Joey Haddad is having a Devil of a time in Cardiff.
The winger from Nova Scotia is in irresistible form and loves playing alongside Patrick Asselin and Layne Ulmer in a Cardiff Devils team now five points clear at the top of Elite League.
Haddad has been a leading forward for coach Andrew Lord’s team and was outstanding during the third period when Devils recovered from three goals down to beat title rivals Belfast Giants at the SSE Arena in Northern Ireland.
“It’s a lot of fun on that line with those guys (Asselin, Ulmer),” says Haddad, who is in his third season with Cardiff. “They are both great players.
“We are peaking as a Devils team right now. There is mojo in our locker room.
“Everybody is happy, players have an inner confidence and a belief in our team-mates.”
Devils have 11 fixtures left in their bid to win the title and their next match is against Belfast away tonight (Saturday, 7pm). Home team Giants are still reeling from the shock of their 4-3 defeat last night when Devils scored four final period goals to steal the points.
Lord’s men were poor for 40 minutes, lacking passion, intensity and their usual jump, and Giants looked certain winners at 3-0 ahead after 43 minutes, but everything changed dramatically.
Sean Bentivoglio was named man of the match and he certainly helped inspire Devils in that final 20 minutes, while Haddad and Asselin in particular were game changers. They provided a goal each and five points between them.
New signing Denny Kearney, an American winger who has moved to Devils from Italian club Bolzano and is wearing number 22, linked up with Matthew Myers and Chris Culligan, while Lord, Joey Martin and Bentivoglio joined forces as usual.
Patrick Bordeleau and David Brine were joined by Chris Jones and Luke Piggott, who rotated into that winger role alongside the two imports, while Guillaume Doucet was the healthy scratch.
Devils follow their second clash with Giants in two days by travelling to take on Nottingham Panthers on Tuesday. Their next home game is against Coventry Blaze next Saturday (7pm).
That clash with Blaze, which is already virtually a sell-out with less than 20 tickets left before this weekend, have six home fixtures left this season.
They have attracted 3,000-plus capacity attendances in seven of their last eight matches at Ice Arena Wales and it’s a certainty the ‘sold out’ notices will be going up again before the Coventry match.
The remaining Devils home League fixtures are: v Coventry (Saturday, February 25), Dundee Stars (Saturday, March 11) and Fife Flyers (Sunday, Match 19) plus Belfast Giants (Saturday, March 25 and Sunday, March 26).
Cardiff are also hosting the Challenge Cup final at the IAW on Sunday, March 5 (4pm) when Devils play Sheffield Steelers.
Ticket information for Devils home matches is available from the club’s official website or via the hotline join 0800 0844 666.
Elite League
top five only – all teams play 52 matches
Pl Pts
1 Cardiff Devils 41 65
2 Belfast Giants 42 60
3 Sheffield Steelers 40 55
4 Braehead Clan 43 47
5 Nottingham Panthers 38 44