Cardiff Devils

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Cardiff Devils

League	Elite Ice Hockey League
Founded	1986
History	Cardiff Devils 1986-Present
Arena	Cardiff Bay Ice Rink
Capacity	2,500
City	Cardiff, Wales
Team Colours	Red, White, Black & Green
Head coach	Gerad Adams
Owners	Arena Sports Ltd
Team Captain	Brad Voth
Bench Coach	Brent Pope
League Championships	1989-90, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1996-97
Championships	1989-90, 1992-93 1993-94, 1998-99
Autumn Cups	1993-94
Challenge Cups	2005-06

The Cardiff Devils are a British Ice Hockey club from Cardiff, Wales who are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The team currently plays in the temporary Cardiff Bay Ice Rink.

1 History
2 2006 Rink
3 Club Roster 06/07
4 Retired Numbers
5 External links

[edit] History

Founded in 1986, the club became the dominant force in the sport in the late 80s and early 90s winning a total of 7 league titles.

The Cardiff Devils were formed during the summer of 1986 when Sports Nationwide built the Wales National Ice Rink in the centre of Cardiff City Centre. John Lawless, a 25 year old Canadian was given the responsibility of setting up a brand new team, having been a trainee assistant manager at Peterborough who were owned by the same company.

[edit] 1986-87

The club entered the British Ice Hockey League Structure at the bottom in Division 2 (Midland Section) at a time when each team was only allowed a maximum of 3 import players. With Lawless deciding to play himself, he brought over fellow Canadians Perry Olivier and Bill Taylor to join him on the roster, with the remaining places going to British players. With the WNIR not ready for the start of the season, the team played several games away from home to begin with. The Cardiff Devils first ever game was a Challenge match away to the Oxford City Stars on the 12th October 1986. Despite Oxford playing in the division above, the Devils won the game 9-8.

Cardiff finally got to play their first ever game at the WNIR on 30th November 1986 where a crowd of 2500 saw their new heroes destroy Ashfield Islanders 32-0.

Devils finished the league season unbeaten with 13 wins and 1 draw from 14 games to finish top of Division 2 (Midlands), 2 points clear of 'local' Welsh rivals Deeside Dragons. Promotion to Division 1 though was dependent on them winning the Division 1 Play Off Champions, which the club hosted at the WNIR. Their semi-final against Northern winners Grimsby Buffaloes was surrounded in controvery when the game was abandoned after a 34-player bench clearance with Cardiff leading 10-4. The BIHA officials though ruled that it had been provoked by the english side and hence the score should stand as a final result. In the other semi-final Scottish League Champions Aviemore Blackhawks beat Southern Winners Streatham Bruins (13-4) to set up an all Celtic final the following day. Unfortunately for the Devils, despite a final period comeback after being 4 goals behind, Aviemore were able to hang on for a 10-9 win and promotion to Division 1 at the expense of Cardiff. But in a strange twist of fate the result proved to be irrelevant. The BIHA decided the league structure needed re-organising, and as a result the Cardiff Devils were moved into Division 1 (South) for the following season.

[edit] 1987-88

Following promotion to Division 1 (South) and a new Sponsorship deal, Lawless was able to strengthen his team. Key signings included netminder Jeff Smith, coach Brian Kanewischer and Canadian defenceman Shannon Hope as a replacement for Bill Taylor who was injured midway through the previous season. The season proved to be succesful with the Devils winning the Autumn Trophy in November with a 11-10 aggregrate win over the Trafford Metros.

In the league the side finished a very respectable 3rd place, although 10 points behind winners Telford Tigers. The two teams had created a fierce rivalry during the season due to several controversial and violent games. During a game on the 16th January in Telford, the Devils players were subjected to constant sticking offences resulted in Shannon Hope receiving a serious injury just below his eye. With the referee not calling any penalty, coach Kanewischer took his team off the ice in protest midway through the 2nd period. After a league investigation Cardiff were eventually fined £1000 for their actions and Kanewisher banned for the rest of the season.

