Walkington cool on Chasse role

The Cardiff Devils coach, Troy Walkington, has refused to put the club's solid start to the season down to Denis Chasse.

The Cardiff Devils coach, Troy Walkington, has refused to put the club's solid start to the season down to Denis Chasse.

The Devils' captain has made an impressive start to his career with the Welsh club since his summer switch from Bracknell Bees. Chasse has scored seven goals in four league games and is the joint-leading points scorer in the Benson & Hedges Cup.

However, Walkington is not paying too much attention to the statistics on the eve of their quarter-final, first-leg match with London Knights, last season's beaten finalists, at the Ice House. "Denis has been playing pretty well and has been in the right spot at the right time," he said. "But there has been a lot of contribution from elsewhere. He has scored a few goals on the powerplay, which has been working really well.

"His line-mates, Steve Thornton and Vezio Sacratini, have also been playing exceptionally well but just have not been scoring. So you cannot say that our start is mainly down to Denis because it isn't."

On Sunday, Manchester Storm piled on the misery for Belfast Giants with a 4-3 win at the MEN Arena. Rob Trumbley's game-winning goal ended a three-match losing run for Storm while Giants suffered a fifth defeat in six games.

Jeff Hoad and Paxton Schulte gave Belfast a 2-1 lead before Kevin Brown scored twice to put Storm ahead. Hoad levelled the scores with his second of the game but Trumbley's first goal of the league season sealed the points.