Ben Bowns produced a 27-save shutout to frustrate the Coventry Blaze and send the Cardiff Devils to the top of the Elite League standings on Sunday [26 October].
Ryan Barrow, Cole Sanford, and Brett Perlini scored to fire Paul Thompson’s side to a 3-0 win at the Skydome Arena, capitalising on a weekend of mixed results for the league’s title protagonists.
It was a night to forget for the Belfast Giants, who lost 2-1 on the road versus the Guildford Flames, undone by Mathieu Gosslin and Jack Jacome’s strikes.
Sunday’s only other fixture ended twenty minutes early, with the Sheffield Steelers awarded a 2-1 win over the Manchester Storm during the second intermission due to issues with the ice surface in Altrincham.
“Game CC49 was abandoned after two periods due to issues with the ice at Planet Ice Altrincham,” wrote an Elite League spokesperson.
“After an hour and 45 minutes of attempting to repair the ice, the rink staff informed the Elite League that it would not be possible to make the ice surface playable within a reasonable time frame in order to complete the game, and the game was therefore abandoned.
“As two full periods had been played, according to EIHL Rules the result stands at Manchester Storm 1-2 Sheffield Steelers.”
Welcome to Around the Rinks: our daily summary of every team’s post-game media remarks.
Around the Rinks: Sunday, 26 October 2025
Guildford Flames 2-1 Belfast Giants
Justin Fazio, Guildford Flames (Image: Karl Denham)
Andrew Hemmings, Guildford Flames:
That was a huge win for us. After last night, when we felt like we deserved something from the game, it was a big win on home ice. It was a great performance from every single player on our team tonight.
Adam Keefe, Belfast Giants:
It was a tight one. At five-on-five, we did enough to lead and be in that game. But we lost that game on special teams: our powerplay didn’t get much going tonight and our penalty kill didn’t get it done. It’s unfortunate.
I thought we were okay tonight, but we have to better if we want to make sure that we get the win — we have to compete through the crowd and you could tell we were playing against a team that wanted to bounce back after a late loss yesterday.
They were blocking a tonne of shots and making it really difficult to get second pucks around the net. I thought it was a real game of special teams, which we lost, but that’s going to happen from time to time. We have to find the willpower to compete through the heavy stuff around the net.
Coventry Blaze 0-3 Cardiff Devils
Ben Bowns, Cardiff Devils (Image: Scott Wiggins)
Paul Thompson, Cardiff Devils:
I wasn’t very happy with us after the first period — we looked like the team that had travelled back from Fife last night. We were flat, slow, and our competition level wasn’t on par with Coventry. But we discussed it in the room and I’m really pleased with the second and third period, where we took over the game.
[Ben Bowns] is a great goalie. When you’re a little bit flat, your goalie can keep you in the game — and that’s what he did. We built from that and I thought we were the team on the ascendancy.
Kevin Moore, Coventry Blaze:
I thought it was a good hockey game — we came out flying in the first, which was good to see, with the bus trip last night. It was so tight and it felt like the first goal would decide it. We pushed and pushed and pushed to try and tie it up, but credit to Ben Bowns for shutting the door against us. Overall, it was a solid effort and something that we can grow from.
Manchester Storm 1-2 Sheffield Steelers
At the time of writing, the Elite League is yet to publish post-game quotes from Cam Critchlow and Aaron Fox.
