Club owner Steve King was hurting after Cardiff Devils suffered agonising defeat in the Elite League play-off final.

Canadian King flew in from Calgary to watch Devils go for the Grand Slam.

He mixed socially with Welsh ice hockey fans all weekend and sat in the Devils section among them, saying: “Our amazing fans have given us all a fantastic gift this season.”

King went to the locker room and spoke to the Devils players after their dramatic 6-5 overtime defeat against Sheffield Steelers and said: “It will take a long time to get over this. We wanted the Grand Slam so  much.”

Devils have been transformed as a club King plus close friends Craig Shostak, Brian Parker and Kelly Hughes bought the club three years ago.

They have won five trophies since then, sweeping to a triple crown of League title, Challenge Cup and Erhardt Conference in 2016-17. Coach Andrew Lord’s team finished League champions, the club’s first title in 20 years.

Defeat in the play-off final after two periods of sudden death overtime – the match lasted 94 minutes in total – was devastating for hundreds of Devils supporters at the National Ice Centre, Nottingham.

King and his family flew home to Canada on Monday and he said: “This, without a doubt, will go down as one of the greatest seasons and greatest teams in Cardiff Devils history.

“Not only did we win the league championship, our conference and the Challenge Cup, but none of us will ever forget the class these players portrayed not just on the ice but in the community as well. Gentlemen and champions both.

“Our ambition is to be the club that all other teams measure themselves against. We move into next season as defending league champions.

“We hope to bring as many of this year’s players back as we possibly can, but recognise that roster sizes will change and life situations can make it impossible to have everything the same regardless of how much we’d love to.

“We also have the excitement of representing the Elite League in Champions League competition starting in August. I know I speak for all Devils fans when I say how incredibly excited I am about that.

“Once again, the Devils and our amazing fans have given us all a fantastic gift this season. I’ll miss watching this team and sharing the passion we all have for this club during the close season.

“Thank you to everybody that works for the team, the tireless volunteers and everybody that is lucky enough to call themselves Cardiff Devils fans.”

Goalies Ben Bowns and Thomas Murdy plus Josh Batch, Matthew Myers and Mark Richardson all join up with the Great Britain team on Tuesday, starting final preparations for the World Championships in Belfast later this month.

The first of Devils import players start to head home for the summer later this week.

The 2017-18 season starts in August and runs through to mid-April with the play-offs final a week later than usual.