Cardiff Devils – Wales’ Ice Hockey Powerhouse
FOR four decades, Cardiff Devils have been one of the great success stories of Welsh sport.
Founded in 1986, the Devils have grown from a new team in an unfamiliar sporting landscape into one of the most successful and best-supported ice hockey clubs in Britain. Today they compete in the Elite Ice Hockey League, playing their home games at Vindico Arena in Cardiff Bay, where crowds regularly create one of the most distinctive sporting atmospheres in the Welsh capital.
For supporters brought up on football and rugby, ice hockey can initially feel like a very different world: fast, physical, colourful and played at a pace that barely gives spectators time to catch their breath.
Yet the story of the Cardiff Devils is unmistakably Welsh too — built around community, loyalty, memorable characters and generations of supporters who have followed the team through triumphs, uncertainty and three very different home arenas.
From John Lawless to a British ice hockey powerhouse
The Devils were created in 1986 by former professional player and British Ice Hockey Hall of Famer John Lawless, a Canadian who would become one of the most important figures in the history of Welsh ice hockey.
Lawless did far more than coach and play. He helped establish the identity of the fledgling club and assembled teams that quickly became formidable opponents.
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Cardiff were already a dominant force in British ice hockey. Across their history the Devils have won seven league championships, establishing themselves as one of the country’s major clubs.
Lawless remains such an important figure that his number 9 jersey has been permanently retired by the club. The Devils describe him simply as the “Father of the Cardiff Devils.”
Three homes and one loyal following
The history of the Devils can almost be divided by the rinks they have called home.
From 1986 until 2006 they played at the Wales National Ice Rink in central Cardiff.
When that building closed, supporters entered one of the most unusual chapters in the club’s history. For almost a decade the Devils played in a temporary rink that became affectionately — and sometimes less affectionately — known as the Big Blue Tent.
It was hardly glamorous, but it became an important part of Devils folklore.
In March 2016, the club finally moved into its present Cardiff Bay home, now known as Vindico Arena, part of the International Sports Village. The arena accommodates just over 3,100 spectators on match nights, and the club regularly attracts sell-out crowds.
For many supporters, that intimacy is part of the appeal. A Devils match does not feel like watching sport from a distance. The crowd sits close to the ice, the action is fast and the noise can be considerable.
The names written into Devils history
Every successful club develops its own mythology, and Cardiff have plenty of names that generations of supporters still discuss.
Eight numbers currently hang permanently from the rafters in recognition of players whose contribution to the Devils has been judged irreplaceable:
Doug McEwen (7), John Lawless (9), Jason Stone (10), Brian Dickson (14), Steve Moria (19), Brad Voth (26), Neil Francis (29) and Shannon Hope (35).
Other names have become deeply associated with different eras of the club, among them Nicky Chinn, Stevie Lyle, Gerad Adams, Joey Haddad and Andrew Hotham.
Few, however, bridge as many different chapters of Cardiff Devils history as Neil Francis.
Francis first joined the club as a 17-year-old in 1992, played more than 600 times for the Devils and later became a coach and Director of Hockey Operations. His influence also extended behind the scenes, helping bring the current Canadian ownership group to Cardiff. His number 29 was formally retired in January 2026.
The Canadian connection and a modern revival
One of the most important turning points in modern Devils history came in 2014.
A group of businessmen based in Calgary, Alberta — Steve King, Brian Parker, Kelly Hughes and Craig Shostak — purchased the club, appointing Todd Kelman as Managing Director.
The change was dramatic.
Cardiff had finished ninth before the takeover. In the new owners’ first full season, the Devils won the Challenge Cup and nearly captured the league title.
Further success followed.
The Devils won league championships in 2016-17 and 2017-18, Challenge Cups in 2014-15 and 2016-17, and Playoff Championships in 2018 and 2019.
That era created another generation of Devils favourites and cemented Cardiff’s position among British ice hockey’s leading clubs.
European glory comes to Cardiff
The Devils story is not restricted to domestic competition.
