CARDIFF DEVILS 6 TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 3

The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars came back to tie the score twice in Cardiff last night but were ultimately beaten by the Devils 6-3 in South Wales, which means they will have to beat their Tayside rivals this weekend to secure their place in the playoffs.

By Kris Smith

The Stars were missing three players from their roster as goalkeeper, Lucas Brine was given the start between the pipes after coming in for Kevin Carr mid-game last Saturday and he would drop out to join Josh Brittain and Craig Garrigan on the sidelines.

After a scoreless opening five minutes, the end-to-end game produced its first goal as Brandon Alderson fired home Jamie Arniel’s squared pass to beat Brine and put Cardiff in front.

However, Dundee hit back just three minutes later as Carter Johnson won the puck back along the boards and he then fed a pass out to Brent Beaudoin who had a two-on-one break with Jake Elmer in tow.

Beaudoin would draw in the defender before passing to Elmer and he buried his shot high over the shoulder of Ben Bowns in the Cardiff net, on eight minutes.

The tensions then started to boil over between the two sides as Brendan Harms and Cardiff’s Cole Sanford came together at the benches, before Xavier Pouliot and Devils’ defender, River Rymsha got involved and all would end up in the penalty box except Sanford, which put Cardiff on the powerplay.

Whilst on the two-minute man advantage, Pete Russell’s men retook the lead as Joey Martin picked out the top right corner, firing across the goal in the 17th minute.

In the second period, Martin bagged a second goal at the halfway mark as he beat Brine from the slot but that goal came shortly after the Stars keeper made two last-ditch saves to keep the puck from crossing his goal line.

Dundee pushed back hard and after plenty near misses they found themselves in on a breakaway with Chris McKay bearing down on the Devils goal but he would be hooked Cody Donaghey as he shot, resulting in a penalty shot for the Stars.

McKay would deke the puck past Bowns to cut it back to a one-goal game and early into the third period, Marc LeFebvre’s side would win another penalty shot as Elmer was fouled in his way to goal.

The Canadian netted his second of the night with another high shot past Bowns in the 44th minute and that tied the game at 3-3 but only five minutes later, the home team cashed in on another powerplay as Trevor Cox fired into the roof of the Stars net.

Chad Pietroniro then added a fifth goal for the Devils 39 seconds after the restart with a rising effort from the right circle and that sparked more tension between the two sides as right from the restart, James Phelan and Riley Brandt would drop the gloves for a quick but furious scrap with the pair firing rapid blows.

That would not stop the Welsh side from scoring as Martin completed his hat-trick when he finished off a failed clearance to make it 6-3 as Drydn Dow could not get enough on a loose puck in the crease to get it away from danger.

Another scrap would start in the 58th minute after Phelan delivered a hard hit in the Devils end and Josh Batch made him answer for it as he came straight after the Stars forward but the pair hardly got going as the linesmen were quick to step in.

The final buzzer sounded to confirm the Stars would remain on 49 points but they can secure their place in the playoffs this weekend, when they face their Tayside rivals, Fife Flyers in back-to-back games.

Man of the Match

Dundee: #98 Jake Elmer

Cardiff: #88 Joey Martin

Goals

1st:

1-0 Brandon Alderson (Jamie Arniel, Justin Crandall) 05:01

1-1 Jake Elmer (Brent Beaudoin, Carter Johnson) 07:59

2-1 Joey Martin (Marcus Crawford, Ryan Barrow) 16:54 PPG

2nd:

3-1 Joey Martin (Josh Batch, Bode Wilde) 29:33

3-2 Chris McKay (Unassisted) 38:16 PS

3rd:

3-3 Jake Elmer (Unassisted) 43:29 PS

4-3 Trevor Cox (Bode Wilde, Jamie Arniel) 48:58 PPG

5-3 Chad Pietroniro (Bode Wilde, Ben Davies) 49:37

6-3 Joey Martin (Cole Sanford, Trevor Cox) 50:48

All images: James Assinder.