Moving On Up

Stephen and Ian Cooper

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.

Steve Moria

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.