Cardiff Devils facing the Storm In Quest For Fourth Elite League Trophy

Cardiff Devils are focused on completing an ice hockey clean sweep by winning every top flight trophy on offer in Britain.

Coach Andrew Lord and his team have already won a triple crown – League, Cup and Conference – and they have qualified to compete in next season’s European Champions League.

Now the the end-of-season play-offs now begin and Devils are facing the Storm.

Devils play their final home fixture of the season when Manchester Storm come to Cardiff Bay on Saturday and the clash looks certain to be a sell-out with around 250 tickets left this morning.

The second leg is at Altrincham Arena on Sunday and the winners will qualify for the finals weekend in Nottingham on Saturday, April 8 and Sunday, April 9.

Canadian forward Sean Bentivoglio fired a hat-trick in Cardiff’s 4-3 home win against Belfast Giants which clinched the Erhardt Conference championship and he says: “The guys are aware no club has won all four trophies in the Elite League era and we are gunning for that.

“But we will still take it one game at a time and stick with our game plan.”

Bentivoglio and Joey Martin will again link up for Devils in the clash with Storm, while Layne Ulmer, Joey Haddad and Patrick Asselin will join forces on another potent forward line.

Bentivogio and Layne Ulmer had played together for a long time in Italy and were on the same line for Devils, but Lord decided on a new look.

“It’s been great,” says Bentivoglio. “Joey and I are from the same little town and I grew up playing with his brother.

“Joey is one heck of a player.

“Layne and I played well together for a lot of years, but the switch of lines gave us both a bit more jump.

“Those decisions played a big part in changing our season for the better.”

Saturday’s first leg at Ice Arena Wales will face-off at 7pm and the fixture is covered by season tickets, while the return game will start at 5.30pm.

There is now just over a week left of the 2016-17 season and ticket information is available via the club’s official website or from the Arena box office on 0800 0842 666.