Our History

The Beginning

Ice hockey in Cardiff began when the Wales National Ice Rink (WNIR) was built in 1986. The Devils were then formed by a partnership between the rink owners, Sports Nationwide, and Canadian hockey player John Lawless. Back then, in mid-eighties Wales, rugby dominated the sporting scene and it was difficult to predict how the novelty of ice hockey would be received. 
 
The Devils took to the ice in the autumn of 1986, beginning their journey with a series of away games while preparing for their home debut.

The newly formed team scored four victories on the road (two league and two challenge) but people still wondered how many fans would turn up for that first home game.

The Devils made their WNIR debut on November 30th 1986 against the Ashfield Islanders. Despite the doubts about the attendance, every seat was taken at the WNIR as 2,500 fans packed in to catch a glimpse of Wales’ newest sporting phenomenon. The Devils responded by whipping the Islanders by 32-0. It wasn’t a contest but it was exhilarating and the sell out set the tone for things to come. Ice hockey and the Devils breathed new life into Welsh sport and fans just could not get enough.

 

The Hottest Ticket in Town

Within just a few short months the Devils had become the hottest ticket in the Welsh capital. Their home match with the Deeside Dragons in early February 1987 saw crowds of hockey fans queuing around the block when tickets went on sale in sub-zero temperatures on the Monday night before the Sunday game. Although the fixture was played in the middle of Wales’ Five Nations rugby campaign, fans had been gripped by the new spectacle and demand was sky-high.
 
It was a bit different inside the building in those days. There was no plexi-glass - just netting, and the sin-bin areas had no glass or any tall divide. Indeed, you could even say that the WNIR was more of a nightclub than a sports arena! Disc-jockeys Phil, Eddie and Heather would frequently put on the fancy dress gear and take to a stage placed across the sin bin area to lead the YMCA during the interval break and sometimes players from both home and visiting teams would come out of the locker rooms just to see 2,500 fans joining in. It was always a great night out!

Although the Devils’ first season was exciting, the games lacked the competitiveness that was needed to sustain interest. However, that all changed in the playoffs.

An easy 10-4 win over Grimsby was never actually completed as a late bench clearance led to an abandoned match, albeit the result stood. Cardiff’s small squad then took their place for the final against Aviemore Blackhawks on May 3rd 1987. After taking an early lead, the Devils collapsed and found themselves 7-1 down before beginning a comeback. With three minutes to go Lawless cut the Blackhawks lead to 9-8 but it wasn’t to be as Aviemore snatched an insurance marker and ran out 10-9 winners.
 
The hockey season may have ended with a defeat, but the potential was clear enough to allow Lawless to start building the club big time.

 

Moving On Up

The Devils’ first victory against a Premier Division team came at the start of the 1987-88 campaign when they took on the Peterborough Pirates in an early season challenge. The Devils emerged 4-2 victors and new goalie Jeff Smith showed that he was pretty handy facing penalty shots. When the Pirates called a time-out they simply could not hear one another talk because the noise in the WNIR was that loud!
 
Smith wasn’t the only new face for season two as Shannon Hope came in along with several signings from the Aviemore Blackhawks - Brian Dickson, Brian Wilkie and coach Brian Kanewischer, whilst Tim Steadman and Robbie Morris joined from Oxford and John Burnicle moved from Telford amidst some controversy halfway through the year.
 
In those early years the big rivals at the WNIR were the likes of the Telford Tigers, Medway Bears, Swindon Wildcats and Slough Jets but it was against the Trafford Metros that Devils won their first real silverware. The teams met in the First Division Autumn Trophy final and the Devils took the advantage in the first leg with a 7-5 home win. Lawless and company were followed to Trafford by over 1,000 travelling Devils fans, who saw the team triumph 5-4 in the second leg to complete the win. Following a comfortable first year in the First Division, JL (lawless) really pushed the boat out and made three big signings for the 1988/89 campaign that would change the club’s course forever.

Lawless shocked everyone involved in British ice hockey when he signed Premier Division stars Steve Moria and brothers Ian and Stephen Cooper in the summer of 1988.

The triple whammy put the Devils on the map and served notice that the team meant business. With a sold-out arena every week, the Devils had the financial clout to make the big moves and with Moria and the Cooper brothers on board they were able to make a push for promotion.
 
