14

4

The Cambridge Blues overpowered the Cardiff University Redhawks by a score of 14-4, out-shooting the Redhawks by 70-19 over three periods of ice hockey action on Saturday night at Peterborough Ice Rink. The result is by far the largest margin of victory achieved against other University opposition by the Light Blues in recent years and reflects a dominating, full-team effort.

Cambridge roared out of the gate, scoring 29 seconds into the first period after a brilliant effort by Tom Whillier pulled two Cardiff defencemen out of position before he passed the puck to Dan Tavana who beat a helpless Cardiff goaltender. The Light Blues were given an early scare when goaltender Carl Marzurek, who had missed the first two games of the season with a broken finger, skated gingerly to the bench after a whistle mid-way through the first period. Fortunately it was simply an equipment malfunction that lasted only a few minutes and Soohong Park filled in admirably, making a few tricky saves in the meantime. At the conclusion of the first period the Blues led by a score of 4-2 on additional goals by Andrew Buddle, Peter Morelli and Tavana.

The second and third periods saw the Light Blues take control of the game. By using ferocious hitting on the forecheck, Cambridge created countless turn-overs which resulted in a flurry of goals against a worn-down Cardiff defensive corps and goaltender. Tavana scored a further 2 goals and added 3 assists to finish the game with an astounding 7 points while linemates Whillier and Buddle each finished with 6 points. Kevin Musselman added a single goal, Adrian Camacho-Fielding had 3 assists, and Morelli (see picture) scored his second consecutive hat-trick, after which Cambridge fans littered the ice with hats. David Waterman was a rock on defence and in addition to scoring his first goal of the year delivered a crushing body-check which sent an unsuspecting Cardiff forward flying into the boards resulting in a suspected broken collarbone. Fellow defenceman Graham Courtright scored for the second consecutive game on a powerful slapshot and was named Cambridge's man of the match for his consistent physical play.

The Blues will look to make it three wins in a row in their next game, which takes place on Saturday November 28th when they face-off against the Southampton Spitfires at Peterborough.