Fulton impresses as the Bison are beaten; Owner Burge delighted after win keeps Devils climbing.

Byline: Terry PHILLIPS

CARDIFF DEVILS 4

BASINGSTOKE BISON 1

CARDIFF Devils extended their good run of formwith a home win against Basingstoke Bison at the Cardiff Bay Ice Arena last night.

They have now collected nine points from the last 12 on offer and are climbing the Elite League ice hockey table.

Basingstoke have, in Kevin Reiter, one of the leading goalies in Elite League hockey, while they also have highly-skilled forwards. Greg Chambers went into this weekend standing joint top of the points scoring lists alongside Belfast's Paul Deniset.

Reiter, who saved 65 out of 66 shots in the Bison's 4-1 win at Coventry Blaze, frustrated Cardiff with some outstanding work between the pipes. The American, though, could not deny the Devils a solid victory.

The win was marred only by a defensive breakdown which led to a Bison goal for Brent Hughes and spoiled a shut-out for netminder Peter Aubry.

Marc Fulton, with his first goal for Cardiff, man-of-the-match Jay Latulippe, Derek Campbell and Mike Prpich scored the home goals.

The aggressive Fulton made a big impact in only his second appearance for the team and might have had more than his one goal, bringing big saves from Reiter.

There were few penalties called, with Basingstoke Bison hard-man Jeremy Cornish staying out of trouble.

The visitors have a short bench and could not risk having players in the penalty box too often.

Fulton visited the box twice, while Doug MacIver was the only other Devils player to be handed a two-minute penalty.

Basingstoke, by contrast, collected only four minutes in penalties.

It has been a tough season for cash-strapped Bison, who were kept alive as an Elite League team thanks to a pounds 30,000 loan from Cardiff owner Matt Burge.

Now rink operators Planet Ice have taken over running of the Hampshire club and assured fans they will keep going through to the end of the season.

Devils' home clash with Bison was their only match of the weekend and they now face back-to-back road trips, at Edinburgh Capitals on Saturday and Manchester Phoenix the following evening.

Captain Brad Voth again missed last night'smatch through injury, but is aiming to return for both of the away trips.

"Brad's return will bring us up to full strength," said Devils owner Burge. "We have Marc Fulton in now and the determination and heart being shown by the team is inspiring.

"Morale among the plyers is really high and I feel confident in the ability of our squad over the rest of the season."

The next home match is a Challenge Cup group game against Hull Stingrays in Cardiff Bay on Wednesday, December 3.

Stats: Cardiff Devils: Marc Fulton 1+0, Jay Latulippe 1+0, Derek Campbell 1+1, Mike Prpich 1+1, Jason Silverthorn 0+3, Jason Stone 0+1, Wes Jarvis 0+1.

Basingstoke Bison: Brent Hughes 1+0, Greg Chambers 0+1, Danny Stewart 0+1.

Period scores: 1-0; 2-1 (3-1); 1-0 (4-1).

Man of the match: Jay Latulippe.

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CAPTION(S):

ON THE MARK: Mike Prpich was one of four Cardiff Devils scorers in their win over Basingstoke Bison last night