Cardiff Junior Devils 5 - 2 Swindon

Saturday 11th April saw Cardiff U14's host their local rivals the Swindon Puma's in what was Cardiff's last home match of the season. Cardiff won the away encounter 2-1 in a hard fought match, and were keen on a another win at home to complete the double over the Puma's. And with Swindon sitting just ahead of the U14 Devils, Cardiff needed a win to go ahead of the Puma's in the league standings.

The game got off to a fast start with the Puma's getting the best of the early exchanges, and were soon on the score sheet at 1.44 with a goal from Hugo Tibbitts after some good pressure down low around the net. Cardiff needed to get a foot in the game and were given the opportunity when with two Swindon players in the penalty box, Cardiff had a 5 on 3 powerplay. The Devils wasted no time at all to capitalise, scoring 8 seconds into the two man advantage, moving the puck well from the face-off to Callum Buglass on the point who fired in a strong shot through a crowd to register the Devils first, and his first of the season also. This meant that Cardiff were still on a Power-play with a Swindon player still sat in the box. And the Devils took full advantage again, a minute later, as the penalty was ticking down, Captain Kieran Latchford scored am impressive solo marker, skating the puck down the boards and behind the goal, before wrapping the puck around the far post to beat the keeper and make it 2-1 at 4.58. The rest of the 1st period was fairly even with both teams testing the net minders, and James Whiting in the Devils net had to work hard to keep the visitors at one goal.

The second period started much better for the Devils, with home team coming out looking the stronger team, and getting the early pressure. Josh Bonello had to make several key saves in the Puma's goal to keep the home team from extending the lead, as Cardiff outshot their visitors 12 shots to 3 in a very strong second frame. Cardiff even looked strong when short handed, with an excellent penalty kill from Ellis Price, Giacamo Raffaelli and Jack Randall keeping the Puma's out. Swindon looked like they were going to weather this strong spell from the Devils, but with just 3 seconds left in the 2nd period, Captain Latchford popped up unmarked on the back post, and collected his own rebound, forcing the puck home to make the score 3-1 at the break.

Cardiff came out in the 3rd period looking to try and seal the win early, but it was Swindon who came out flying, and looking hungry. The Puma's really put the pressure on early and had their best period of the game, outshooting Cardiff 8-7 in this final frame. The Devils had to play some hard defence in the first few minutes, and again Whiting in goal came up with some key saves to keep the score at 3-1. As the period continued, Swindon started to look tired and the home team pushed forward, and at 35.10 it was Kieran Latchford again who popped up in front of goal to complete his hat-trick and notch up the Devils 4th with a neat finish after strong build up work from Tom Parkinson to feed him the puck. But instead of closing the game out, Cardiff conceded a quick reply by the Puma's with Joseph Tearall scoring from close range with a neat finish past Whiting to keep the game tight at 4-2. The score was only to stay at 4-2 for 82 seconds though, as Cardiff again took advantage of Swindon having a player in the penalty box. The Cardiff power-play had worked well all game, with 3 PP markers already, and after a strong face-off win from Tom Parkinson, Owen Griffiths reacted quickest in front of goal to score with a good back-hand shot and clinch the game at 5-2 for the Devils, whilst marking up his first of the season also. Swindon battled hard to the final buzzer and forced the Devils to play some hard defence, with both Myles Chapman and Zak Shanahan having an excellent game playing out of position on defence in the absence of some of Cardiff regular defensemen. The game finished at 5-2, and moves the Devils up to 3rd spot with one game left to play.

Game Stats

Goal Scorers:

Kieran Latchford 3+0 Tom Parkinson 0+2 Callum Buglass 1+0 Owen Griffiths 1+0

Shots on Goal:	Man of the Match:	Spirit of the Game:
ON CARDIFF DEVILS GOAL (James Whiting): 18 ON SWINDON PUMAS GOAL: 29	James Whiting	Connor Powell