Devils win Continental Cup!

Photo: James Assinder

Cardiff Devils became only the second ever British team to win the IIHF Continental Cup, beating Grenoble 6-1 at the Vindico Arena to take the prize with an unbeaten record in the final round.

"I thought we were awesome," said Head Coach Pete Russell. "You have to learn how to win trophies, and I thought we did that. We were really disciplined and we pushed the tempo. Everybody played their part.

"That's what the fans want here, to see a team winning trophies. We started the season with our goals, and we've just ticked the first one off."

Brett Perlini scored a hat trick, rounding off the Devils' win with an empty-netter in the final minute to spark jubilant scenes in Wales.

Tyler Busch had put the Devils ahead 5:17 into the opening period, only for Aurelien Dair to tie the game with 16:13 played. Perlini scored 3:46 into period two, and then finished on an odd-man rush at 30:51 to give the Devils a 3-1 lead. Josh MacDonald, later voted Forward of the Tournament, made it 4-1 with 2:16 left in the middle frame, while Cole Sanford added a fifth 61 seconds later.

After a series of penalties at the start of the third, things calmed down somewhat and the home crowd clapped their team home. Perlini notched his hat trick with 16 seconds to go to cap a perfect weekend for the Devils.