Cardiff Devils 6 - 4 Sheffield Steelers

Faceoff: 15:00 - 28/08/11

Gerad Adams showed us a glimpse of the future last night as his new-look Cardiff Devils picked up a 2-2 draw against Sheffield Steelers in Cardiff Bay.

Alongside returning members of the squad from last year and debutee imports Scott Dobben, Chris Frank and Jeff Pierce was towering young defenceman Josh Batch and talented Tim Burrows. also playing up on their two-way agreements were Adam Harding and Luke Piggott from the Devils ENL organisation.

Playing a 4 line system for large parts of the game - unseen in the elite league era for the most part - Adams and Bench Coach Neil Francis rotated their bench personnel extremely well ensuring that the players with the larger ice time were always fresh and ready to go.

"It makes a big difference to us all to have these guys out there" said new Captain and returnee Stuart MacRae, "They were doing a fantastic job in Sheffield and tonight too."

Adams praised backup Netminder Joseph Myers in his postgame interview too, saying the Cardiff born Goalie was "outstanding".

Devils were dominant for much of the game and pinged several shots just wide or off the posts that on many nights could have raised the scoreline. Only a late equaliser from Steelers top gun Mike Ramsay put a dampener on the result. Ashley Tait got the first goal for the Steelers.

Devils goalscorers were Scott Dobben from Brad Voth and Ben Davies, with the second coming from Mark Smith with a bullet of a slapshot from the blueline, assist to Max Birbraer.

10 minutes of penalties for both teams gave the special teams an airing and whilst jet-lag, rust and unfamiliarity are all part of the start of a season the passing and interplay of the Devils looked crisp and lively.

You can hear the thoughts of Gerad Adams in his postgame interview HERE

More details of the match in this report later today.