Cardiff Titans - 9
Dundee Mitchelin - 9
Saturday 26 January 2002

battle scars after operation

Dundee Mitchelin are the first Scottish opposition played by the Titans in the modern era. They travelled down with the BNL Dundee Stars supporters, who provided vocal encouragement throughout the contest. Missing for the Titans were Hubback, McCluskey and Synan. Simmons made has way into the rink after being released from hospital so he could show everyone his scar. Titans took to the ice with a new look starting lineup - Kermeen stood solid between the pipes, with Griffiths and Smith providing rearguard coverage. The sharp shooting badges were awarded to the Poultons and Maio. With the pre-game shout of "Simmo's back" echoing around the empty arena, referee O'Halloran dropped the puck at 10pm, assisted by linesman Webster.

FIRST PERIOD First period and first blood to the Titans, straight from the face off when little Poulton passed to big Poulton who neatly slotted the puck for 1-0 Titans after only 21 seconds. The lead was doubled three minutes later when Mooney stepped up to the scoring rostrum and netted after clever play from Ibrahim and Southall. The scoreline reached a comfortable 3-0 at 4.02 when Mooney scored again, this time unassisted and also shorthanded, whilest linemate Malfatti was sitting 2 for holding. Not wanted to be shamed after a long coach ride, Dundee answered back instantaneously, when Easson converted the Malfatti minor at 4.29. 15 seconds later they cut the lead to a single goal. Disasterously, the Mitchelin men drew level 21 seconds after this goal, leaving the Titans D and goalie shell shocked. A number of deep breaths later, sensible hockey resumed for a few minutes and Cardiff even managed to kill Griffiths's interference penalty. Dundee went ahead for the first time at 9.31 through Baxter at 9.31, then pulled further ahead at 14.20. Poulton got his second of the period at 15.10 followed by Mooney's marker at 19.20, who lifted a wicked backhander onto the underside of the cross bar. Unfortunately, these goals sandwiched a further 2 efforts from Mitchelin, which meant that the first period ended Titans 5 - 7 Mitchelin.

SECOND PERIOD It wasn't a disheartened Titans which took to the ice for the middle stanza. Dressing room morale was good and all were confident that the 2 goal lead could be pulled back and overtaken. However, this can be pretty hard to achieve if the team doesn't score goals. A grand total of 1 goal was achieved during this period, and this was credited to the opposition, when Linsay scored just after the half way mark. Neither side could make headway during powerplay periods, or find a way past defending stallwarts and backchecking forwards. The score advanced by one to Titans 5 - 8 Mitchelin.

THIRD PERIOD Just like after the first period break, a flying Titans side eagerly took to the ice for the final 20 minutes. Maio pounced on the puck during a goal mouth scramble and potted via Poulton snr at 45.19. Ormond picked up his customary goal at 49 minutes dead when he worked the puck into the net after Viney and Clark did the hard work. The elation turned sour just second later when Mitchelin's Edmonds undid all the hard work by scoring their 9th goal. Malfatti returned the compliments a few eye blinks later at 50.02 which left the Titans trailing by a solitary goal with 10 minutes to go. Both sides came close to adding to their score, but the goalies were standing on their heads. Clark hit a post with a boomer of a slap shot. No goal. Malfatti hit the crossbar with a wrister. No goal. Titans saviour was Platinga, the Dundee goalie who turned winger for the night, who felled a Titan at 57.13, giving Cardiff a two minute window of opportunity to draw the game. Coach Ibrahim called a time out and looked to GM Simmons for advice. "Go for the win?" A simple nod was all Ibs needed who then gathered the troops around the clipboard describing the play which could make the game. Sacrificing personal glory for team success, an all attacking lineup took to the ice, with Malfatti and Mooney dropping back in D for additional firepower, whilst Elson, Viney and Clark took the forward slots. With only 73 seconds remaining in the game, Elson took posession of the puck in the Dundee zone and roofed a wrister past the stretching Cattanach to draw the tie the game 9 - 9. Despite a frantic last minute, neither side could do any further damage and when the hooter sounded, the scoreboard read Titans 9 - 9 Mitchelin.

hattrick

2 goals

game tying goal

SUMMARY Cardiff played their get out of jail free card just at the right time to ensure that they didn't get into a habit of losing. A highly spirited game was played against a dedicated short Scottish bench. However, Titans dug deep and did what was required to pull back a 3 goal lead to tie the game against one of Scotland's premier rec teams. Hopefully, the Titans did enough to earn a trip North to take on the 3 rec sides playing out of the Dundee arena. Final score Cardiff Titans - 5 : 0 : 4 - 9 Dundee Mitchelin - 7 : 1 : 1 - 9 Penalties Cardiff Titans - 6 : 4 : 0 - 10 Dundee Mitchelin - 0 : 2 : 4 - 6 Shots on Goal Cardiff Titans - Kermeen - 5 : 4 : 7 - 16 Dundee Mitchelin - Cattanach - 11 : 19 : 12 - 42

STATS

Number	Name	Goals	Assists	Points	PIMS
4	Greg Maio	1	0	1	2
6	Jamie Southall	0	1	1	0
13	Huw Poulton	0	2	2	0
16	Dave Mooney	3	0	3	0
17	Les Viney (C)	0	2	2	2
18	Paul Malfatti (A)	1	2	3	2
19	Matt Griffiths	0	1	1	2
22	Andy Edwards	0	0	0	0
23	Gareth Poulton	2	1	3	0
44	Ben Smith	0	0	0	2
54	Chris Wilcox	0	0	0	0
57	Nathan Ormond	1	1	2	0
73	Ron Kermeen	0	0	0	0
88	Andy Clark	0	1	1	0
89	John Paul Ibrahim	0	2	2	0
97	Jamie Elson	1	0	1	0
Bold = Starting Line Up