A thrilling weekend for British ice hockey concluded with the Cardiff Devils battling to a 4-3 overtime win over HC Davos at Ice Arena Wales.
Davos won 10-1 when the sides met in Switzerland, but this was a much tighter affair. Davos took the lead with just 3:23 on the board but this time the Devils would get back on level terms - with a delayed penalty called on Davos, the Devils kept the puck and Mark Richardson found the net. As period one ticked down, the Devils then took the lead on the power play - Joey Martin with the goal at 19:41.
The middle period didn't start well for the home side. With 2:43 played, Andres Ambühl tied the game as Davos skated a man over. Eleven minutes later, the NLA side had turned the game around, with Dario Simon putting them ahead at 33:27. The Devils, however, rallied and got themselves back into the game at the end of the period. Again on the powerplay, this time Matthew Pope found the target to have the home fans going wild.
Period three was tight, as Cardiff lined up with a neutral zone trap to try and reduce the Davos chances. Some late penalties on the visitors gave the Devils chances to win the game but to no avail. Then, with just over a minute left, the home fan thought they'd won it as the puck was fired in from the point, only for the goal to be washed out for a man in the crease.
The home fans were obviously disappointed, and the achievement of taking the game to overtime seemed to be lost on them a little after the disallowed goal. However, they were to finish the game on a high - 23 seconds into overtime, Drew Paris cashed in a shot from the point to win the game!