Cardiff Devils are ‘in the groove’ and ‘going for gold’ says Canadian forward Layne Ulmer.
The Elite League leaders, who have earned seven successive league and cup wins, play Dundee Stars in a Challenge Cup quarter-final clash on Wednesday (tomorrow, 7.30pm).
“We’ve had some big wins at home and on the road. We’re finding our groove and every night someone else is stepping up and that’s important to winning games,” says Ulmer.
A three-point night from forward Layne Ulmer helped league leaders Cardiff secure a 6-2 victory against visitors Edinburgh at Ice Arena Wales. He has scored five goals and 15 points in 21 Elite League games this season, finding real chemistry with line-mates Sean Bentivoglio and player-coach Andrew Lord.
Lord is the newcomer to that trio because Ulmer and Bentivoglio had five hugely successful seasons playing together for Asiago in Italy.
“We’re moving the puck well as a line,” said the 36-year-old Ulmer said. “Lordy is a big guy, he’s got good hands, adds that big body down low and likes to forecheck hard.”
“We just like to keep it simple. Get it in and forecheck and create turn overs. But we can also create stuff off the rush. We’ve been playing really well together and getting a lot of chances.
“Right now we are focusing on one game at a time. We’d all love to win trophies this season, but we are only thinking about Dundee Stars away right now.”
Devils have reached the cup final in both of the last two seasons, lifting the trophy in 2015, and they are in intent on overcoming Stars over two legs of their quarter-final.
Cardiff, who fly to Scotland on Tuesday and stay overnight before returning by coach, play three matches in five days this week. They follow the trip to Dundee with back-to-back home games against Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers over weekend.
The return leg of the Devils v Stars cup clash at Ice Arena Wales on Wednesday, December 21 (7.30pm).
The other quarter-final ties are Belfast Giants v Manchester Storm, Braehead Clan v Nottingham Panthers, Cardiff Devils v Dundee Stars, Sheffield Steelers v Fife Flyers.
Elite League hockey highlights are being shown on free-to-air television every week.
The new Facing Off programme will be available in 19 million homes across Britain and Northern Ireland on Freeview, FreeSat, Talk Talk/BT and Sky, on new sports channel Front Runner.
The one hour show will feature all 10 Elite League teams, with the best of the action from the matches across, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The programme will be shown at 6pm on Thursdays, 10pm on Fridays and 9am on Saturdays.
Front Runner broadcasts on a number of platforms and is available on SKY ch468, Freesat ch250, Freeview ch91, Talk Talk/ BT ch91.
Ticket information Devils’ home matches against Nottingham and Sheffield this weekend is available from the club’s official website or via the hotline on 0800 0842 666.
A three-point night from forward Layne Ulmer helped league leaders Cardiff secure a 6-2 victory against visitors Edinburgh at Ice Arena Wales on Saturday evening, with the Canadian forward dubbing the performance a ‘professional’ one against a well organised Capitals team.
“Guys are getting settled in and we’re finding ways to win.” Ulmer told Ice Time TV. “We’ve had some big wins at home and on the road. We’re finding our groove and every night someone else is stepping up and that’s important to winning games.”
Ulmer now has five goals and 15 points in 21 Elite League games this season and has found some chemistry with line mates Sean Bentivoglio and player-coach Andrew Lord.
“We’re moving the puck well,” the 36-year-old said. “‘Lordy’ is a big guy and he’s got good hands, so he adds that big body down low and he likes to forecheck hard.”
“We just like to keep it simple,” he added. “Get it in and forecheck and create turn overs. But we can also create stuff off the rush. We’ve been playing really well together and getting a lot of chances”
The Devils lead at the top of the Elite League now stands at 11-points, with tough games against Nottingham and Sheffield coming up next weekend as well as a trip to Dundee for the first leg of their Challenge Cup quarter final against the Stars on Thursday.
“With the league set up the way it is you’ve got to go one game at a time.” Ulmer said.
“You can’t look too far ahead, and I don’t think anyone in our room is. Every weekend we have really tough games…things can change so quickly you’ve just got to stay focused on what’s in front of you and not worry about what other teams are doing.”