Finnerty joins the Cardiff Devils

Photograph of Ryan Finnerty in action for the Sheffield Steelers last season courtsey of Mark Tredgold: www.tredders.com.

 

Ryan Finnerty, a key member of the Sheffield side that won league and playoff championships last season, has signed for the Cardiff Devils.

 

Finnerty, a hard working, “in your face” type of player, has joined the Devils from Bloomington Prairie Thunder who released the news late last night giving Devils fans much to consider overnight.

 

Whilst the Devils would have liked to break the story, Ryan is a true professional and of course informed his current side of his intentions.

 

This is a huge move for the club and one which highlights the progress made by the Devils organisation under the ownership of Matt Burge. Several other  big Elite League clubs had been courting the highly-rated Finnerty but he decided to commit to the Devils, signing a 2-year deal, meaning he will also suit up in Devils colours for the 2010/11 season next autumn.

 

“All season we have talked about our depth being our strength” said player/Head Coach Gerad Adams of this signing, “and we are a fortunate club to have guys who can come in and do a great job for us when we need them.”

 

“We currently have an injury to a key player, Wes Jarvis and while we are aiming to have him back ASAP I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to strengthen our club with a strong signing like Ryan.”

Adams has been playing on defence in the last few games to cover the injured Jarvis, with young Welsh players Ben Davies and Jamie Hayes taking the extra spot on the third line, alongside Matt Towe and fan-favourite Tylor Michel.

 

“We signed (British goalie) Stevie Lyle at the start of the year in order to give us 10 import skaters on the ice. With Wes out we are down one and this was too good a chance to miss. Ryan is a great hockey player – hard working, tenacious, gritty and competitive. He’s a super addition to an already strong Devils roster and one that underlines our intention to challenge for all honours this season. It says a lot about our organisation too that we can make this move and I’d like to thank Matt Burge once again for his commitment to our shared goal: success”.

 

Finnerty was an integral part of the double-winning Sheffield  Steelers side last season and earned cult status among fans of the teal and orange. He drew the Ire of the Devils fans however in a controversial “interview” last season – following a heated confrontation in Cardiff that saw Devils Captain Brad Voth slapped with a huge playing ban - where he criticised the Devils home arena and team. Finnerty however denied making the comments when asked, and he received support in this from a then highly unlikely source: Voth himself.

 

Voth went on record at the time to say he knew Finnerty well and that he was a quality individual, whom Voth felt would never have made comments like those attributed to him. It turned out the giant Devils power forward was right and now the Devils fans have a chance to see this top-class agitator first hand in the Cardiff Bay Arena.

 

Devils have a history of having great sparkplugs on their sides; feisty, dynamic players who impress the home fans whilst infuriating the opposition and, often, drawing penalties and creating power-play opportunities whilst scoring freely. Two of the greatest ever exponents of this art – John lawless and Vezio Sacratini – have legendary status amongst Devils fans. This year’s crop of Devisl includes some more – Jay Latulippe often gets under the skin of many an opponent while Matt Miller and Tylor Michel also display the same tenacity and grit associated with Finnerty.

 

The devils currently have the best home record in the Elite League and are pushing the top teams hard. The Devils are now an even tougher opponent and we look forward to welcoming Ryan to Wales.

The club now work to complete the all-important paperwork necessary to have their new player ASAP. It is hoped that Finnerty will make his Cardiff debut in the challenge cup semi-final against Belfast on 16^th December.

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