Cardiff Devils 3, Newcastle Vipers 2

Oct 29 2007 by Peter Adams, The Journal

IT was third time unlucky for the Vipers as they lost their first penalty shoot-out of the season.

However, the Vipers came away from Cardiff Bay with a point in the bag for the 2-2 overtime loss but were losers on the night when Jason Silverthorn beat goalie Ryan MacDonald in their second head-to-head contest of the night.

In the first round of penalties, captain David Longstaff, Colin Shields and Ben Storey failed to score for the Vipers.

Longstaff couldn’t make his second effort count before Silverthorn made his decisive skate at goal.

The loss means that the Vipers secured three points out of four from their weekend on the road which started with a 6-4 win against the Basingstoke Bison.

The Vipers ran into early five-on-three powerplay trouble as the game got going but survived being two skaters short as they did again in the opening exchanges of the second period.

Before then Silverthorn had put the in-form Devils ahead on 17 minutes, his goal being cancelled out by Shields four minutes before the second break.

Shields struck his ninth goal of the season to give the Vipers a 44th-minute lead which was quickly negated by a super strike let loose by Gerad Adams four minutes later.

As the buzzer sounded to signal the end of regulation time, the Devils had a goal ruled out and the game moved on into an inconclusive five minutes of sudden death overtime.

Thirty-one minutes into Saturday’s game in Hampshire, the Vipers had established a healthy 5-2 advantage over the Elite League’s second-bottom side.

The game had turned around at the first break with the teams level at 2-2. Longstaff and Storey scored for the Vipers and Danny Stewart responded twice for the home side.

A second Longstaff success and first goals of the season for Petr Kratky and Shaun Johnson put the Vipers firmly in control but their grip was lessened when Greg Chambers scored late in the period to make it a 5-3 game.

With six minutes remaining and the Vipers attempting to kill their third penalty of the period, Steve Thornton put the outcome in doubt before Derek Campbell made sure of a Vipers win with his eighth goal of the season.

SCORERS: Saturday – Basingstoke Bison: Stewart 2+1, Thornton 1+1, Chambers 1+0, Campbell 0+2, Jarvis and Owen 0+1. Mobilx Newcastle Vipers: Longstaff 2+0, D Campbell 1+3, Kratky 1+1, Johnson and Storey 1+0, Jackson 0+3, Shields 0+2, Gomenyuk 0+1.

Yesterday – Cardiff Devils: Silverthorn 2+0, Adams 1+1, Birbraer 0+1. Mobilx Newcastle Vipers: Shields 2+0, Gomenyuk and Jackson 0+1.