Elite League play-offs: Cardiff Devils face Dundee Stars as they seek first silverware in two years

Cardiff Devils - who finished second in Elite Ice Hockey League this season - won the play-offs in 2022, 2019 and 2018

Cardiff Devils begin their play-off campaign this weekend - and their bid to salvage something from a promising but so far disappointing season.

They host Dundee Stars in the quarter-final on Saturday, 13 April, with the second leg in Scotland 24 hours later.

The winners progress to the Elite League's Play-Off Finals weekend.

"It's a new season, we shift our focus, you get an opportunity to win a trophy and we haven't done that this year," said leading scorer Cole Sanford.

At the end of November, the Devils had moved to joint top place in the Elite Ice Hockey League [EIHL] alongside Sheffield Steelers.

However, two weeks later in the Challenge Cup the Devils crashed out in the quarter-finals to Glasgow Clan.

When the New Year came Sheffield had won nine and lost just one league match over the previous month while for Cardiff it had been six wins and six defeats.

From then on, the league title drifted away to the relentless Steelers who were crowned champions in March finishing 14 points clear of the Devils.

In mid-January in the final group of the International Ice Hockey Federation [IIHF] Continental Cup - held in Cardiff - the Devils finished third.

In five weeks, the Devils had gone from competing for four trophies to just one and for the third April in a row the Devils find themselves with the play-offs as their only chance to win a trophy.

Their last eight opponents finished five-places below league runners-up Cardiff, with Dundee collecting 26 fewer points.

And based on results between the two sides, Devils would be considered overwhelming favourites to progress to the finals weekend in Nottingham.

Cardiff won all six league games against the Stars, outscoring them 33 to 18.

But this is play-off hockey and Dundee have shown throughout the season that they come with significant threats, including the league's leading goalscorer Spencer Naas and the fourth highest in Ryan Valentini.

In three of those matches between the teams it was standout performances from Great Britain netminder Ben Bowns that ensured the Devils took the points.

The final period of their February game at Dundee Ice Arena saw Cardiff hang on despite being outshot 17-5.

Another 20 minutes like that, even over two-legs, could easily see hopes of progression to a semi-final in Nottingham evaporate.

"What I've learned in the past is that it doesn't really matter who you're playing or where they rank in the standings," said Sanford.

"There's really no room to not play your best game.

"At the end of the day to win a trophy you have to beat all the top teams.

"It's been a disappointing year in that we've let three trophies slip so we've had our eyes set on this one."

The two legs between Cardiff and Dundee could also prove to be feistier than the other quarter-final fixtures.

Two matches at Cardiff's Vindico Arena this season come to mind.

At the end of a thrilling third period in mid-December both teams cleared the benches amidst a swirl of fists and sticks that saw both coaches and referees pulling the players apart.

And earlier this month the Devils' Riley Brandt reacted to a stick slash on Ben Davies by James Phelan, with both receiving five-minute majors for the fight.

Having just returned to the ice, Dundee's Phelan then received the attention of Josh Batch who objected to a late hit on Chad Pietroniro, for which both received 10-minute penalties.

Cardiff and Dundee fans will not be surprised if at some point in 120 minutes of play-off hockey something flares up, but Sanford hopes his team-mates stay calm.

"It's only two games so you really can't afford to get involved in that sort of stuff," he said.

"You can't put your team at risk of being on the penalty kill or giving dumb penalties.

"It's going to be intense, it's going to be physical, but I think you park whatever happened in the regular season aside and just focus on winning those two games and moving on."

Elite League play-off quarter-final fixtures

Saturday, 13 April (19:00 BST)

Cardiff Devils v Dundee Stars

Sunday, 14 April (17:00 BST)

Dundee Stars v Cardiff Devils