Gerad Adams believes that playing smart hockey was the key to the Boxing Day victory against the Coventry Blaze.
The sixth-placed Devils came through on Friday with a 3-1 victory to win their first league tie against the Blaze this season.
Despite missing three imports – Mike Prpich, Marc Fulton and Mike Hartwick – the Devils were able to beat the title contenders and, according to Adams, it was because they outsmarted the opposition.
“I think we’ve been playing smarter hockey,” Adams said in an interview with skysports.com.
"By the end of the game the other teams have been more tired than we are. And a lot of that is down to the high-energy, impact players on our team like Neil Francis and Ben Davies.”
It was Cardiff’s first victory against a top-four side since October 19 and the Devils now have combined record of two wins and 13 losses against the big four.
“I’m extremely happy with the way the guys played,” Adams added.
“The performances have been good from our side lately and we got a result against one of the top teams in the league. I thought we deserved the victory and we outplayed them in a lot of the different aspects of the game.”
This week's featured game on Sky Sports sees the Devils visit the Panthers in a buy one, get one free match-up at the Nottingham Arena.
Thursday night's contest counts towards both the Elite League and the Challenge Cup. This is where the phrase "four-point game" really does apply.
With Cardiff coach Gerad Adams aiming to double his money, he'll be turning to goalie Peter Aubry to shut down the Panthers.
In the last meeting between the teams on October 19 the Devils prevailed 1-0 in overtime thanks to a 38-save shutout from Aubry, who was between the pipes when Cardiff last won the trophy in 2005/06.
“Peter’s been really solid since he came back to Cardiff and of course he won the cup a couple of years ago,” Adams said, in an interview with skysports.com.
“He’s a great goalie to have in these situations. There’s no question that we are only as good as he is on the night. With the style that we play we can tend to give up shots and we need him at his best and he knows that.”
Nottingham, the reigning Challenge Cup champions, warmed up for the clash with an exhibition match in Switzerland, while the Devils won both of their league fixtures on the weekend.
“We’re really happy with where we are right now heading into it,” Adams added.
“It’ll be a good test for us and provide a reference point for us later in the year when we get into the playoffs. We’re really excited about playing in a big game like this - it’s great to be a part of.”With such high stakes riding on the outcome, Adams knows that it's all or nothing.“It’s gonna be a do or die game,” Adams said.
“I think Coventry look pretty set. Whoever wins has a big advantage – it will probably decide which of the two teams go through between us two.”A win for either team would give them one foot in the next round, although the other members of Group B - Basingstoke and Hull - still have a say in the matter.Belfast and Manchester are safely through from Group A.
With pink slips and P45s being handed out left, right and centre as the economic slump continues, we've now seen a couple of job losses in the Elite League. Albeit, not entirely due to financial reasons.
Rod Hinks has become the latest casualty of the EIHL season, being axed by the Cardiff Devils this week.
While hearing the words that were made famours by Donald Trump and Alan Sugar come out of Devils coach Gerad Adams' mouth must have been tough to take, Hinks reacted with professionalism.
"I didn't come in and perform," Hinks said in an interview with skysports.com
"I didn't come in and play the way I wanted to. I'm probably the hardest person on myself. I don't blame Gerad at all for doing what he had to do."
Adams stated that the decision to release Hinks was "part salary cap, part performance."
Considering that Hinks had notched 11 points on a Devils team that has been up against it so far this season, his performance wasn't that bad.
But when those points were matched against Adams' expectation of playing Hinks on the first line, and therefore paying first line wages, it's not hard to understand the present situation.
You can read Hinks' entire interview with skysports.com here.