In January 2025, Cardiff hosted the IIHF Continental Cup Final, bringing European club hockey to Cardiff Bay.
The Devils went on to win the tournament, securing the club’s first European championship. It was one of the most significant achievements in their history and further evidence that Welsh ice hockey could compete on an international stage.
That European dimension is one of the reasons Cardiff Devils have potential appeal far beyond Wales.
Over the years, players have arrived in Cardiff from Canada, the United States, Scandinavia and across continental Europe, while the Devils themselves have faced clubs from countries where ice hockey is one of the major national sports.
More success in 2026
The silverware continued in April 2026.
Under head coach Paul Thompson, Cardiff defeated Sheffield to become 2026 Elite League Playoff Champions.
It was their fourth playoff championship in seven completed seasons and their first major trophy since the 2022 playoff victory.
That success provided the perfect lead-in to a particularly significant season.
2026-27 marks the 40th anniversary of the Cardiff Devils.
The club is celebrating the milestone throughout the campaign, including a special anniversary weekend in October with many former favourites returning to Cardiff.
Modern Devils legends
The current era has produced players who have already secured their own place in club history.
Captain Joey Martin, who first joined Cardiff in 2014, has won league championships, Challenge Cups and playoff titles with the Devils and is regarded by the club as arguably its greatest-ever player. He returned to captain Cardiff again for the 2026-27 season.
Goaltender Ben Bowns has been another central figure in the modern success story, while long-serving defenceman Mark Richardson entered his 19th Devils season in 2026-27 after passing the remarkable landmark of 1,000 competitive games for the club.
Richardson has also been a long-time Great Britain international, illustrating the strong connection between Cardiff and the wider British game.
A Welsh club with international reach
Despite the Canadian influences and international roster, the Devils remain firmly rooted in Wales.
Cardiff-born players have come through the local system, while generations of families have made match nights part of their sporting lives.
At the same time, the international nature of ice hockey gives the Devils a story capable of travelling.
A Canadian supporter may recognise the backgrounds of players who developed in North America. A Finnish, Swedish or Slovakian fan may discover Cardiff through somebody who once played in their domestic leagues. An American college hockey follower may encounter a player who came through the NCAA system before arriving in Wales.
For Ewegottalove, that makes the Devils much more than a Cardiff sports story.
They offer another gateway through which international sports fans can discover Wales.
What is a Cardiff Devils match-night like?
Ice hockey has always understood that sport can also be entertainment.
A Devils match usually offers much more than three periods of hockey. There is music, food and drink, competitions, merchandise and the distinctive interaction between players and supporters that comes with a relatively compact arena.
The club’s match-night operation regularly includes raffles, fan activities and opportunities to meet players, helping explain why Devils games attract so many families as well as committed hockey followers.
For somebody who has never watched ice hockey live, the biggest surprise is often simply the speed.
Television rarely conveys just how quickly players move, how rapidly possession changes or how physical the sport can be.
Forty years – and still growing
Cardiff Devils entered Welsh sporting life in 1986 as something unusual.
Forty years later they have become an institution.
They have survived the loss of their original rink, endured years in temporary accommodation, rebuilt under new ownership, won major domestic honours and lifted a European trophy on Welsh ice.
And throughout it all, the supporters remained.
That may be the most important part of the Devils story.
Football and rugby inevitably dominate much of the sporting conversation in Wales, but on winter weekends in Cardiff Bay another Welsh sporting tradition continues to thrive.
And judging by the noise inside Vindico Arena, the Devils have no intention of quietly slipping beneath the radar.
Did Ewe Know?
When the Calgary-based group bought Cardiff Devils in 2014, one of the owners, Kelly Hughes, already had serious hockey credentials of his own — he had played four seasons of NCAA Division I ice hockey for Cornell University in the United States.
So Cardiff’s modern Canadian connection wasn’t simply a business investment. At least one of the men behind the revival knew very well what life on the ice was all about.