Cardiff Fire made the trip to Oxford to take on last seasons League and Playoff Champions the Bristol Pitbulls.
A number of debuts for the Fire as James Manson made his return to the ice along with Niall Shanahan, Damon Butler, Chris Deacon and former Cardiff Devils goalie Joe Myers.
The first two minutes of the game didn’t exactly go the plan for the Fire as the Pitbulls came out hard. After just 1:11 of the first former Cardiff Devil Richard Hargreaves made a great pass out of the corner that found a swinging stick of Olly Shone to tip past Takel in net. A shaky 10 mins then followed with Fire conceding 2 penalties giving the champions a 5 on 3 Powerplay. The Fire penalty kill has been very resilient and successfully killed it off. This gave the Fire a lift and they started to grow in confidence. With Bristol goalie Dibble doing well to keep the Fire off the mark. Sedlak, Burrows and Armour all going close.
The second period was much better for the fire. It took just 3 mins and 18 seconds for Dan Blakemore to score his first goal for the Club. A beautifully placed shot across the ice beat Dibble in the bottom corner to tie the game. Its took just 31 seconds later for the Fire to get the go ahead goal courtesy of Tim Burrows. James Manson found Tim Burrows with a break away pass (Manson showing you never lose that level of class) for Tim send a bullet of a shot past Dibble. Fires 3rd goal came Straight from the face-off, Tim Burrows won a battle with his winger to win the puck and enter the zone. Burrows found Sedlak who then found Jordon Powell with a backhand pass to hammer home a great shot near side on Dibble. 3-1 Fire
The 3rd period started much the same as the 2nd for the Fire. This time only taking 3:11 of the period for Robert Sedlak to score. Tim Burrows found Ross Wilkinson on the point, Ross faked a shot and passed back door to Sedlak who found the net. Under a min later another breakout pass this time from Andrew Davies found Alan Armour with just one player to beat. Armour rounded the loan defenceman only for the puck to bobble, Armour did well to control the puck and shoot near side past Dibble. Cardiff 6th goal came at 47:38 again from Alan Armour. Ricky Deacon laid a pass on Madges tape to send Madge and Armour two on one, Madge found Armour who deked Dibble to slide the puck bottom corner. Bristols 2nd goal came on the powerplay. The Fire PK (that has been fantastic so far) succumbed to a Josh Galea snapshot from the point. Ross Wilkinson bravely tried to catch the puck but the strong shot deflected into Takel net to make the final score 6-2
Tim Burrows 1+2
Alan Armour 2+0
Robert Sedlak 1+1
Dan Blakemore 1+0
Andrew Davies 0+1
James Manson 0+1
Ricky Deacon 0+1
Alex Madge 0+1
MOM: Robert Sedlak
