Devils Delight Capacity Crowd As They See Off The Stars With Ease

By Terry Phillips

Cardiff Devils 4, Dundee Stars 1

Elite League leaders Cardiff Devils were greeted by a 3,000-plus capacity attendance at Ice Arena Wales and eased to a convincing victory against their visitors from Scotland.

Joey Martin, Gleason Fournier, Matthew Myers and man of the match Mark Louis were the Devils scorers.

Their next match is against Coventry Blaze at home next Saturday (7pm).

First period

Two goals inside a minute put Devils in command against Dundee.

Martin struck on the powerplay after six minutes 53 seconds, shooting hime from close range after Dundee’s defensive web was untangled.

Goalie Ben Bowns started the move, while Andrew Hotham and Myers earned the assists.

Fournier added the second on 7-51, unassisted, to double Cardiff’s lead.

Player-coach Andrew Lord was on the bench with Chris Culligan again joining Sean Bentivoglio and Layne Ulmer, who was desperately close to scoring a third goal from a Martin pass.

Big hitting Patrick Bordeleau was a physical presence playing alongside Myers and Jake Morissette, while the Martin/Patrick Asselin/Guillaume Doucet line was a constant threat to Stars.

End of first: Devils 2, Stars 0.

Second period:

Cardiff-born Myers made it 3-0, firing in a fierce shot which netminder Joe Fallon half saved without being able to hang on to the puck, which slid over the line behind him (25-56).

Patrick Bordeleau and Mark Louis earned the assists.

Defenceman Louis scored Devils fourth goal, firing high into the Stars net from Sean Bentivoglio’s feed. The second assist went to Layne Ulmer.

Devils outshot Stars 16-5 in the second, making it 25-9 in total up ti that point.

End of second: Devils 4, Stars 0.

Third period

Devils were completely dominant, but lost their way a little in the final period.

Stars were never going to get back into this match, but they did score a consolation goal through Craig Moore.

It was unfortunate that Devils lost their composure a little with Gleason Fournier thrown out on a five minutes plus game call for cross-checking, while Andrew Hotham landed a 10 minute misconduct for abuse of an official.

Cardiff still came out comfortable winners and extended their lead at the top to six points ahead of Belfast Giants.

End of third: Devils 4, Stars 1.

Match stats:

Scorers, Devils: Matthew Myers 1+1, Mark Louis 1+1, Joey Martin 1+0, Gleason Fournier 1+0, Sean Bentivoglio 0+1, Layne Ulmer 0+1, Andrew Hotham 0+1, Patrick Bordeleau 0+1.

Stars:Craig Moore 1+0, Brett Switzer 0+1.

Period scores (Devils first): 2-0; 2-0 (4-0); 0-1 (4-1).

Penalties in minutes: Devils 6+4+37=47; Stars 4+4+2=10.

Powerplays: Devils 1/5; Stars 0/10.

Men of the match: Devils, Mark Louis; Stars, Craig Moore.

Referee: Dean Smith.

Attendance: 3,300.