Andrew Lord admits he has ‘bitter-sweet’ feelings after Cardiff Devils crushing five-goal Champions Hockey League win against Swedish champions Vaxjo Lakers.
Head coach Lord and his team have won back-to-back CHL group matches and still have one fixture to play, but they are out of the running to qualify for the last 16.
Devils lost their first three group games, against Bili Tygri Liberec (home and away) plus HC Davos, before bouncing back in style with two highly impressive victories.
They travel to Vaxjo for the return match next Wednesday, while Devils have one Elite League clash this weekend when they play Belfast Giants at Ice Arena Wales (7pm).
“It’s bitter-sweet because if we could have got things together a little earlier in the process we would still be working to qualify for the knockout stages,” said Lord.
“There was a total buy-in again and we picked up where we left off against Davos. We were solid.
“I’m proud of the guys, who played our game-plan to a T, created chances and capitalised on them.
“Ben Bowns in goal was solid and he’s been good for us over the last three and a half years. He knows how we play in front of him, we play to his strengths and everybody, the six D-men and forwards tracking back, gave everything for the team.”
Man of the match Bowns shutout Dundee and Braehead in Elite League wins leading up to the clash with Lakers and he was again outstanding.
“We were awesome as a team,” said Bowns.”The D corps were unbelievable and boxed out rebounds really well.
“Beating Lakers is a big result for us. It would be nice to still have a chance to progress, but the way we bounced back in our last two CHL fixtures is massive.
“Fingers crossed that we are in the Champions League again next season and our experience this time will be a major help.”
Lakers were stunned by the defeat in Cardiff Bay and coach Sam Hallam said: “Overall it was a pretty poor effort from us.
“We gave up the first goal in an easy way and even when we scored ourselves Devils killed our energy by adding their fourth.
“We came to Wales with a team we hoped could match up and we couldn’t.”
Devils travel to Sweden for the return match against Vaxjo next Wednesday, October 11, but are now focussed on Saturday’s Elite League match against Belfast Giants on Saturday (7pm).
Ticket information for the match against Belfast is available in person at Ice Arena Wales reception, by calling 0800 0842 666 or via the club’s official website.