Evan Mosey has been a shining addition to a Cardiff Devils team intent on winning the Elite League title for a third successive season.
The American from Downers Grove, Illinois is playing a huge role for Devils, who are top of the League after their 3-2 home win against Guildford Flames at the Viola Arena.
The loss of Ben Blood to Finnish club Tappara was a major blow for Devils, although he departed with the blessing of club officials and team-mates because he moved to one of the best leagues in Europe.
Head coach Andrew Lord struck gold when he brought in Mosey, a player equally at home patrolling the blue line or rampaging as a high energy forward.
“The guy is a coaches dream,” says Lord. “Corey Neilsson was always raving about him at Nottingham and he is a guy I have wanted to sign for years.
“It was a huge and critical pick-up when he came to Devils.
“Evan can do it all. I like him a lot in both positions. From a team perspective he gives us a flexibility which is absolutely huge.
“He can play in any role. We have not seen much of him on the powerplay yet, but that is something g to consider.
“The sky’s the lime for Evan. He is still learning the structure and systems, which are a little different to what he is used to, and I can’t wait to see him at 100 per cent.”
Man of the match Charles Linglet scored three points against Flames, while the other scorers were Mike Hedden and Drew Scheistel, who scored the powerplay winner to secure both points.
“That was a huge goal,” said Lord. “We created good chance son our PP and it was credit to the defenders and goalie that Flames kept the puck out.
“We played a lot of good minutes. The first period was great and we really took over in the third. Yes, there was a lull in the second after we ran into penalty trouble, but when we on the body and playing with intensity we created a lot of chances.”
Canadian forward Joey Haddad missed the game because because of a minor injury and Lord revealed: “He was close to playing, but we decided not to risk is.
“He will be assessed again on Thursday.”
Cardiff Devils were cheered on by a 3,000-plus sell-out attended as they returned to top spot in Elite League
Hedden (7-05), Langley (28-43) and Scheistel (52-54) scored for Cardiff.
The winning goal coming after Flames had fought back from two goals down to make it 2-2.
Match stats:
Scorers, Devils: Mike Hedden 1+0, Charles Linglet 1+2, Drew Scheistel 1+0, Gleason Fournier 0+1, Mark Richardson 0+1.
Flames: Jamie Crooks 1+0, Kruise Reddick 1+0, Brett Ferguson 0+1, Ben Davies 0+1, John Dunbar 0+1, Evan Johnson 0+1.
Period scores (Devils first): 1-0; 1-2 (2-2); 1-0.
Shots on goal: Devils (on Carrozzi) 18+11+12=41; Flames (on Bowns) 6+12+5=23.
Penalties in minutes: Devils 0+6+2=8; Flames 6+0+6=12.
Special teams: Devils PK 3/4, PP 1/6; Flames PK 5/6, PP 1/4,
Stars of the game: Devils, Charles Linglet; Flames, Jamie Crooks.
Referees: Matt Rose and Matt Thompson.Thompson
Attendance: 3,100
The next fixture for Devils is against Manchester Storm at home on Saturday (7pm).
Elite League fixtures
Manchester Storm v Sheffield Steelers (5.30pm)
Wednesday 2
Fife Flyers v Milton Keynes Lightning (6pm)
Dundee Stars v Glasgow Clan (7.30pm)
Nottingham Panthers v Guildford Flames (7.30pm)
Thursday 3
Dundee Stars v Milton Keynes Lightning (7.30pm)
Saturday 5
Belfast Giants v Sheffield Steelers (7pm)
Cardiff Devils v Manchester Storm (7pm)
Glasgow Clan v Dundee Stars (7pm)
Milton Keynes Lightning v Coventry Blaze (7pm)
Nottingham Panthers v Fife Flyers (7pm)
Sunday 6
Belfast Giants v Sheffield Steelers (4pm)
Coventry Blaze v Glasgow Clan (5.15pm)
Manchester Storm v Nottingham Panthers (5.30pm)
Guildford Flames v Milton Keynes Lightning (6pm)
Fife Flyers v Cardiff Devils (6.30pm)
ELITE ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE 2018/19
| TEAM | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | PCT | GF | GA | PIM | STREAK |
| Cardiff Devils | 32 | 23 | 5 | 4 | 50 | .781 | 128 | 83 | 380 | 3-0 |
| Belfast Giants | 33 | 24 | 8 | 1 | 49 | .742 | 125 | 74 | 458 | 0-1 |
| Nottingham Panthers | 36 | 19 | 10 | 7 | 45 | .625 | 118 | 108 | 598 | 1-0 |
| Fife Flyers | 31 | 16 | 11 | 4 | 36 | .581 | 106 | 101 | 428 | 0-1 |
| Sheffield Steelers | 33 | 17 | 16 | 0 | 34 | .515 | 103 | 111 | 455 | 0-1 |
| Guildford Flames | 32 | 16 | 15 | 1 | 33 | .516 | 104 | 97 | 430 | 0-2 |
| Glasgow Clan | 30 | 16 | 13 | 1 | 33 | .550 | 99 | 102 | 372 | 1-0 |
| Dundee Stars | 33 | 12 | 13 | 8 | 32 | .485 | 87 | 110 | 353 | 1-0 |
| Coventry Blaze | 31 | 12 | 13 | 6 | 30 | .484 | 100 | 118 | 385 | 0-1 |
| Manchester Storm | 33 | 13 | 17 | 3 | 29 | .439 | 94 | 121 | 806 | 1-0 |
| Milton Keynes Lightning | 32 | 10 | 20 | 2 | 22 | .344 | 76 | 115 | 610 | 0-3 |