However, making it to the promised land was not all that easy. Indeed, Medway nearly beat the Devils to the First Division title after unscheduled defeats to a DougMcEwen-inspiredLeeValley and arch-rivals Swindon threatened to ruin the promotion charge. The Devils managed to hold on to the top spot by one point and secured a promotion play-off spot against the Premier Division’s bottom placed club Streatham.
 
In the promotion decider the Devils made no mistakes. The home leg was another of those famous nights in the WNIR and the Devils jumped all over the Redskins, going one up inside a minute and taking the home leg 12-1. Promotion was certain and the second leg was academic. The Devils were going up and big time hockey was coming to Cardiff for the 1989/90 season.

 

The Big Time

The WNIR was abuzz on October 14th 1989 for the Devils’ first ever home Premier Division contest. The classy visitors from Murrayfield boasted a host of big names – Tony Hand, Scott Neil, Martin McKay, Chris Kelland. However, with Moria, Lawless, Hope, the Cooper brothers and new signing Doug McEwen the Devils had their own star power.

The Racers arrived in Cardiff proclaiming that Moria would not repeat his exploits of the previous week when he scored 6+2 in Scotland, but their boasts were short lived. The scene was set and the Devils – and Moria delivered. In a staggering 11-6 win, with Moria notching 8+1 – air horns (by this stage banned at WNIR) were not needed, the noise was deafening!
 
The Durham Wasps were already big rivals by virtue of the Devils pinching the Cooper brothers from their team. To add spice to the mixture, the Wasps had put the Devils out of the Autumn Cup before playing their first Premier Division contest in Wales on November 25th 1989. The Wasps were the reigning league champions, but the Devils were poised to take over.

It was a dream result. The Wasps were sent home with a 10-0 thrashing! It was the first Premier Division shut out in just over two years, the first time in Heineken League history that the Wasps had failed to trouble the scoreboard and it was almost three years since Devils first home game against Ashfield.

Of course, Durham would get their chance for revenge and three years later they dealt the Devils a 13-0 hammering at the WNIR. Still, in 1989 it was the Devils making all the noise.
 
The Peterborough Pirates happened to be the visitors to the WNIR when the Devils needed just one point to secure the Heineken Premier Division title at the first time of asking. The Pirates had lost seven times already to Cardiff during the season and duly went down to the eighth by a 14-7 score to trigger scenes of great jubilation throughout the building. The Devils had to wait nearly two weeks to get their trophy however, and on Friday 18th March 1990 they got their chance to touch the silverware.
 
In a televised home game against Murrayfield, the Devils refused to be intimidated or riled and simply kept scoring. Despite the physical approach from the Scottish team the Devils lit up the scoreboard with nine powerplay goals en route to a 12-4 win. The night also featured 3+3 for the much targeted Ian Cooper and the first competitive goal for home grown forward Nicky Chinn. Just three years after hockey had arrived at WNIR, the club was beginning to produce talent from its own back yard.
 
A few weeks later, of course, there was more drama – arguably the greatest of all. At the playoff finals in Wembley the Devils overcame Murrayfield 6-5 on penalties having never led the contest proper. Doug McEwen scored the decisive penalty and Jeff Smith famously denied Tony Hand. Not only had the Devils won the Premier Division title at their first attempt, they had also won the playoff title, a remarkable double success in their short history.
 
The Devils were dethroned in 1990/91 by a Durham Wasps side featuring star forward Rick Brebant and the Cooper brothers, who had returned to their home town. The Wasps repeated their success in 1991/92 but the pendulum swung back to the Devils when the Cooper brothers returned to South Wales to join new Devils Hilton Ruggles and Steve Cadieux before the 1992/93 season.

 

Back to Back

Canadian pair Hilton Ruggles and Steve Cadieux arrived in Cardiff in 1992 and instantly boosted the Devils offence. Although, the key to the Devils’ coming success was as much between the pipes as it was in the opposition’s zone. Third-year Devil Jason Wood was improving after sharing goaltending duties and became the team’s number one netminder in 1992.
 
With Wood protected by Shannon Hope and Paul Heavey, and young Welshmen Nicky Chinn and Jason Stone flourishing alongside the star imports, the Devils powered back to the top of the league. Without the Cooper brothers the Durham Wasps struggled and despite the addition of hard man Mike Ware, the Racers could only manage second place behind the Devils.

