Game Report by Claire Ziegler

First Period
While the Swarm seemed to have the best chances in the opening minutes, the Devils took an early lead, scoring two quick goals as the Swarm battled a few miscues in their own zone and gave up a dangerous 2-on-1 against. The Swarm battled back, though, tightening up their defensive play, and began to get more shots on net again.
They were rewarded by a powerplay goal from Stephen Mawson as the culmination of some excellent passing in the offensive zone with most of the powerplay group getting a touch before the puck hit the net. Ondrej Kozak tied the game up for the Swarm just 14s later, breaking into the zone after a solid face-off win by Ritchie Hopkinson to fire an absolute rocket past Devils goaltender Lilly Forbes.
The Swarm kept the pressure up, and added a second powerplay goal in the last few minutes, with Daylan Lipanovich firing from just below the blueline to give the home side the lead.
It’s been a rollercoaster of a period for the Botany Swarm, who lead the Canterbury Red Devils 3-2 after the first.
Second Period
The Swarm started as they meant to go on, with captain Michael Attwell scoring less than a minute in off a perfect pass from Alexandr Polozov. Robin Vortanov scored in his 100th NZIHL game to put the Swarm ahead by three, fishing the puck out of a scramble in front of the Devils crease and putting it past Forbes’ skate into the net.
Ondrej Kozak added the Swarm’s sixth goal two minutes later, breaking into the Devils zone with a couple of backcheckers draped all over him before breaking free just long enough to get the shot away.
The Swarm lead 6-2 after period two against the Red Devils.
Third Period
Kozak again got the scoring going early for the Swarm in the third period, notching their seventh goal and his third for the hat-trick just over a minute in. Vortanov added his second of the game on the powerplay a few minutes later, bringing the score to 8-2 and topping off a six point night for the 100-game veteran.
Remy Sandoy got in on the scoring by finishing a great pass from Hopkinson with a one-timer for the ninth.
The Red Devils made a strong push then, with Brown and Eaden scoring, and Carey missing on a penalty shot after a strong rush to the net.
Kozak scored his fourth within seconds of the Red Devils’ fourth goal to restore the margin, but the Devils weren’t done yet, and Eaden scored a second goal to get the score to 10-5. Swarm goalie Matt Canaday made several sharp saves to hold the score there in the final minutes, with great commitment to defense from the skaters in front of him, and they were rewarded with one final goal as Daylan Lipanovich just beat the buzzer with a goal from below the right circle with just 0.4 left in regulation.
The final period had a little bit of just about everything, as the Swarm took the game with a final score of 11-5 over the Canterbury Red Devils.
SWARM WIN!