Coventry Blaze won the Planet Ice Shield in some style last night as captain Steve Chartrand showed off his mesmerising influence.

Goals rained in during a dominant first period to put the game beyond the Milton Keynes Kings.

After Twaite pushed an easy shot in from Cooper’s past, Claude Dumas scored the first of three goals with a wriggling run through Kings' defence.

Shot after shot followed on the Kings goal in what was an open game. A sequences of “oohs” from the crowd erupted into cheers when the best attacking line of the night got into gear.

It was Chartrand’s vision that set the third goal up. As he and Dumas broke away together he could see Yardley in acres of space to his left.

A well-timed pass and a confident shot from the youngster took the score to 3-0, and seconds later the same three players combined in the same order for another goal.

Had the game been tighter, Henrik Sjodin would have been man-of-the-match. Kings kept attacking and he pulled off a series of excellent saves to stop them closing in.

One such save, forced after Ruggles lost the puck, followed by a swift clearance, led to the fifth goal as the Blaze picked up momentum again.

In front of a crowded goal Soderstrom saw the puck going behind him and in one movement swivelled and shot to make it 5-0 at the end of the first period.

The game slowed down after that, and Kings scored the best goal of the night with a mazy individual effort from Mike Breadmore.

Dumas scored during a powerplay, again with Chartrand playing a role, and the most popular goal of the evening soon followed, when the captain himself scored.

It was Chartrand’s first since returning from injury. While he was absent Coventry lost league position and went out of the ntl cup – perhaps his return will lead to better fortunes in what will be a tough play-off group.

Eley stabbed the eighth in, and Poole pulled scored the first of two late consolations for Kings before blood was spilled on the ice as Coutes and Irvine had a violent disagreement.

Although Blaze’s Irvine got called for the original foul, Coutts seemed to start the fighting, and came off much the worse as he had to be taken to the changing room for treatment.

The crowd loved it, and knowing they had won, the players seemed relaxed, with Ruggles showing his dancing skills from the penalty box.

Cooper arrived late at the left post to score goal nine, and Dumas completed his hat trick and made sure Coventry earned their first trophy since their move from Solihull.

The players get a break on Saturday, when they join the supporters for bowling at the Forum in Coventry, before finishing the BNL programme at Hull on Sunday.

Then the season starts to get really serious.

Period scores: 5-0/2-1/3-2

Penalty minutes: 8-8

Shots on goal: 39-33

Attendance: 1348

Referee: Gary Plaistow

Blaze: Dumas 3+3; Yardley 2+1; Chartrand 1+6; Cooper 1+2; Eley 1+1; Soderstrom 1+1; Twaite 1+0; Kelham 0+1; Johnson 0+1; Shewan 0+1; Watkins 0+1.  Net - Sjodin 33/3