High Five! Cardiff Devils Stun Swedish Champions

Cardiff Devils 5, Vaxjo Lakers 1

Swedish champions Vaxjo Lakers were left stunned and beaten at Ice Arena Wales.

Cardiff Devils earned probably the best victory in their 30-year history, eclipsing even the 4-3 overtime win against crack Swiss club HC Davos.

This scoreline will surprise ice hockey fans throughout Europe. Lakers were not at full strength, but they have won all five Swedish League fixtures played this season and have been dominant in the Champions League.

Coach Andrew Lord’s men were disciplined, organised, skilful and full of intensity.

Lakers simply could not match Cardiff’s desire in this Champions League clash and the Swedish visitors were left crushed and hurting badly.

Vaxjo had already qualified from Group E, while Devils are mathematically out of the running, but Lakers were still chasing top spot.

Devils opened the scoring on the powerplay when Jake Morissette snuck the puck past Victor Andren with Andrew Hotham and Sean Bentivoglio picking up the assists at nine minutes 27 seconds.

The home team had to kill a four-minute powerplay after Craig Moore was called for elbowing, but the Devils kept Vaxjo at bay.

Bentivoglio made it 2-0 when he took a pass from Drew Paris and fired it past Andren at 24-20 and Devils scored again at 35-20 when Craig Moore fired a shot top shelf past Arden with Josh Batch picking up the lone assist.

Vaxjo replied with a powerplay goal when Linus Hogberg finished off a pass from Linus Froberg at 44-23 on the powerplay to make it 3-1.

On the next play Haddad redeemed himself by scoring past Arden with Joey Martin assisting (45-20) to put the Devils 4-1 ahead.

With three minutes left, Vaxjo pulled their goalie for the extra skater, but the Devils were able to weather the storm and Mark Richardson scored a length-of-the-ice empty net goal to seal the victory.

It was another historic Champions Hockey League win, the second in a row for the Devils against previously undefeated Lakers.

Devils travel to Sweden for the return match against Vaxjo next Wednesday, October 11, but they will now focus on Saturday’s Elite League match against Belfast Giants on Saturday (7pm).

Match stats:

Scorers, Devils: Sean Bentivoglio 1+1, Joey Haddad 1+0, Craig Moore 1+0, Jake Morissette 1+0, Mark Richardson 1+0, Drew Paris 0+1, Matthew Myers 0+1, Patrick Asselin 0+1, Andrew Hotham 0+1, Josh Batch 0+1, Joey Martin 0+1.

Lakers: Linus Hogberg 1+0, Linus Froberg 0+1, Pontus Netterberg 0+1.

Period scores (Devils first): 1-0; 2-0 (3-0); 2-1 (5-1).

Penalties in minutes: Devils 4+0+2=6; 2+2+2=6.

Ticket information for the match against Belfast is available in person at Ice Arena Wales reception, by calling 0800 0842 666 or via the club’s official website.