Cardiff Devils played their 100th ice hockey match at their Ice Arena Wales home and were ready to mark the occasion, but party poopers Coventry Blaze were out to spoil their evening.
It was a big day of sport in the Welsh capital with Cardiff City taking on Leicester in a Premier clash and Wales playing Scotland just down the road.
Bluebirds lost 1-0 and Wales won, while Devils were beaten 6-4.
Blaze became the first team to win an Elite League game in the Devils’ rink this season and handed Cardiff their second home loss in succession in all competitions with a two-goal win.
After a goalless opening period the game sprung into life with eight goals in the second to put the Blaze in front.
Bryce Reddick fired the home side ahead after 23-18, but Coventry hit back with two quick powerplay goals to turn things in their favour.
Kevin Morris (25-25) and Alex Nikiforuk (26-06), while the Devils were level 49 seconds later thanks to a Gleason Fournier goal.
Blaze were back ahead with Kelin Ainsworth making it 3-2 (28-38) before played Tim Crowder gave the visitors a two-goal cushion at 29-06.
Fournier pulled one back for Devils just over three minutes later, but with 48 seconds left on the period Alex Forbes put the Blaze 5-3 ahead.
Charles Linglet brought the Devils again back to within a goal of tying the game (43-56) before Crowder’s second (49-09) completed the scoring.
Devils fell short as Blaze backup netminder Jordan Hedley led them to victory.
AStarting goalie Miroslav Kopriva was run over by his own defender and was injured on the play at 8-38 of the first period. A long delay followed while the medical team worked to safely get Kopriva off the ice with Hedley replacing him for the remainder of the game.
At 34-29, the Devils were called for three penalties on the same stoppage of play with Joey Martin getting called for hooking and for abuse of official, while Ben Blood was also called for abuse of official, putting the Devils down by two men for a full two minutes.
Devils managed to kill off all three penalties, but ended the match 6-4 down.
The next test for Devils is against Nottingham Panthers away on Sunday.
Cardiff Devils remaining fixtures in November
Sunday 4 v Nottingham Panthers (away, 4pm)
Wednesday 7 v Fife Flyers (home, 7.30pm)
Saturday 10 v MK Lightning (away, 7pm)
Sunday 11 v Belfast Giants (home, 6pm)
Saturday 17 v Nottingham Panthers (home, 7pm)
Sunday 18 v Dundee Stars (away, 5pm)
Wednesday 21 v Fife Flyers (home, 7.30pm)
Saturday 24 v Manchester Storm (away, 7pm)
Sunday 25 v MK Lightning (home, 6pm)
Devils match tickets:
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🎥 POST GAME 🎥: @GerryMcLaughlin talks to #⃣1⃣0⃣ @twi1s10 and #⃣6⃣1⃣ @pitty10000 following tonight's @officialEIHL game against the @BelfastGiants.#GLAvBEL | #EIHL | #ClanMNL pic.twitter.com/RlUnyJAYBJ
— Glasgow Clan 🏒💜 (@ClanIHC) November 3, 2018
Glasgow Clan 1, Belfast Giants 4
Belfast Giants extended their winning streak in the league to four straight games with a 4-1 success in Glasgow over Clan.
A superb opening period for the Giants earned them a 3-0 lead in just over 16 minutes. Blair Riley struck a hat-trick (4-46, 6-59 and 16-12) to complete an incredible first period hat-trick.
A shorthanded goal from Scott Pitt (29-45) gave Clan hope before Jonathan Boxill’s late goal for Giants restored their three-goal cushion.
Other results: Manchester Storm 3, Fife Flyers 2; MK Lightning 1, Guildford Flames 2 (after overtime); Sheffield Steelers 4, Dundee Stars 0.