Elite League: Cardiff Devils heading for 'defining' weekend - coach Dupont
- Published
Devils fans 'by far the best' - coach Dupont
Cardiff Devils head coach Brodie Dupont is preparing his side for what he expects to be a weekend that "defines" their 2022-23 Elite League season.
They host fellow title challengers Belfast Giants on Friday before heading to Guildford Flames a day later.
Leaders Flames are two places above Giants with Devils fourth while Sheffield Steelers sit second.
"It's a defining weekend for sure. It's against teams that we're directly competing with," said Dupont.
"Friday's a massive, massive game - a massive test. Belfast have been playing really well, so they're coming in good form.
"And we expect a really good, fun game and we approach it more with excitement than any other emotion."
Giants - who beat Flames 4-0 in midweek - have beaten Devils twice in their three league encounters thus far, including a 9-3 win in Belfast.
Dupont described that losing scoreline as "embarrassing" and now says: "When losses like that happen, there are a lot of questions.
"It was a moment where we had to look ourselves in the mirror.
"I said, 'listen, we need to put the work in and compete on every play' and the guys have done a really good job of that, we've really turned a corner'."
He added: "They [Giants] are a really hard team to play against, they transition well, they sustain offensive zone time against a lot of teams.
"So we have to be quick to defend and pressure them very hard, not giving them any time to make any plays."
Devils go into the weekend feeling buoyant even though their European adventure in the Continental Cup ended with two defeats and a win last weekend.
Since Cardiff Devils' participation in round three of the Continental Cup in November, they have won 12 of their 15 Elite League games
They lost their opening game against host team Angers Ducs in a shootout before sweeping aside Asiago of Italy 7-1. Cardiff then lost narrowly 3-2 to Continental Cup winners HK Nitra of Slovakia.
Dupont said: "We felt like we probably deserved to win that tournament.
"We ran into a hot goalie on the Friday night, played a really good game on Saturday and just had a poor six minutes of play on Sunday which put us behind the eight-ball, three nothing, and it was just too big of a hill to climb.
"But it was great experience to be part of it."