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The Inferno
Devils NIHL V Chelmsford Cheiftains - 8th September
4th Sep 2012 | Posted by Geraint Walters
So the NIHL season is just around the corner and what a nice first game for the new look Devils, playoff champions Chelmsford Chieftains
With a few key players moving onto different leagues or rival teams in the league, it was a long summer for Coach Mark Cuddihy but the experienced coach pulled it off once again to bring in some great additions as well as experienced players to continue the junior Devils development. Every aspect of a team required to compete has been put in place from youth to senior players, work ethic and never say die attitude.
It was a tough season for the Devils last year especially on the road due to players working or with call ups to the Elite team to help cover their injury issues.
We caught up with the new NIHL Devils captain Gareth Dixon to look back at last season and take a look at the season ahead with the new players coming in "last season was a real mixed bag for us, Cudd did a really good job of recruiting last summer and we brought in some great guys and managed to hold on to our best players, so going into the season we were confident of being able to surprise the big names of the league. We started the year with a real confidence that we could have a really good season. Fairly early on though the Elite team suffered some injuries and our team was used to provide cover, which is what we are there to do. Up to that point we had been playing really well and our lines were working well and beginning to look dangerous. The loss of 2 key players for us as well as a pretty serious injury for Louis seemed to halt our momentum and we struggled to get it going again after that. Having said that we still finished 5th just behind the 4 teams with the biggest budgets in the league. I think the most important factor for us when judging how successful a season has been is how many players we have move up to higher leagues during the season and during the summer that follows. We have had 5 guys earn contacts at higher levels as well as others that have been contacted by our competitors. Overall I would view the 2011-12 season as a success, we were competitive in our own league, managing to pick up at least one victory against every team, we had a number of 16/17 year olds involved and making a positive impact on our team, and have seen 25% of our team progress to a higher level of hockey.
This summer has seen Cudd needing to rebuild again, and although our average age has increased I think we will have just as competitive team to compete in the NIHL and also have a number of guys that can do a good job should Gerad require cover throughout the season. looking at the signings around the league the calibre of player in the league has increased again and I think the league could go to any of 4 or 5 teams this season. I think we have the potential within our team to improve on last seasons 5th place finish, and as a minimum we should be looking to make an impact in the playoffs again this season and I'd hope we can continue our record from last year and pick up at least one victory against every team."
This is how the Devils scorers ended the season
1. Jamie Hayes (F) 35 43 41 84
2. Chris Jones (F) 34 28 24 52
3. James Preece (F) 35 17 29 46
4. Luke Piggott (F) 16 17 20 37
5. Adam Harding (F) 22 16 15 31
Last years playoff winners the Chieftains will be looking to get off to a quick start this season and finally get hold of what they feel they deserve- the league title. There has been quite a few changes to the Chelmsford line up with a few calls ups from the NIHL2 team but they still have a strong contingent of local lads who will do a job for them once again. As per the stats below, the Chieftains will be without Jakub Kilma this season but have replaced him with Julius Sinkovic who will be expected to put some big points up this season.
Chelmsford Cheiftains end of season stats
1. Jakub Klima (F) 34 39 51 90
2. Daniel Hammond (F) 36 42 44 86
3. Gary Clarke (F) 35 40 35 75
4. Tom Long (F) 35 30 40 70
5. Ross Brears (F) 36 21 41 62
NIHL 1 Cardiff Devils v Chelmsford Chieftains Saturday 8th September. Faceoff 7pm | Entry £6 Adults £4 with ST | £4 Concession | DCF Members £1
With a few key players moving onto different leagues or rival teams in the league, it was a long summer for Coach Mark Cuddihy but the experienced coach pulled it off once again to bring in some great additions as well as experienced players to continue the junior Devils development. Every aspect of a team required to compete has been put in place from youth to senior players, work ethic and never say die attitude.
It was a tough season for the Devils last year especially on the road due to players working or with call ups to the Elite team to help cover their injury issues.
We caught up with the new NIHL Devils captain Gareth Dixon to look back at last season and take a look at the season ahead with the new players coming in "last season was a real mixed bag for us, Cudd did a really good job of recruiting last summer and we brought in some great guys and managed to hold on to our best players, so going into the season we were confident of being able to surprise the big names of the league. We started the year with a real confidence that we could have a really good season. Fairly early on though the Elite team suffered some injuries and our team was used to provide cover, which is what we are there to do. Up to that point we had been playing really well and our lines were working well and beginning to look dangerous. The loss of 2 key players for us as well as a pretty serious injury for Louis seemed to halt our momentum and we struggled to get it going again after that. Having said that we still finished 5th just behind the 4 teams with the biggest budgets in the league. I think the most important factor for us when judging how successful a season has been is how many players we have move up to higher leagues during the season and during the summer that follows. We have had 5 guys earn contacts at higher levels as well as others that have been contacted by our competitors. Overall I would view the 2011-12 season as a success, we were competitive in our own league, managing to pick up at least one victory against every team, we had a number of 16/17 year olds involved and making a positive impact on our team, and have seen 25% of our team progress to a higher level of hockey.
This summer has seen Cudd needing to rebuild again, and although our average age has increased I think we will have just as competitive team to compete in the NIHL and also have a number of guys that can do a good job should Gerad require cover throughout the season. looking at the signings around the league the calibre of player in the league has increased again and I think the league could go to any of 4 or 5 teams this season. I think we have the potential within our team to improve on last seasons 5th place finish, and as a minimum we should be looking to make an impact in the playoffs again this season and I'd hope we can continue our record from last year and pick up at least one victory against every team."
This is how the Devils scorers ended the season
1. Jamie Hayes (F) 35 43 41 84
2. Chris Jones (F) 34 28 24 52
3. James Preece (F) 35 17 29 46
4. Luke Piggott (F) 16 17 20 37
5. Adam Harding (F) 22 16 15 31
Last years playoff winners the Chieftains will be looking to get off to a quick start this season and finally get hold of what they feel they deserve- the league title. There has been quite a few changes to the Chelmsford line up with a few calls ups from the NIHL2 team but they still have a strong contingent of local lads who will do a job for them once again. As per the stats below, the Chieftains will be without Jakub Kilma this season but have replaced him with Julius Sinkovic who will be expected to put some big points up this season.
Chelmsford Cheiftains end of season stats
1. Jakub Klima (F) 34 39 51 90
2. Daniel Hammond (F) 36 42 44 86
3. Gary Clarke (F) 35 40 35 75
4. Tom Long (F) 35 30 40 70
5. Ross Brears (F) 36 21 41 62
NIHL 1 Cardiff Devils v Chelmsford Chieftains Saturday 8th September. Faceoff 7pm | Entry £6 Adults £4 with ST | £4 Concession | DCF Members £1
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