Midweek Kitbag

Conti Cup Final returns to Wales

CARDIFF, WALES; Following a fantastic 6 point week, Devils were treated to the fruit of their endeavours in Slovakia, with the announcement that they will be hosting the 2025 IIHF Continental Cup Final.

This will be back to back finals for the Welsh club at their home arena, third final in a row for the club in this competition.

They have earned Bronze on the last two occasions, both from agonisingly subpar performances, leaving a feeling of frustration amongst both fans and players alike.

Will it be third time a charm?

It is unknown yet of who fits into the schedule, but each game will be competitive after playing all of their finalists at least once in the last year or so.

Grenoble were the hosts of last years round robin stage, ending up at the foot of the table without a win, ultimately sacking their coach just days after.

They stormed to the top of this years round robin in Aalborg in what was a very dramatic final day.

Fellow group rivals in Aalborg, Katowice will once again journey to South Wales to battle it out on the ice in a Final, hoping for more success this time around.

They pounded other teams in their group and their travelling fans will remember the incredible scenes and noise from the home crowd, so if you have a scarf, bring them with you.

Finally, Slovakia group winners, HC Arlan, will find themselves in a hostile environment both on and off the ice, as the entire Devils organisation will want to avenge that last game, including last years final, where fellow Kazakh side Astana Nomads ran out as comfortable victors.

Injury Update

There was still no Hunter Shinkaruk who was tipped to return to action by last week. There was ample time to get him involved as the schedule was heavy again, however, still not dressed.

This has become a concern and a point of frustration for fans, who are desperate to see him in action. There is also a small belief he never even existed and is part of some mythical Mandela effect.

Josh Batch is still out, following a suspected warm up routine gone wrong. How much longer is to be determine, but with a lower body injury and the team playing as it is, there is clearly no rush to bring him back just yet.

Sam Duggan picked up a knock early in the game vs Flames, though it is unknown of the cause and time out. Could this prompt the return of the mythical legend that is Hunter Shinkaruk?

Jarrod Gourley missed the same game after taking a heavy beating late in the game on the road in Manchester. Possibly concussion protocol, as he did take a very big pasting, quite surprisingly.

Mac Carruth picked up a concerning injury during his game in the Conti cup and since then the club brought in former Flames netminder Taz Burman as injury cover. Both goalies have posted a shutout in league action so far (No pressure, Bowns).

Exactly how long Carruth will be out for is debatable, however injury cover usually lasts up to 90 days.

(NB; none of the above is ‘club official’, just by observations and nature of how injuries are dealt with at this particular level)

Player Trends

November was a pretty packed month of hockey for the club, with 3 competitions undertaken and thousands of miles travelled for fans and players.

From Slovakia to Scotland, the red army got around and had a large amount of success in the process.

Going by the monthly MVP, each candidate in the top four improved on their last output, so in one sense, the entire team has improved offensively.

Here is an idea of who is in form and who is cold;

As you can see by the upward/downward bars in the above graph, Evan Mosey has been on form at the most proficient rate this past month. The data is solely based on EIHL competitions.

Across 9GP, Mosey has hit 8 points, up from zero as he was out for a while due to an upper body injury. This, whilst inflating his output overall was still good, he was amongst the top 5 (tied at 5th) for overall points across those games.

Andrew MacWilliam has seemed to have found some attacking nuance, as his usual gritty game has been backed up by a stack of points.

The average was 5.8 overall from all points scorers and MacWilliam had 5 himself. This has been his most productive month so far.

The ‘waste of an import’ fan favourite, Riley Brandt has been cooking of late. He joined the team sometime after the season started due to injury, then took some time to settle amongst some dubious decisions by the officials, but that is how it goes.

This month he has logged 4 points so like Mosey, a naturally high uptick in trend, but trending up nevertheless.

The average across the squad from this month to last, was in line with the output of the MVP candidates. That average was at 1.26 point increase per player.

The ones trending above this average have been scoresheet regulars, but none more consistent, than Josh MacDonald. His production has helped to log 30 EIHL points so far this season, almost increasing at a steady rate of output per game day month (10-8-12).

Two players that have improved month on month are Reid Duke and Cole Sanford. It came as no surprise they have a similar result in the above graph going +2 overall.

Despite some consternation regarding Gleason Fournier, he has had a massive few weeks in terms of offensive production, also going +2 (above average) and just outside the overall top 5 of the highest scoring players in November.

Players on downturns are Jarrod Gourley (-3) and Mark Richardson (-2), as their line mates have stepped up to get on the scoresheets, but this doesn’t mean they weren’t effective.

This is just statistical results, they are often on the ice for the goals, but they are more effective defensively (as per their roles) with Gourley (15) and Richardson (19) blocking shots heroically (Regular Season).

Whilst Batch has been sidelined with injury, other notables are Busch and Perlini, but these are marginal at -1. Whilst Perlini has trended higher than Busch in points production, Busch is fairly consistent. He did however run a stretch of 5 games without a point. He recently snapped that vs Flames.

As a whole, this goes to show that across the squad, the scoring is pretty balanced and it has been great to see that scoring depth per game, as for multiple games in a row the past few weeks has seen each line contribute per match night. T

his is whilst playing both intensely and being subpar in expected performances.