Final Score - Cardiff 8 : 5 Oxford

5th January 2008

Oxford made the trip to Wales in determined mood to take on a Cardiff team in fine form although influential utility player Mark Krater was missing from the squad.

Oxford started brightly and peppered the Cardiff goal with shots from the very start of the match and this drew the home side in to taking a couple of minor penalties. Unfortunately Oxford’s powerplay was not firing on all cylinders and Cardiff rode the storm and began to press ahead themselves. With ten minutes gone Ben Davies picked up the puck in the Oxford zone and skated unchallenged across the slot before finishing well to make it 1-0 to the home side. Oxford then hit penalty trouble themselves and killed a 5 on 3 Cardiff powerplay along with another minor penalty and did well to keep the score the same until the end of the period.

If the first period showed Oxford’s strength of character the second period showed Oxford at their very worst. With only four minutes gone Cardiff had another powerplay and they made good use of it when Alex Madge finished well after good work from the impressive Davies. Three minutes later and Cardiff had extended their lead through David James and the panic had begun to set in amongst the Oxford ranks. At this point coach Darryl Morvan called a time out to settle his side but to no avail as the Stars continued to flounder. Cardiff soon scored a fourth through Davies and then Michael Price made it 5-0 to effectively kill off the game. Oxford did manage some consolation on the powerplay when Grant Bailey’s cross ice pass hit Cardiff defender Phil Manny’s skate and deflected past his own goalie.

The third period promised to be a dour affair with neither side playing good hockey and Cardiff well ahead. Stars back up goalie Kevin McGurk replaced James Skaife between the pipes. Oxford got off to a great start when the bespectacled Jacob Smith fired home a shorthanded goal to make it 5-2. Unfortunately for the Stars their joy was short lived as Jamie Dancey restored Cardiff’s four goal advantage virtually straight away. A rare Oxford powerplay saw the Stars hit another goal this time through Nick Eden from the point. A lack of concentration saw Cardiff make it 7-3 when James hit his second of the game past the diving McGurk. Unfortunately for the Stars goalie this led to him being stretchered off and both teams had to wait for the ambulance to arrive before play could resume. A good half an hour later the game restarted and it was the Stars who finally started playing the hockey they can. Straight from the restart the Stars came out of the blocks quickly and scored through Dean Francis whose long range slap shot found its way to the bottom corner of the Cardiff goal. Just as the Stars were contemplating a comeback though, Cardiff scored their eighth goal on the counter attack through Lewis Smith. Oxford to their credit kept going and when Dean Francis cut inside the Cardiff defence he dropped the puck to Nick Eden and Eden made no mistake looping the puck over the top of the floundering Cardiff goalie.

The score finished 8-5 to Cardiff and the Stars will be disappointed they did not give the Welsh team a closer game.