By Eleanor Clifton
Cardiff Devils claimed a superb 2-1 win against Belfast Giants on Saturday night with a fine display of physical hockey at the Vindico Arena.
Whenever the Giants, the most successful team in Elite League history with seven titles, come to the Welsh capital, it tends to be a feisty affair.
And within two minutes of the first period starting here, a fight erupted between Cardiff’s Riley Brandt and Belfast’s Garrett McFadden.
While the referees let it happen and the fans cheered and encouraged them on, both players were sent to the penalty box for five minutes.
The four-on-four play was fast paced with both teams doing all they could to get the opening goal of the game.
In the sixth minute, the Devils were on the power play, after Mike Lee was called for interference. The Devils were strong on the attack, but it was not enough.
Throughout the first period, hard hits were being thrown from all players, as both teams were playing some rough hockey.
The second fight of the night broke out, in the ninth minute, but on this occasion only Belfast’s Karl Boudrais was dispatched to the penalty box.
With four minutes of the first period left on the clock Belfast found the back of the net, only to see the goal ruled out for a shove on Devils goal-minder Ben Bowns.
Belfast’s head coach Adam Keefe was incensed at the decision and called a coach’s challenge, and when this was denied he showed his disapproval by slamming the door of the teams’ bench.
Both teams picked up from where they left off to start another feisty period, with Belfast working hard to gain the goal they had lost.
Hard hits continued to be thrown, as Cardiff’s Cole Sanford and Belfast’s Lee were given warnings for their constant roughness against each other.
The Giants had constructive chances on goal, all of which they kept hitting above the net and winning the puck back.
In the 35th minute, Cardiff took the lead, with a shot from Jimmy Oligny, assisted by Cedric Lacroix and Brandon Estes.
The third and final period of the gam, demonstrated just how hard both teams had been playing for all 60 minutes.
Cardiff were almost given an easy goal as the puck was allowed by the Belfast players to simply roll towards the net before it narrowly missed.
However, the hosts didn’t have to wait long for their second goal, as Brett Perlini smashed past the Giants’ goalminder, Whistle, from an assist by Ryan Barrow and Kristoff Kontos.
In the 44th minute, the Devils were on the penalty kill after Josh MacDonald was called for tripping. This gave Belfasts’ Lee and Jordan Kawaguchi an easy chance to assist Lee to tighten the goal difference once again.
Tension was high in the last 10 seconds of play, as all players were slipping and sliding to do everything possible to defend and attack.
With this tension a fight broke out within the last moment of play, ending the encounter as it had begun.