ENL Devils v Invicta Dynamos - Saturday 7th

So while the Devils will be in Nottingham, the ENL Devils have their own playoff quarter final to contend with this weekend against the old enemy Invicta Dynamos. This has been an interesting match up throughout the season and with a full team on the road, who knows what the ENL boys can do.

Over the season the series is tied 2-2 With the Devils winning 8-3 and 3-0 at home before the abandoned game in Invicta and a recent 7-2 loss. If your not travelling to Nottingham, I recommend you head down as this game is going to be a cracker.

ENL Head Coach Mark Cuddihay had this to say in the run up to the game

“Bet the EIHA were really pleased that Invicta and ourselves drew each other for the quarter finals. Playoff hockey is always exciting and always played with more intensity than regular season games. We have had a great rivalry with Invicta and during the 5 years of coaching Cardiff it's always been the first fixture I look forward to. So I'm sure the tie will have that extra bite to it. Invicta again have put a good team on the ice this season, two good imports and the ever impressive Andy Smith have again helped to place Invicta amongst playoff contenders.”

 “As the regular season ends I have to say this has been one of the hardest seasons for myself and Lyndon. We signed 21 players and a further 5 guys on two ways with our under 18's team. Due to suspensions, injuries and call ups to Elite team we have not once been able to ice the team we signed, not even for one of the 40 games, that has never happened to me before and I have to say if we could have had a full team for the entire season I feel we could have really achieved something in the league. It has defiantly caused us to re-think our recruitment strategy for next season. The problems don't just end with the regular season for us, as Adam Harding and Luke Piggott prepare for the Elite League playoffs in Nottingham, Robert Sedlak has had to return home to Slovakia for personal reasons and Cameron Birrell is playing in the world championships for South Africa. Needless to say we are up against it for this fixture, the guys will dig deep and play a playoff game, we will not give up without the hardest fight we can give. If we can get though against Invicta then we are in a different situation altogether. Harding and Piggott will return and Birrell flies back from Romania early next week. If we can get thought this weekend I would back my team for playoff success.”

We also spoke to Chris Hart
 
“we're gearing up to the playoffs really well, we had a good weekend last weekend and really got the lines rolling, and everyone got ice time with Kieron Latchford and Giovanni Raffaelli getting their first ENL 1 goals, and with both Brabs and Luke Tackel getting half the game each we should be able to push forward this weekend with all eventuality's covered!

Invicta have had some strange results this year but no doubt they will be showing up on both days to play! However i believe that so long as everyone is on their game we can win on Saturday and set our selves up to advance to the next round! whatever the outcome these games are always great to play in and to watch! “

Looking at the Devils stats, you can see who the stand out players are but they will have to play as a team to make sure they get the advantage going into the very intimidating Medway rink for the 2nd leg.

ENL Devils Stats

1. Jamie Hayes 35 43 41 84
2. Chris Jones 34 28 24 52
3. James Preece 35 17 29 46
4. Luke Piggott 16 17 20 37
5. Adam Harding 22 16 15 31
6. Louis Lockwood25 8 22 30

Invicta despite having a bad patch of results have pulled it back in the last 10 games with a record of 7-3 with some impressive score lines. The stats below confirm that on their day, Invicta can cause any team issues and there's one agitator who Cardiff know very well- Corey Watkins, very good player and one player teams hate playing against. His role to aggravate the opposition at times can work well but also can cost them. Ellis has had a huge season averaging 2.85 points per game. Could this see a move for the Canadian to EPL or any other league after this impressive season?

Invicta Dynamo's stats

1.Ryan Ellis 35 50 50 100 
2.Justin Noble 34 46 30 76 
3.Andy Smith 35 36 34 70 
4.Callum Best 26 21 33 54 
5.Nicky Lewis 29 10 28 38 

ENL Devils V Invicta Dyanmos Saturday 7th Cardiff Bay Arena, 7PM Faceoff Adults £5 Kids £3