ENL Awards 2011/12

The Devils ENL held their annual awards night at David's Lloyd's Leisure Cardiff on Saturday which was attended by a great number of players and fans alike.
The night started off with a review of the season for ENL 1 & 2 and then some presentations to thank the team’s helpers without whose efforts the teams couldn’t operate.
After this, the night moved onto the ENL 2 awards after some touching words from departing manager Dave "Kipper" Newton.

ENL 2 Awards

Most improved player of the year - G Rafaelli
Ironman - Ben Brown
Double Season Ironman - Matt Griffiths
Coaches player of the year - Martin Davison
Players player of the year - Matt Griffiths

After a short break it was onto the ENL1 team awards. Before these got underway, veteran's of the ENL1 team Ross Piggott and Gareth Dixon decided to do a fake awards ceremony and covered everything possible for each player and coach involved. Some can't be repeated for obvious reasons but all in all you can see the togetherness of the ENL squad.

ENL 1 Awards

Most improved - Luke Takel
Young player of the year - Joe Morris
Coaches player of the year - Mike Brabon
Players player of the year - Chris Jones

The ENL 1 decided this year to have a fan of the year award. This went to Thomas Martin Ali who's probably not missed a home game in 2 seasons and has made most road trips.

So with the dust has settling on the ENL teams last season and with trials for the forthcoming season running, we've heard there have been a few players having doubts about signing for the ENL due to what's happened these last two months.

We caught up with two of the ENL Devils who've recently stepped this season to the Elite side and now have a full time contract with Elite League Cardiff Devils. They give us their story on how playing at the ENL level  helped them get to where they are today, how much time they had to train with the seniors and the how good the Devils ENL setup really is.

Luke Piggott

Inferno - “How much has the ENL helped you get from where you were to where you are now?”

Luke Piggott - The ENL set up was absolutely key in getting me to where i am today! Each year I would sit down with Cudds and identify a part of my game that we thought needed to improve and be sure to address that over the season. After 3 years of doing that my game became much more rounded and that is a really big difference between the 2 levels.

Inferno - “Would you recommend the ENL Devils/whole junior system to any player looking to play hockey and possibly have a shot at the Elite team?”

Luke Piggott - I think that is what is great about the Cardiff set up, the Juniors get a lot of attention from elite players coming out to help with practice and also a great team of coaches right from a young age and you can see that in our u16s team right now that has 4 or 5 really promising guys who have already started training with the ENL. Then Once you progress into the ENL side you have the experience of playing alongside some more experienced guys like Stoney and Cowie and you learn a bit more from them. The Focus of the ENL team for Cudds has always been to progress players to Elite that was what got me on board straight away when he took over the team coaching. The only ENL teams in the country that progresses players straight to Elite level (as far as I’m aware) are Nottingham and Cardiff. If you have aspirations to make Elite level then the ENL coaching staff here will do everything they can to try and make that happen for you. The record speaks for itself really, in the last 3 years there has been 8 players in the ENL squad to be given a shot at Elite Devils, practicing with the team regularly, there isn’t even an EPL side that can claim that amount of success in progression! That’s what really makes Cardiff stand out as an organisation. Whether you take that opportunity when it's given to you comes down to you at the end of the day.

Inferno - “While with the ENL, did you get much chance to practise with the Elite team before stepping up. If so, how much help did the team pass onto you and how big a help have the senior players been?”

Luke Piggott - I had 1 season of training with the Elite side the year before I went onto the 2-way contract with them. That was an eye opener, you watch the games from the stands and it is clear the difference in speed and physicality of the game but you don’t fully appreciate the precision and strength until you are out on the ice with players like Pelle, Weller, Kenton, Matzka, Macrae, Hill and Birbraer.... every pass is on the tape and everything these guys do is calculated and precise.
You absolutely have to push yourself in these practices to keep up and you learn invaluable amounts from just playing alongside them and being given direction from them in all situations. That being said, the main big part of the transition then comes from G and Franny, they are very clear with outlining exactly what is expected of you, it's then down to you as the player to take on board what they are telling you and to execute it correctly.
That is something Cudds always drilled into me, you have to be responsible, you have to do what the coach is asking from you! Preparing me for that, maturing my game and getting me the chance came from the ENL and the next phase in development then came from the Elite.

The amount of off-ice training has also been key in my personal progression, ever since my 1st training session with the Elite side I was told by G to come along to the gym sessions we have in Fitness Factory. The team there are just as valuable, we have great trainers in Mike Parsons and Paul "Trojan" Jones. Mike puts together a Hockey specific training program for me each year with different phases to help me bulk up and also be more efficient on the ice. The difference that has made can not be understated. That was available to me from Practice 1 with the Devils before I was even contracted to the team and I was still only playing ENL.

The outline is very clear, ENL is there to mature, push, progress players to get you training with Elite, then combining the 2 together (Elite practices both on/off the ice and ENL game-time) is there to try and bridge the gap to Elite game-time. Don't get me wrong the step-up is huge, it's a completely different game at Elite league but there is everything in place at the Cardiff organisation to give you the tools and opportunity to make that step-up. I genuinely believe that if I hadn't come to play my hockey in Cardiff that I wouldn't be playing Elite League hockey this coming season and I think that is what makes the Cardiff set-up so Unique!

We also spoke to Adam Harding on his ENL experience

Adam Harding

The ENL Cardiff Devils has a great program with Cudds being a great coach and Lyndon doing a great job too. I personally benefited a lot from the ENL with the help and support from everyone on the team I couldn't ask for more from everyone involved. Everyone on the team works so hard to push each other and it has benefited many people. Last season went really well and I was very pleased that I made the decision to play at Cardiff once again. Playing in the ENL getting a lot of ice time helps a lot, and with the Elite League team here in Cardiff it gives you more determination to make it to the next step and everyone at the ENL level has determination to make it, which makes it better to compete, I would recommend the ENL Cardiff Devils to anyone , it is an amazing program and I thank everyone for helping me and I wish the ENL team luck for the upcoming season,