was a feisty encounter.

By Kris Smith

The Stars were missing defenseman, Kris Inglis and forward, Brent Beaudoin through injury but that did not stop them from taking the lead on three minutes, as James Phelan tipped Anthony Rinaldi’s shot past Devils netminder, Tyler Wall.

However, the home team would hit back in the ninth minute as Joshua Waller stripped the puck from Dundee’s Josh Brittain and broke through on goal, where he deked the puck past Kevin Carr to tie the game.

Then 30 seconds later, Justin Crandall would convert on the powerplay to give Cardiff the lead after Craig Moore had been boxed for a hooking foul and Jamie Arniel’s shot would ring off the crossbar before falling to Crandall for a tap in at the back post.

Pete Russell’s men then made it 3-1 just 29 seconds later as Cole Sanford added his name to the scoresheet as he batted in the rebound from Trevor Cox’s saved effort.

The Stars would trail by two after the first period and continued to be up against it in the middle session, but they would only give up one more goal over the next 20 minutes as Brandon Alderson increased the Welsh side’s lead.

In the 31st minute and with the Stars on the penalty kill again, Carr saved and held onto a heavy shot before he attempted to clear the puck to relieve the pressure.

However, his clearance was blocked and the Devils worked the puck around quickly with Marcus Crawford setting up Alderson for a one-timer that would beat the Canadian keeper as he scrambled back to his net.

In the third period, River Rymsha smacked home a fifth goal for Cardiff on 51 minutes and it seemed like that would be game over, although Dundee soon found another way past Wall and a made the final few minutes a lot more uncomfortable for the Devils.

Stars captain, Drydn Dow would fire home from just inside the blueline in the 57th minute to capitalise on a powerplay before 30 seconds later, Kyle Pouncy added another to make it 5-3, as he intercepted a clearance and flung it back towards goal, finding the top left corner.

Then 45 seconds after the restart, Spencer Naas slid home Dundee’s fourth to make it a one-goal game and pile the pressure on for the final minutes, after he batted in a rebound and sent the puck through the legs of Wall.

Marc LeFebvre’s men were unable to find an equaliser in the final two minutes but came close as they struck the crossbar in the final seconds and then tensions would boil over after the final buzzer as Cardiff’s Josh Batch cross-checked Rinaldi in the back, beginning a series of tussles between the players on the ice with Batch throwing hands on three different occasions.

After the referees separated the two teams, Batch was being escorted off the ice when another incident flared up between him and Dundee’s Sean Allen with the pair fighting to get a hold of each other across the benches with both coaches pulling their players back, and more happening on the ice also, as Cox and Crandall slashed their sticks at Brittain before squaring off with the former Devil.

In the end, Dundee recieved 75 penalty minutes after the whistle to Cardiff’s 47, with Allen taking a total of 45 minutes, Batch 32, Phelan, Brittain, Jake Elmer and Cardiff’s Riley Brandt 10 each, then five for Devils’ Cox.

Next up for the Stars is a home game against the current pace-setters in the Elite League as they welcome Sheffield Steelers to Tayside for the second time this season.

Man of the Match

Dundee: #8 Spencer Naas

Cardiff: #63 Trevor Cox

Goals

1st:

0-1 James Phelan (Anthony Rinaldi, Sean Allen) 03:14

1-1 Joshua Waller (Unassisted) 08:51

2-1 Justin Crandall (Jamie Arniel, Cole Ully) 09:21 PPG

3-1 Cole Sanford (Trevor Cox, Cole Ully) 09:50

2nd:

4-1 Brandon Alderson  (Marcus Crawford, Trevor Cox) 30:28 PPG

3rd:

5-1 River Rymsha (Mark Richardson, Tyler Busch) 51:33

5-2 Drydn Dow (Spencer Naas, Carter Johnson) 56:33 PPG

5-3 Kyle Pouncy (Unassisted) 57:03

5-4 Spencer Naas (Ryan Valentini, Brendan Harms) 57:48

All images: James Assinder/Rebecca Brain.