Cardiff Devils are among five teams nominated for a leading European ice hockey award.
Elite League champions Devils are competing alongside Champions Hockey League title winners Frolunda Gothenburg plus SC Bern, Tappara Tampere and Vienna Capitals.
The Club of the Year nominations for the 2017 Fenix European Hockey Awards were decided by a group of hockey experts from eight European countries.
Nominees for ‘Club of the Year’ are:
Cardiff Devils (Elite League). First national title in 20 years, Challenge Cup winners; qualified for Champions Hockey League
Frolunda Gothenburg (Sweden). Three titles in 12 months – Champions League 2016 and 2017, Swedish League 2016.
SC Bern (Switzerland). From 8th to 1st in National League, for 16th straight year best Euro attendance, over 16,000.
Tappara Tampere (Finland). Dominated as they did in 1970s/1980s glory days, won regular season and title.
Vienna Capitals (Austria). Complete dominance, regular season win and 12-0 run in playoffs.
The winners will be announced in June.
Devils have set up a new Fan Council comprising 13 season ticket holders.
Club management have met with the 13 to discuss the purpose of the council and to outline what they collectively hope to achieve together over the next 12 months.
“The council is set up for all of our fans,” said club managing director Todd Kelman. “I am hoping that this group will be seen as a way to feed back ideas, suggestions and improvements along with complaints or frustrations our fans have that we need to know about.
“The biggest thing we want the Fan Council to do is keep us in check. I can never take an unbiased first hand view of the match night experience, but they can and so can our fans coming through the doors every week.
“So when they talk to me about parking issues, long queues at the bars, lack of merchandise for toddlers or whatever they bring to us I know if they are seeing these things then a lot of other people are.
“We can only get better if we open up a channel for honest feedback to improve this team and the customer experience. I believe the Fan Council is another step to improving our relationship with our fanbase, but also for improving the match night experience for everyone.”
The Council will meet once a month with the Devils Management and will have access to feedback any issues to the team at anytime.
The Fan Council is made up of 13 season ticket holders with different ages and backgrounds and the aim is to help continuously improve the experience for all Devils fans.
Devils Fan Council: Matt Broadbent, Leanne Bruford, Blaine Burbidge-Smith, Tony Dicken, Jo Forbes, Eleanor Jones, Rachel Jones, Elin Melville-Brown, Matt Millard, Paul Parry, Phil Pepper, James Stacey, Barrie Stevens.
From next Monday, May 8, Devils supporters can get in touch with the fan council directly via email to fc@cardiffdevils.com