Former Cardiff Devils forward Sam Smith is on fire.
The 6ft 3ins Smith is back in South Wales and has signed for National Ice Hockey League club Cardiff Fire.
He is back after playing for Dubai Mighty Camels in the Emirates League and made his Fire debut in a 5-1 NIHL West Division Two match against Bristol Pitbulls at Ice Arena Wales.
Smith played junior hockey in North America for three years before signing for Devils and playing on a line with Stuart MacRae and Tylor Michel in the team who broke a World record with 21 consecutive league wins during 2010-11
He has committed to Fire, the only NIHL team with a 100 per cent winning record, for the rest of this season.
They have won eight successive matches and came out on top in a bad tempered and physical clash with Bristol.
The tone was set early on by Bristol with a horrible hit to the head on David Sadler that went unpunished by the referees. Tempers flared with Dave Christian dropping the gloves following the hit, while Sadler also stepped up and was thrown out for fighting.
Bristol took the lead through former Cardiff player Grant Richardson and led 1-0 at the first period break even though Fire had 22 shots on target.
There was more fighting when Pitfalls’ coach/owner Jackson Price dropped the gloves and was ejected on a third man in call.
The second period is where Fire started to gel. Jordan Powell scored an unassisted powerplay goal after 26 minutes before man of the match Robert Sedlak added a second.
Two goals early in the third period by Tamas Elias and Christian put Fire in control and then Josh Haslam fired an outstanding solo goal.
Fire’s Ross Wilkinson then landed the final blow when he fought Sam Shone in a bid to avenge the hit on Sadler.
The scheduled Fire NIHL match at Slough Jets this Saturday has been postponed because of problems with the home clubs rink.
The final match of 2016 for Fire will now be against Bristol Pitfalls away on Saturday, December 17, while their next game at the IAW in Cardiff Bay will be against Basingstoke on Sunday, January 8.
Cardiff Fire scorers Bristol: Jordan Powell 1+1, Josh Haslam 1+1, Robert Sedlak 1+0, Tamas Elias 1+0, Dave Christian 1+0, Sam Bryant 0+1, Jackson Price 0+1, Kieron Latchford 0+1, Chris Hart 0+1
Man of the match: Robert Sedlak.