By Kris Smith
The Cardiff Devils are the next team to arrive at the DIA, hoping to break the Stars 100% home win record, as they are now four wins out of four on home ice.
Dundee are running on strong momentum and play with a lot of confidence at home, after defeating the Edinburgh Capitals 4-3 on a shootout last Saturday. On Wednesday they face the Welsh side that got the better of Dundee in last year’s Play-Off semi-final and in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
Omar Pacha wants his side to ‘maintain’ their home form and make the DIA ‘a tough place to play’. Omar said: “It will be a huge game, Cardiff are coming off of a weekend that I’m sure they won’t be happy with. On the other hand we need to maintain our home form and keep generating momentum of making this building a tough place to play, there is history with that team, so we need to focus on our game and we will give ourselves a good chance to win.”
Dundee failed to beat the Devils last season, their last win against the Welsh side was in the Play-Off quarter-finals of the 2015/16 season, after beating Cardiff, the Stars lost at home and were eliminated.
Cardiff are a large team with a lot of depth, with 15 imports they can rest a spare player each night. Matt Pope did not feature in any of the Devils games last weekend and is doubtful to play on Wednesday, Andrew Lord’s men were defeated 5-2 by Milton Keynes before returning home to lose 6-1 at the hands of the Manchester Storm.
We welcome back former Stars Justin Faryna and Craig Moore for the first time, since the pair departed for the Devils during the summer. Both have gained valuable experience by playing in the Champions Hockey League with the EIHL champions.
Tickets are still available at the DIA box office and online, face-off is at 7:30pm.
