The Cardiff Devils have had an up and down season but there is a real sense of opportunity at the Vindico arena.

With eight of their next ten games at home, Cardiff can build sizeable momentum going into the play-offs, having secured their place already in the end of season showpiece.

The Devils grabbed a 6-2 win last time out against bottom of the table Nottingham Panthers, with forward Joey Martin scoring a hattrick.

“It was a good game on the weekend, I had some family in town, so it was pretty special,” said Martin.

“I had my niece and nephew here from Canada, so they were happy to see me score a hattrick.

“I don’t know how many I’ve scored but not that many, and it’s a while since the last one!”

Next up for the Devils are back-to-back home fixtures against eighth placed Fife Flyers and seventh placed Glasgow Clan respectively on the 16^th and 17^th March; a much sterner test.

“They’re two teams battling to be in the play-offs,” said Martin.

“I think every game from here on out is going to be really important, no matter who you’re playing.

“It’s nice that we’re home both weekends, we need to take advantage of that and keep playing well going into the play-offs.”

The Devils now sit second, but with eight points down to Belfast Giants in third and 11 up to Sheffield Steelers, the Devils are in somewhat of a “limbo” according to forward Cole Sanford.

 

Sanford leads the statistics for the Devils in the Elite Ice Hockey League with 25 shots and 23 assists, and admits it’s going to be tough to overhaul the league leaders.

 

“I think mathematically it’s still on the cards to win the league,” said Sanford.

 

“But we need help from Sheffield, and they haven’t really slipped up.

 

“You can’t go into every game thinking, ‘Do we have chance or not?’ we’ve just got to do our part.

 

“We went on a nice 12 game winning streak in January, February, but we had a couple of early losses in the season and Sheffield have been in different form this year.”

 

The Devils lost out in the quarter finals of this year’s Challenge Cup to Glasgow Clan and came up short in the Continental Cup, so with the league seemingly out of reach, the play-offs are the best chance of silverware.

 

“We’ve got that hunger to win a trophy,” said Sanford.

 

“Once the league resolves itself, then you can focus on the play-offs.

 

“It’s almost a new season then, like the Challenge Cup and Continental Cup they are opportunities to win trophies and we have lots to play for still.

 

“I think we have a great team, a championship winning team, it’s just about being ready when play-off time comes and going out there and doing it.”