Cardiff Devils head coach Pete Russell called the Elite League “wild” after his team’s 5-0 playoff semi-final win over the Belfast Giants.
Here is every word the 50-year-old said during his post-game press conference at the Motorpoint Arena.
Pete, how do you evaluate your team’s performance today?
We did a lot of little things really well. We’ve been sitting here for eight weeks, waiting for this opportunity after the Challenge Cup final [defeat to Belfast]. We played the rest of the league season and lost it, so we were in no man’s land for a while.
During that time, our goal has been to keep the team together and to find a way forwards. That’s what we’ve been working on for the last six or eight weeks, just trying to find out best game.
Those games down the stretch aren’t meaningless because they’re important to the fans, but they were tough on the players. This league is wild, I was away for a while and you don’t realise how stressful it is until you’re in it. It’s just crazy, playing a 56-game regular-season only to fall short.
Zach O’Brien, Cardiff Devils (Image: James Assinder)
We were right there for a long time, but we couldn’t get it done.
Today, we played a really solid four-line hockey game. We were fantastic — the penalty kill was unreal and we scored one on the powerplay. I thought the guys were great today. It’s hard to replicate that as a coach all of the time, but that’s what it takes to win the league and that’s what the Giants did in the regular-season.
We’re happy with this because we have a chance again. That’s why we came here this weekend [to have the chance to win a trophy].
The funny thing is, neither of these teams have had a good time at this ice rink this season. We struggle here, but we played a really good game today. It’s only half done, but our team looks really good.
I thought we were disciplined, showed enthusiasm, and competed hard.
What do the next 24 hours look like for you and your players?
We’ll watch the next game and have some meetings in the morning. For the guys, the most important thing is just to recover and be ready for tomorrow. I think we’re looking good right now, besides from the loss to Manchester [Storm], when we laid an egg, we’ve been really good defensively and that’s helped us down the stretch.
In terms of keeping the momentum in your favour, how important was your team’s successful penalty kill at the end of the first period?
I think our penalty kill was one of the best in the league and that’s been a really good thing for us because we take a lot of penalty. In these types of games, you need to have big moments and that first period penalty kill was a big moment for us.
During the season, we changed our penalty kill from a trap around the net to a diamond and that’s worked for us. It was a gamble, but it’s worked for us and we really believe in it.
I think the third goal was a big goal. I felt like you could see that the game was done at that point. That’s not being cocky, but you could see it.
‘I thought we carried a lot of momentum on and off the puck’
This league is really tough and people have no understanding of how good the teams are all the way down to the bottom. There was one team that had a bad year, the Fife Flyers, but the rest of the league could win on any night. It’s really tough for people to understand just how good the league is and it only takes one slide to fall out of the race.
We lost five games around the Continental Cup [finals] and [our chance at the title] was done. That’s how quick it can change. But that’s what makes this league so exciting.
Tonight, I thought we carried a lot of momentum with and without the puck, even in the third period when we sat in. It really worked for us and that doesn’t happen all time.
Belfast are a really strong possession team, but we stopped them from playing. We didn’t give up many two-on-three rushes, we went man-for-man, and it worked. I think we could have played anyone in the league today and won; I wish it was like that every night, but it doesn’t work like that.
I think we have a really good chance tomorrow. If we’re mentally dialled in and play as a team, we have a chance. Let’s see what Sunday brings.
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