Adey: Ulrick, Hazeldine and Waller an inspiration for young players

Photo: Twitter

We're live on Premier Sports tonight as the Cardiff Devils host the Manchester Storm - coverage starts from 6pm!

Ahead of that game, Premier Sports analyst (and former EIHL winning coach) Paul Adey gives us the lowdown on both teams.

Adey on the Devils
"It added a lot of extra pressure on Jarrod Skalde in that he took a job with a team that's used to winning games and winning trophies. But the Devils are an organisation that knows how to rebuild, and having Todd Kelman there also helps immensely - he knows the league and what it takes to be successful in it. Jarrod had a small nucleus of players that stayed which helps, but at the same time, he's been able to go out and recruit some quality players as well. He's put a very strong side together and they'll be competing for trophies this season.

Josh Waller has had a great start this year. It started in the Champions Hockey League where he showed he was for real, and he's kept going from there. He showed his coach what he can do, and it's great to see Jarrod rewarding him. The thing that makes Waller so good is his skating - the game now is all about speed and skill and Waller's ability fits right into that.

Brodie Reid is a quality player that the Devils have in their line-up. When your job is to score goals you want to get off to a good start, and he's not looked back so far. He has a lot of experience and is a guy the Devils know comes to play every night."

Adey on the Storm
"Ryan Finnerty has been around this league long enough to know that losing games early isn't something to panic about. Of course, you want to win games, but if you can work on the areas you need to improve and get it right it'll set you up for the long season.

Looking at Manchester's recent results, you can see that they've definitely bounced back and begun to find their identity as a team. And that's important - good teams find ways to bounce back after a loss. 

Ryan is a good coach, I coached against him when I was in Belfast. That year we had a lot of success, but Ryan's teams always gave us very hard-fought games.

Ryan is also smart. He knows that he needs depth in his roster and so if he can get his younger British guys contributing then it's huge for his team. He knows that if players like Finlay Ulrick and Joe Hazeldine can go out and log anywhere between five and ten shifts each game then it makes them a strong team, and those guys are getting rewarded for their performances. Ulrick already has a couple of goals so far, and Hazeldine is logging a lot of minutes for his coach, so he's able to trust them and make them an important part of his line-up.

Ulrick went abroad to develop and you can see that in his game, he's come back a lot better. Both he and Hazeldine have experience with the national team at Under 18 and Under 20 levels, and it shows.

Players like Hazeldine, Ulick and Waller are definitely guys that younger players in the country are beginning to look up to now. They've demonstrated what's possible if you work hard and are becoming important players for their teams."