Stars Smoke Dragons in final match up between the clubs.

Final Score - Oxford 8 : Cardiff 3

Sunday 23rd November 2008

Oxford Stars continued their recent fine form by demolishing Cardiff Devils 8-3 on Sunday night at Oxpens Road. This was an impressive score especially given that the Stars had failed to beat the Welsh side in their three previous attempts this season only managing to tie the game last weekend with less than a minute on the clock.

Although the game started slowly with neither team playing their best it was the Stars who were on top, outshooting their opponents 14-6 in the first period but only managing to score once as Joe Edwards netted from a Dean Francis pass at 7:05. There were no more goals this period, but the play started to heat up with both sets of players becoming more and more aggressive as the game wore on. A number of minor penalties for both teams culminated in Stars stalwart Captain Darren Elliott and young Devils defender Corey Watkins clashing. Although no punches were thrown both players were given 10min personal misconduct penalties by referee Meekison to allow them time to cool off.

The Cardiff team talk during the period break obviously worked as Fisher scored for the Devils just over two minutes after the start. A momentary defensive lapse allowed him time and space to lift the puck over Skaife for the goal. Stars defenceman Andy Cox found himself in trouble, picking up the next four Oxford penalties. This put Stars under pressure and although Edwards scored again at 30:27 to give Oxford the lead, Cardiff's impressive Fisher scored again on a delayed penalty call against Cox to tie the game 2-2 at 33:12. This was enough for the referee who also assessed Cox a 10 min miscondust at the same time. The almost customary Stars quick reply goal was scored by Nick Oliver at 33:37 after a clever drop pass from Armour who was skating behind the goal. Oliver has now scored in the last 4 games in a row and is clearly relishing the extra ice time he has been given by the new coach. Another player on a scoring streak is power forward Ace Bailey who increased Stars lead to 4-2 with a wicked shot at 35:36, the assists this time going to Edwards and Featherstone who broke the puck up ice.

With the score 4-2 the end of the second period and Stars again winning the shooting battle 16-8, it was evident Stars wanted to continue their title chase. Coach Hargreaves must have told the team to keep up the pressure and the team responded by getting right back into their groove 3 mins into the period. Alan Armour dusted off his scoring stick by shooting bottom corner to finish off some neat passing from Oliver and Featherstone. Captain David James scored Devils last goal at 44:28 before Armour doubled his goal tally for the night on a delayed penalty call. Skipper Elliott fed the puck to Armour who skated through the neutral zone before unleashing a cannon from outside the blueline which found the top corner of the net. Stars were not finished yet though as Dean Francis rounded off some fantastic play by young Jacob Smith and Mike Hargreaves to rip one into the net from the slot. Joe Edwards then completed another fine hat-trick at 54:23 by converting from a cool pass from Nick Eden.

Both teams took the opportinity to allow their back-up netminders some ice time with just under 6 mins to go and the Stars fans gave McGurk a rousing reception. His short spell in goal saw him face only one shot which he stopped comfortably. Tempers flared one second before the the final whistle was blown as Edwards and Devils Duance dropped the gloves and battled it out, both players landed some good punches before both landing on the ice. Duance was unwilling to release when the linesmen stepped in and is very lucky not to receive a major penalty. Stars Coach Richie appeared very pleased with an good 8-3 win and a comfortable two points. There were some quality periods of play and Star once again outshot the Devils 42-27 on the night. He knows there are still some creases to iron out and a few pointless penalties that need to stop as in other games they could cost the team dearly. However, after only two weeks with a new coach and having taken 5 out of 6 points on offer against the 2nd & 3rd placed teams, Stars will skate into Kent to face Invicta in a very confident mood.