Cardiff Fire Ready For Isle Of Wight At Ice Arena Wales

Cardiff Fire are out to step up their bid for an ice hockey triple crown when Isle of Wight Buccaneers come to Cardiff Bay on Saturday (6.30pm).

National League leaders Fire, who still boast a 100 per cent record after 12 matches this season, would love to finish 2016-17 with three trophies.

They stand top of NIHL Division Two, are through to the Cup finals weekend, which will be held at Fire’s home Ice Arena Wales, and have the end-of-season play-offs in their sights.

Fire have scored 68 goals and conceded 20 in their 12 fixtures played so far, but head coach Mark Cuddihy knows this clash with Raiders is going to be tough.

Isle of Wight are second and they would love to damage Fire’s title charge.

The Fire v Buccaneers clash at IAW is more important than usual because there are double points on offer. Isle of Wight are without a home rink and play all their fixtures on the road, which means there are four points on offer in each game instead of two.

Buccaneers return to Cardiff during March for their second match against Cardiff.

Slovakian forward Robert Sedlak is a key player for Fire, while goalie Joe Myers, the brother of Cardiff Devils’ Matthew, celebrated his 31st birthday this week.

Fire earned a weekend double last time out, beating London Raiders 9-2 in the cup, making sure of their place in the finals weekend. That is at the IAW, Cardiff Bay on Saturday, April 8 and Sunday, April 9.

Swindon Wildcats were Fire’s opponents the next evening in a League fixture and the Cardiff team won 8-2. That completed an impressive weekend for the team as they scored 17 goals and conceded four.

After this weekend’s clash with Isle of Wight, Fire will focus on their trip to play Slough on Saturday, February 18.

They are then at home against Swindon Wildcats the next evening (Ice Arena Wales, 6.30pm, Sunday, February 19).