Cardiff Devils celebrate after winning the 2025 IIHF Continental Cup.
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / James Assinder
It was third time lucky for Cardiff Devils in their quest for Continental Cup glory. Beaten finalists in the past two seasons, the Welsh team made no mistake in Sunday’s decisive game against Bruleurs de Loups. A powerful second period set up a convincing 6-1 victory, garnished by a hat-trick from Brett Perlini.
That gave Cardiff the trophy for the first time in the organisation’s history. The Devils are only the second team from Britain’s Elite League to win the competition, following Nottingham Panthers’ triumph in 2017. But make no mistake, in this part of the world it's very much a matter of Welsh pride when a triumphant chorus of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of our Fathers) reverberates around a packed Vindico Arena.
And getting it done on home ice added to the thrill for long-serving Joey Martin in his third Continental Cup final as a Devil. "It's a really good feeling," he said. "Winning here was all we wanted to achieve so it feels pretty good right now."
Another long-serving Devil, GB international defender Josh Batch, is another who was involved in his third final. "I've been lucky to win a few trophies with Cardiff, but to win a European tournament is something a bit different," he said.
"It's something we've been trying to do for a couple of years so it's good to finally tick it off and get another banner up in the rafters."
For Bruleurs de Loups, this was a game in which ill-discipline cost dearly. Penalty trouble on Saturday against GKS Katowice turned a strong first-period performance into an arm-wrestle before the French emerged victorious in a shoot-out. Today, penalty trouble from the start meant that Grenoble always struggled to assert itself.
Bruleurs took two penalties in six minutes, both in Devils’ territory. The first of those saw Cardiff take the lead on 5:17. At first it seemed that Cole Sanford’s feed had fallen just behind Kohen Olischefski, but he produced a neat drag to capture the puck before dishing it off for Tyler Busch to finish.
The goal got a capacity crowd at Vindico Arena excited and their team responded with more pressure on the Grenoble net. The visitor kept the officials busy and was forced to kill 69 seconds with three men.
Despite surviving that scare, Bruleurs had to absorb more pressure at equal strength. However, the Devils could not find the second goal and paid the penalty towards the end of the first period. When Andrew MacWilliam sat for interference, the French PP fashioned a tying goal. Aurelian Dair, last night’s shoot-out hero, punished Cardiff’s earlier profligacy when he smoked one home from the left-hand circle to make it 1-1.
In other circumstances, that might have prompted jitters. But it turns out that Cardiff loves a big second period. Tonight, as in the tournament opener on Thursday, the Devils began the middle frame tied and returned to the locker room up 5-1. Two goals from Brett Perlini, plus further tallies from Josh MacDonald and Cole Sanford took the game away from Bruleurs and kickstarted the party in the Welsh capital.
"It was a bit of a nervy start for us," Perlini reflected. "In the first period we were just finding our way. But in the second we got it right and we took over. It was the same in the first game, we just had a great all-round team effort."
GB international Perlini restored Cardiff’s lead in the 24th minute, jumping onto an Olischefski pass through centre ice and racing away from the defender to find the top shelf behind Pintaric. Midway through the frame, Perlini struck again, stepping off the bench in time to send local youngster Bayley Harewood to the races. Pintaric stopped Harewood’s rush with a poke check but could nothing as Perlini buried the rebound.
The Devils saw a fourth goal ruled out after a video review ruled that the puck was kicked in following a crowd scene on the Grenoble crease. But that was soon forgotten when a classic PP play brought a legitimate tally from MacDonald on 37:44, sniping from the left-hand circle off a cross-ice feed from Zach O’Brien. A minute later it was five, Sanford getting clear and winning his duel with Bruleurs’ Slovenian goalie.
That put the game beyond doubt with 20 minutes to play. Grenoble was limited to just four shots in the middle frame and looked a spent force. After the third period seemed set to finish goalless, Perlini produced the perfect finish to the night when he completed his hat-trick with an empty net goal 16 seconds before the end.