[edit] 1988-89

Lawless and Cardiff shocked the whole of British Ice Hockey by signing 3 of the top players from the Premier Division over the summer. Canadian import Steve Moria was signed from the Fife Flyers, and then the Cooper brothers Ian and Steve joined from Heineken Champions Durham Wasps. It was the first time top british players were being offered good money to sign for other clubs and it led to claims that Cardiff and their "Cheque Book Hockey" would ruin the game. The signings were crucial as the Devils finished first 1st in Division 1, just a single point ahead of Medway Bears. They also retained the Autumn Trophy they had won the previous season, beating Medway 15-8 on aggregrate.

To gain promotion though they had to beat the Premier Division's bottom club - the Streathem Redskins. Cardiff destroyed their Premier Division rivals 12-1 in the first leg, and a 9-5 victory in Streatham the following weekend secured an easy aggregrate victory and a place in the Heineken Premier Division for the following season.

[edit] 1997-Current

In 1997 the club won the Superleague championship. Hardship followed and the club went broke in 2001 and a new team was soon formed which competed in the British National League. The new owners massively reduced spending and effectively disbanded the Cardiff Devils, with the entire Superleague team departing. The then-owner, Bob Phillips was the subject of much scorn amongst fans due to the perceived mismanagement and effective destruction of what was then one of Britain's most estalished and stable teams.

The new team was formed from a handful of quickly drafted players, as well scavenging the Cardiff Devils youth teams to make up the numbers under the lower budget. Attendances at games dropped heavily, going from full arenas to typically less than fifty. During the first two seasons under Phillips large protests and demonstrations occurred outside games, with initially hundreds of supporters club members appearing outside the arena. While eventually the supporters club would reconcile with Bob Phillips and some of the old players would make goodwill appearances, the teams best years were behind them.

In 2003, the Devils became founder members of the Elite League, finishing the first season in 5th place. They were semi finalists in the end of season playoffs, losing to champions Sheffield Steelers.

During the 2004-05 NHL lockout, Rob Davison of the San Jose Sharks played for the Devils.

The 2004-5 season did not finish well for the Devils. As in the 03-04 season, they reached the playoff semi-finals, but were once again defeated, this time by the Nottingham Panthers.

The Devils won their first silverware of the EIHL era in 2006. The Devils faced arch rivals Coventry Blaze in a repeat of the previous year's Challenge Cup final but were beaten 3-0 in the first leg of the final in Coventry. The Devils however managed an incredible turn around in the second leg, defeating the Blaze 4-1 to tie the game on aggregate and won the cup 1-0 in the following penalty shoot-out. "Man of the Match" Nathan Rempel scored a memorable hatrick, whilst Rejean Stringer scored the winning goal in the penalty shoot-out.

In January 2007 Player / Coach Ed Patterson was released by the Devils in a cost cutting move. [1] Patterson was replaced as Player / Coach by Gerad Adams with Brad Voth taking over from Adams as Captain.

After several games during which injured players carried out the duties of Bench Coach, former Devils player Brent Pope was appointed to the position.

[edit] 2006 Rink

During 2005, serious questions over the future of the Devils began to emerge. The Wales National Ice Rink was due for demolition in 2006 to make way for a John Lewis store and plans for a new ice arena at Sophia Gardens were progressing at an extremely slow pace. There was a very real threat that 2005-06 could have been the last season of the Cardiff Devils.

The Save Our Rink Action Committee (SORAC) formed to lead calls from the city's ice hockey clubs and fans for a temporary facility to be constructed while a more permanent building was finally built. SORAC successfully campaigned for a temporary rink in the Cardiff Bay area of the city. Planning permission was given in January 2006 and the structure was expected to be completed in time for the 2006-07 ice hockey season.

However this proved not to be the case, with construction problems delaying the opening of the Cardiff Bay Ice Rink until December 2006.