Final Score - Cardiff 5 : Stars 2

Saturday 27th September 2008

Oxford Stars made the trip to face Cardiff Dragons with new signing Richie Hargreaves making his debut. Cardiff had a depleted team due to a number of suspensions however they countered this by drafting in experienced Canadian defencemen Brent Pope.

The first period saw the Stars quick out of the blocks as they pressed the Dragons in to their own end. This pressure caused Cardiff defenceman Dan Madge to take an early holding penalty and from the resulting powerplay Oxford captain Darren Elliott scored from an acute angle as he skated from behind the net. The Stars seemed buoyed by this and rather than push their advantage they began to sit back and a stalemate ensued. The only bit of action to note in the middle of the period was Oxford defenceman Andy Cox throwing his stick at a Cardiff forward as he skated through on the Oxford goal. Cardiff were rightly awarded a penalty shot however James Skaife in the Oxford goal spared Cox’s blushes. With neither side looking particularly dangerous and the goalies of both teams remaining untested it looked like the period would end with oxford holding the lead. Unfortunately for the visitors they couldn’t hold on. With less than two minutes remaining in the period and Oxford on the powerplay, four Oxford players piled into the attacking zone leaving one sole defenceman and Cardiff broke away to equalise through Steve Fisher assisted by Ben Davies. It was an awful goal to give away and gave the home side some momentum to get back into the game.

The second period started as badly as the first had ended with Oxford seemingly devoid of ideas. Predictably Cardiff took advantage and it was Davies turn to score assisted by Steve Fisher after eight minutes gone. Oxfords discipline simply crumbled after this goal and they spent pretty much the rest of the period shorthanded with Andy Cox , Mike Hargreaves and debutant Richie Hargreaves all sitting out at least one minor penalty each in succession. This gave the young Cardiff team some much needed breathing space and nullified any attacking threat from Oxford. Steve Fisher and Chris Jones added more goals for Cardiff meaning that Oxford trailed 4-1 going in to the third and final period.

After what must have been a stern talking to in the dressing room from coach Darryl Moran the Stars came out looking a better team than the previous period. Unfortunately Cardiff were now comfortable in their lead and no matter what Oxford did they just couldn’t seem to finish the multitude of chances that came their way. With 8 minutes gone in the period Cardiff essentially sealed the win with their fifth goal. Predictably this was yet another powerplay effort scored this time by Tom Evans. The Stars came out harder after this goal and managed to pull back one more goal before the end with Andrew Shurmer nearly ripping the net with a slapshot from the point.

The Stars unbeaten record was lost and this means it has been over four years since the Stars last won a game in Cardiff.