The evening ended with jubilant scenes as players, staff and fans celebrated late into the Cardiff evening. "The tournament was awesome," concluded Martin. "It always is. We just have great fans here, they bring such a good atmosphere and we had really exciting games."
That gave Cardiff the trophy for the first time in the organisation’s history. The Devils are only the second team from Britain’s Elite League to win the competition, following Nottingham Panthers’ triumph in 2017. But make no mistake, in this part of the world it's very much a matter of Welsh pride when a triumphant chorus of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of our Fathers) reverberates around a packed Vindico Arena.
And getting it done on home ice added to the thrill for long-serving Joey Martin in his third Continental Cup final as a Devil. "It's a really good feeling," he said. "Winning here was all we wanted to achieve so it feels pretty good right now."
Another long-serving Devil, GB international defender Josh Batch, is another who was involved in his third final. "I've been lucky to win a few trophies with Cardiff, but to win a European tournament is something a bit different," he said.
"It's something we've been trying to do for a couple of years so it's good to finally tick it off and get another banner up in the rafters."
For Bruleurs de Loups, this was a game in which ill-discipline cost dearly. Penalty trouble on Saturday against GKS Katowice turned a strong first-period performance into an arm-wrestle before the French emerged victorious in a shoot-out. Today, penalty trouble from the start meant that Grenoble always struggled to assert itself.
Bruleurs took two penalties in six minutes, both in Devils’ territory. The first of those saw Cardiff take the lead on 5:17. At first it seemed that Cole Sanford’s feed had fallen just behind Kohen Olischefski, but he produced a neat drag to capture the puck before dishing it off for Tyler Busch to finish.
The goal got a capacity crowd at Vindico Arena excited and their team responded with more pressure on the Grenoble net. The visitor kept the officials busy and was forced to kill 69 seconds with three men.
Despite surviving that scare, Bruleurs had to absorb more pressure at equal strength. However, the Devils could not find the second goal and paid the penalty towards the end of the first period. When Andrew MacWilliam sat for interference, the French PP fashioned a tying goal. Aurelian Dair, last night’s shoot-out hero, punished Cardiff’s earlier profligacy when he smoked one home from the left-hand circle to make it 1-1.
In other circumstances, that might have prompted jitters. But it turns out that Cardiff loves a big second period. Tonight, as in the tournament opener on Thursday, the Devils began the middle frame tied and returned to the locker room up 5-1. Two goals from Brett Perlini, plus further tallies from Josh MacDonald and Cole Sanford took the game away from Bruleurs and kickstarted the party in the Welsh capital.
"It was a bit of a nervy start for us," Perlini reflected. "In the first period we were just finding our way. But in the second we got it right and we took over. It was the same in the first game, we just had a great all-round team effort."
GB international Perlini restored Cardiff’s lead in the 24th minute, jumping onto an Olischefski pass through centre ice and racing away from the defender to find the top shelf behind Pintaric. Midway through the frame, Perlini struck again, stepping off the bench in time to send local youngster Bayley Harewood to the races. Pintaric stopped Harewood’s rush with a poke check but could nothing as Perlini buried the rebound.
The Devils saw a fourth goal ruled out after a video review ruled that the puck was kicked in following a crowd scene on the Grenoble crease. But that was soon forgotten when a classic PP play brought a legitimate tally from MacDonald on 37:44, sniping from the left-hand circle off a cross-ice feed from Zach O’Brien. A minute later it was five, Sanford getting clear and winning his duel with Bruleurs’ Slovenian goalie.
That put the game beyond doubt with 20 minutes to play. Grenoble was limited to just four shots in the middle frame and looked a spent force. After the third period seemed set to finish goalless, Perlini produced the perfect finish to the night when he completed his hat-trick with an empty net goal 16 seconds before the end.
The evening ended with jubilant scenes as players, staff and fans celebrated late into the Cardiff evening. "The tournament was awesome," concluded Martin. "It always is. We just have great fans here, they bring such a good atmosphere and we had really exciting games."