Elite League Play-offs: Cardiff Devils two wins away from trophy redemption
- Published
Cardiff Devils 'want to write ending of own story' in Elite League play-offs
Cardiff Devils head to Nottingham for the Elite League Play-offs this weekend looking for two victories to end a helter-skelter season with the redemption of a trophy.
Devils' 2021-22 campaign started in August with - after less than two weeks of training - an opening 5-0 defeat in the Champions Hockey League [CHL] against leading German side Adler Mannheim.
Just two days later, with head coach Jarrod Skalde and several players Covid-19 absentees and managing director Todd Kelman in charge of bench duties, they pulled off a shock 4-1 win over Swiss side HC Lausanne in CHL game two.
Once they embarked on their domestic Elite League and Challenge Cup campaigns, a mid-autumn of erratic results was followed by a post-Christmas lockdown of eight weeks where no fans were permitted to attend matches.
By mid-March the Devils had scrapped their way to the Challenge Cup Final to face the form side of the Elite League, the Giants at their home rink in Belfast.
With just four defencemen in their line-up, Cardiff led Belfast 2-0 going into the final period before they conceded the lead and lost the trophy in overtime.
In early April the Devils announced the sacking of Skalde, with lead-coaching duties given to forward Brodie Dupont, who had been out injured since the turn of the year.
It has fallen to the Canadian to try and end a turbulent campaign on a high.
"It's been a little bit of an up-and-down season, so now we just try to narrow our mindset into the moment and take each day at a time," said interim head coach Dupont.
Last weekend saw the Devils, third placed finishers in the regular season table, start their pursuit to win the season's final silverware.
Of course their quest to reach Elite Ice Hockey League's play-off finals weekend provided a twist or two.
After taking the lead at Ice Arena Wales last Saturday in their quarter-final against Glasgow Clan, Cardiff found themselves 4-2 behind with just over two minutes left of the first leg, before Cole Sandford reduced the deficit to 4-3.
Dupont explained: "That goal was huge in terms of momentum going up there and the message was 'stay the course, every goal matters, momentum matters and then once this game is over, whatever way it ends we're just going up there trying to win a hockey game'."
Then at 0-0 with 13 minutes left of the second leg in Glasgow, Cardiff's Jake Coughler scored on a powerplay to level the tie.
"We got that first goal, you could feel the momentum shift towards us and it felt like we really took over the game at that point," reflected Dupont.
"We feel our depth is an asset. We knew that if we could keep with our depth and keeping rolling our lines and coming in waves, we could wear them down and we did that."
In the closing stages, with both sides cautiously trying to find the winning goal, Trevor Cox tapped in a pass from Sanford to seal the tie 5-4 on aggregate and keep alive Devils hopes of salvaging something from their topsy-turvy season.
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In Saturday's semi-final the Devils face Guildford Flames - a team that has given Cardiff plenty to think about this season.
Of the 10 games in which they have faced each other in the Elite League and Challenge Cup, the Devils have won seven and the Flames three.
Two of the Cardiff victories were in overtime and another was in a shootout after being 3-1 down at home.
Dupont said: "They thrive on turnovers. they are a well-structured team in the D-zone. We need to protect our net and get them on their heels and push the pace and keep coming at them with as much as we have."
Devils club captain Mark Richardson recognises the threats too.
"They're a very dangerous team, they always put a roster together that's exciting and can score goals, so we're going to have to be ready," said 35-year-old Great Britain defenceman Richardson.
"Both teams know each other inside out, so it should be a good game."
If the Devils can overcome Guildford in the semi-final, they will face either treble chasing Belfast Giants or Dundee Stars who meet in the weekend's opening game.
The Scottish side have had one of their best seasons in years and British hockey's leading Welsh side could yet make it one to remember too.
"It'd mean everything," said Devil's fans favourite Stephen Dixon.
"Cardiff have been great to me and the fans here are great. You get a little older and you don't know how many more kicks at the can you're going to get at weekends like this. It's a weekend I'm looking forward to."
Richardson added: "Whenever you win a championship it's such a great feeling, but I think after coming so close in the Challenge Cup and not being where we would have liked to have been in the league, after being able to complete a full season after the year off last year it would mean the world to myself, to everyone involved with the club."
And interim coach Dupont summed up the feeling of everyone in Cardiff: "Everybody's excited, we felt that the Challenge Cup slipped through our fingertips, but this is our journey and we want to write the ending of our own story."
Cardiff Devils will face the Guildford Flames in the Elite League play-off semi-finals on Saturday, 29 April at 19:00 BST, while Belfast Giants take on the Dundee Stars in the other semi-final in the earlier 15:00 BST face-off.