By Terry Phillips
American pace ace Evan Mosey is heading back to South Wales for the 2020-21 Cardiff Devils ice hockey season.
Mosey joins captain Joey Martin and Joey Haddad in confirming they will play for Devils next season.
He is rated the ‘fastest skater in Elite League’ by Devils managing director Todd Kelman, who admits he was surprised by the speed of Mosey’s return following a knee ligament injury last season.
“Mosey’s return shocked us all,” said Kelman.
“We were not planning to have him in the line-up at all last season, but the commitment to his rehabilitation was so impressive. I have never seen a player work so hard for that many months with the hope of maybe getting in at least a few games before the end of the season.
“We really missed him while he was out. He is probably the fastest skater in the league and he plays forward or defence, whatever you need him to. That is a real weapon for us.
“Mosey has a great scoring touch as well and showed that in a short space of time last season.
“People ask me all the time if I prefer him as a forward or a defencemen and honestly I don’t know and that is his greatest asset to a team. To be that good up front or on the blueline gives us options every game.”
Mosey originally joined the Devils in November 2018 after starting the season in Denmark with Herning Blue Fox.
In 44 games that season he scored eight goals and added 16 assists for 24 points on the way to Devils winning the playoff championship.
He holds a British passport which makes him eligible to play for Team GB, but he suffered a devastating knee injury while playing in the final game of the 2019 World Championships and was set to miss the entire 2019-20 season.
After getting surgery in June 2019 followed by months of rehab, he returned much earlier than expected, playing in the final nine games for the Devils, scoring seven points, with four goals and three assists.
Before playing in Cardiff, he played three seasons for Nottingham Panthers. In his final year with Nottingham he scored 21 goals and 20 assists in 54 games.
Kelman is still working on appointing a new coaching team for the Devils following news that Andrew Lord and assistant Luke Piggott are taking up new challenges.
Lord has accepted a head coach role in North America’s East Coast League, while Piggott has a new job outside of ice hockey in Switzerland.