Devils beaten in CHL opener

Photo: David Williams

The Cardiff Devils endured a difficult opening night in the 2021/22 Champions Hockey League against Adler Mannheim of Germany.

The day didn't start well for the Devils, who were forced to go without Head Coach Jarrod Skalde, Assistant Neil Francis, and skaters Josh Batch and Ben Davies due to the COViD-19 protocol.

Mannheim, who had played several pre-season games in the build-up, were ahead through Jordan Szwarz after just 57 seconds, and had almost put the game to bed with two quick goals from Joonas Lehtivuori's rocket shot and Moritz Wirth at 9:22 and 10:24 respectively. The Devils did have their chances in the opening period but were rarely able to trouble Dennis Endras. 

When Borna Rendulić found the net just after the 31-minute mark, the game was realistically won for the visitors. Cardiff started period three brightly and had their moments during a man advantage, but with the opportunity not taken Andrew Desjardins put the game beyond any doubt just after 43 minutes - a 5-0 scoreline the final result.