Devils have upper hand in CC semi-final

Photograph courtsey of Jessica Roberts: www.jessicarobertsphotography.com.

 

The Cardiff Devils welcomed the Belfast Giants to the Cardiff Bay Arena for their Challenge Cup semi-final clash tonight.

 

Devils were still without Wes Jarvis (injured), Ben Davies and Jamie Hayes (both on GB duty), but were joined by new recruit Ryan Finnerty. As a result, Gerad Adams mixed up his forward lines as Finnerty iced with Max Birbraer and Tylor Michel, whilst Brad Voth was back with last season’s line-mates with Phil Hill and Jay Latulippe. This left Mark Smith to ice with Matt Miller and Matt Towe.

 

Cardiff were into the game the quicker and their pressure gave a chance early on as Tylor Michel rattled a shot off the post. Mike Hartwick had a great chance to get the opening goal when he pinched up on the play, but had his shot saved. Mark Richardson took a penalty to give Belfast a Power-play chance, but Michel again worked hard and created a short-handed effort, but again his backhand shot was well saved. Soon after Hartwick was given a harsh penalty to present the Giants with a 5 on 3 opportunity, and Jeff Szwez found himself with plenty of time in from on net, but shot over. He then followed this up with a reckless cross-checking that saw him then sit for 2 minutes.

 

At 14:45, Mark Smith received a great pass from deep from Scott Romfo, turned his man within a flash, allowing him room to skate in on net and score. The Giants did manage to get the equaliser during the resulting power-play at 17:30 when Michael Jacobson shot from just outside the hash marks. Devils restored their lead soon after at 19:38 when Scott Romfo sent a wrist shot in from the blue line, through traffic, which found it’s way to the net. At the final buzzer Ryan Finnerty managed to put the puck in the net, but it was ruled at as time had just elapsed. The Giants players took exception to this and some fights broke out as a result, with Gerad Adams taking on Sean McMorrow, and Mike Hartwick taking on Jeff Szwez, with all player receiving 5 minutes for fighting.

 

Cardiff had a Power-play themselves after just 18 seconds of the 2^nd period, and Matt Miller had a great chance to score when Ryan Finnerty and Max Birbraer linked up very well, but Stephen Murphy was again on hand to save. Max Birbraer himself almost scored when Tyler Michel picked him out with a great pass, but again his shot was saved, with the rebound falling nicely for Scott Romfo, who riffled a shot off the cross-bar. With the Devils exerting great pressure, the Giants responded and lifted their game to disrupt the Cardiff flow.

 

Miller again went close when he held off the attentions of the Belfast defence and somehow get a shot off, again forcing a good save from Murphy. Devils managed to extend their lead when their pressure finally told, and Ryan Finnerty did well driving the net to create himself an opening. His back-hand shot was initially saved, but Tyler Michel was on hand to slot home the one timer rebound from an acute angle at 33:31. The 2^nd assist on that goal going to Max Birbraer to bring up his 100^th Elite League Assist.

 

Mark Smith had a chance to get his 2^nd goal of the night when he was sent clear by Brad Voth, but Murphy stood up well to keep the Devils out. Cardiff thought they had scored their 4^th goal when Mike Hartwick got on the end of a promising break away move as he was fed by Jay Latulippe, with Murphy looking stranded he somehow managed to pull off a pad save to keep the Giants still within 2 goals at the end of the 2^nd.

 

Cardiff started the 3^rd period in style when smart play by Finnerty left a huge gap for Phil Hill to exploit as he then fed Brad Voth to fire home a very pretty goal at 40:40. Belfast went on the Power-play again as Matt Towe was in the box for a hooking penalty, but the closest the visitors came to scoring was when they skimmed to top of the crossbar just as the penalty was finishing. Brad Voth hot the pipework for the Devils again after he created space for himself from the boards as the Devils looked to stretch their lead further, The 5^th goal did arrive at 49:18 when Max Birbraer broke free and tried to feed the on rushing Phil Hill, only for his own pass to rebound back into his path and he managed to slot home from a tight angle.

 

Belfast then stepped up their own game to try and get back into the semi-final, and the pressure paid off when Jeff Szwez scored a rebound effort when he appeared to be standing in the crease. The goal was given despite the protests from the home players. Cardiff created two more great chances themselves in the last few minutes as firstly Matt Miller rattled yet another shot off the post (the 4^th time Cardiff hit the pipe-work during this game) and then Mark Smith went in one-on-one with Murphy, but the score remained 5-2 to the Devils to take into the 2^nd leg of this Cup tie.

 

 

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• Galbraith penalty wins it in Cardiff
• Voth calls it time
• Devils take one goal lead to Belfast
• Vanderveeken joins Devils
• Caps run Devils close in Cardiff

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