A second league title was in the bag and the Devils added to their trophy cabinet again with the 1992/93 play-off title. The Devils had completed another historic double and were standing alone at the top of the British game.

Although 100-plus point man Cadieux moved on in the summer of 1993, his replacement was even better. In early nineties British hockey, there were many imports who stood head and shoulders above the rest of the competition. The Devils had their own superstars in theCoopers, Ruggles, McEwen and Hope, but the new arrival took the team to another level.

119 goals, 154 assists, 273 points. Not a bad season, is it? Rick Brebant only played one year with the Devils, but what a year it was.

Ruggles chipped in with 243 points of his own and the unstoppable Devils repeated their league and playoff double of 1992/93 with another equally impressive season.
 
There were new kids on the block, however, and Lawless and co. found themselves trailing the Sheffield Steelers, who surged to the top of the league just like the Devils did. Times were changing. With new teams and new arenas British ice hockey was quickly developing, which led to the formation of a new league, a super league in fact.

 

Hometown Heroes

The Devils’ prolific junior development system was another WNIR wonder to behold. Team GB and many clubs throughout the country have benefited from the quality of young players produced in South Wales.
 
Nicky Chinn, Jason Stone and Paul Cousins may well have been first through the gate but four years after the club began there would be Welsh talent all over the Devils bench. Indeed, when the Devils pole axed Steelers 12-1 in the 1994 Heineken Play-Off final at Wembley, the final goal was notable, not just because Richard Townsend fired through Martin McKay’s five-hole from out on the left wing, but because:

Every Devil was a home grown product. James Manson, Lee Carson, Neil Francis, Simon Keating and, of course, Townsend were all regulars.

The development of the Superleague stifled local development somewhat with the increased number of imports. However, Devils such as Phil Hill still came through the ranks.
 
Jason Stone has clocked up over 1,000 games and the likes of Stevie Lyle, Matt Myers and Jonathan Phillips are doing fine in the highly competitive Elite League. Welsh goalies Nathan Craze and Mike Brabon have also played at the highest level in Britain. With the next generation of local Devils like Ben Davies, the Learn to Play scheme and the development of the junior programme there should be more and more hometown heroes.

 

Wales National Ice Rink

Although it was swallowed up by a sea of retail development in Cardiff’s city centre, the Wales National Ice Rink once stood as one of the most revered venues in British hockey.
 
The WNIR witnessed many of the Devils’ greatest moments, but its demise paved the way for a new era for the club. Gone but not forgotten, the WNIR underwent many changes before it was eventually demolished.
 
Originally there was no plexi-glass, no hanging clock and no TV gantry. Bit by bit, however, the key features were added. The original tiled, suspended ceiling was replaced and plexi-glass was only introduced some years after Devils hit the top flight. Even the balcony by the bar was not there in the early years – it was a response to the massive growth at the club, and a legacy to the days when there was not enough room here to house those who wanted tickets.

The Devils decorated the ceiling with their championship banners and over the years the retired jerseys of the club’s biggest contributors were raised to hang above the ice.

Over the years there have also been a variety of different “noise-makers” that added to the atmosphere in the WNIR. But in the early days air horns were the thing. Allowed in buildings, even encouraged, they didn’t half make some noise! Although with players and coaches struggling to hear each other think, let alone speak, the horns were eventually silenced.
 
One thing that didn’t change was the ice size and the compactness of the building – each of which made the WNIR a stunning place to play and watch hockey. Whilst the big new buildings of the Superleague era brought brilliant facilities, the intimacy of this building always ensured that hockey night was full of passion.
 
The pad size ensured that games in Cardiff were lightning quick and the closeness of the crowd to the ice meant that the fans could hear the players and that the players could hear the fans. There is no game to match live ice hockey; the sound of wood on rubber, of blades cutting through ice, of bodies clashing with each other and plexi – and the WNIR captured it perfectly.

In the WNIR’s 20-year lifespan there were moments of excitement, great drama, great passion, even great disappointment, sheer class, sheer force and even sheer farce… it all happened inside.

The WNIR was a place of great sport, great intensity and great emotion. There were changes aplenty under the ice, up in the roof, down in the locker-rooms, even in the bar but throughout it all – what made it special was the people associated with the Cardiff Devils.

The WNIR was a sporting venue steeped in success and one that will always be etched in British ice hockey history.