Owners Flying In From Calgary To Support Cardiff Devils

Cardiff Devils 3, Belfast Giants 5

Cardiff Devils owners, led by Steve King, fly into Copenhagen to watch their team play Vaxjo Lakers in the Champions League on Wednesday.

The owners group plus family members, coming from Calgary, land in Denmark before taking the train to the Swedish city of Vaxjo.

They will also be at Ice Arena Wales for Saturday’s home clash with Guildford Flames and are due to travel with Red Army fans to Sunday’s clash with Coventry Blaze.

Coach Andrew Lord and his Devils won 5-1 against Lakers at home in their group fixture and are certain to face a fired up home team in Sweden.

Lord’s men are coming off a 5-3 home defeat against Belfast Giants when the visitors recovered from 3-1 down to take the points.

A sell-out 3,000-plus attendance at Ice Arena Wales made plenty of noise and were rewarded when Patrick Asselin fired the home team in front after 40 seconds.

Joey Martin doubled the lead on the powerplay at 7-45 with Andrew Hotham earning the lone assist.

Giants pulled one back through Cole Jarrett with a powerplay goal of their own to make it 2-1 at 16-01 and Devils led 2-1 at the first period break.

Andrew Hotham restored the two-goal lead minutes into the second period with the Devils second powerplay goal of the game at 22:39, but the Giants hit back to draw level.

A powerplay goal off the foot of Matt Towe at 28-08 and a Blair Riley strike (36-08) tied the game and the teams went into the third period with score 3-3.

Mark Louis was called for holding at 53-47 and on the ensuing powerplay the Giants took the lead courtesy of a Steve Saviano goal at 54-33.

Devils had their chances in the final period including a two minute 5v3 powerplay, but they failed to pull the game back and after a big penalty kill by the Giants the visitors scored their fifth when Sebastien Sylvestre slid the puck between the legs of Ben Bowns in net for the Devils (54-14)..

Jackson Whistle, the son of former Devils coach Dave, stopped 31 of the 34 shots he faced, while Bowns stopped 16 of his 21 shots against.

Match stats:

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

Shots on goal: Devils (on Whistle) 13+13+8=34; Giants (on Bowns) 8+6+7=21.

Powerplays: Devils 2/7; Giants 3/6.

Scorers:

Devils:Patrick Asselin 1+0, Joey Martin 1+2, Andrew Hotham 1+1, Joey Haddad 0+1, Jake Morissette 0+1.

Giants: Cole Jarrett 1+0, Steve Saviano 1+1, Sebastien Sylvestre 1+0, Matt Towe, Blair Riley 1+0, Brendan Connolly 0+2, Colin Shields 0+2, Spiro Goulakos 0+1.

Penalties in minutes: Devils 2+4+18=24; Giants 4+4+38=46.

Attendance: 3,095

Referee: Dean Smith

Stars of the game: Joey Martin (Devils), Matt Towe (Giants).

Sunday results:

Elite League: Coventry Blaze 6, Belfast Giants 1; Fife Flyers 3, Guildford Flames 5; Manchester Storm 6, MK Lightning 0.

Challenge Cup: Edinburgh Capitals 2, Dundee Stars 1; Sheffield Steelers 3, Braehead Clan 2.

Saturday results: 

Elite League: Braehead Clan 1, Fife Flyers 7; MK Lightning 3, Manchester Storm 2.

Challenge Cup: Dundee Stars 2, Edinburgh Capitals 7; Guildford Flames 5, Coventry Blaze 4 (OT); Nottingham Panthers 2, Sheffield Steelers 3.