Coventry Blaze finally got their hands on the British Knockout Cup on Tuesday after turning over Basingstoke 8-6 on aggregate.
Elite League winners add a second trophy to their haul
Coventry Blaze finally got their hands on the British Knockout Cup on Tuesday after turning over Basingstoke 8-6 on aggregate.
Bison had held a two-goal advantage going into the second leg of the final, but the Elite League title holders, who have finished runners-up in this competition over the last two seasons, just had too much firepower in the end.
The visitors, who are yet to win an EIHL trophy, took the lead after only 51 seconds through Greg Chambers (37th of the season) to extend their aggregate lead to 5-2.
Sylvain Cloutier's (29th) powerplay strike at 5.06 restored parity and Dan Carlson (28th) made it 2-1 on the night at 8.10, which is how the first period finished.
Brad Cruikshank (30th) levelled though and Bison stayed strong in defence to make it 6-4 on aggregate with just 20 minutes remaining.
Drama
At 44.44 Danny Stewart (18th) eventually made the first breakthrough of the final period and Adam Calder (55th) also netted at 49.19 as Coventry's relentless pressure told.
Bison were outshot 21 to five in the final period and had no answer when Carlson (29th) scored at 54.37 to take Blaze ahead on aggregate for the first time in the match.
Curtis Huppe (34th) sealed the comeback victory at 56.40, giving his side an aggregate lead of two, and there was no way back for the visitors who lost 6-2 on the night.
It's now a seventh honour for Blaze since the inception of the Elite League in 2003/2004 and they remain very much the dominant team in this era of the sport in the UK.
