Cloutier hoping to break Devils Jinx
Excel Hull Stingrays player-coach Sylvain Cloutier is hoping to end their Cardiff Devils hoodoo when they meet in the Challenge Cup tomorrow night.
Devils, runners-up in the Rapid Solicitors Elite League last season and beaten play-off finalists, were the only side Stingrays failed to beat last term.
Stingrays head to South Wales without a win from their first five games, although they have been competitive against Belfast Giants, Sheffield Steelers, Coventry Blaze and Nottingham Panthers.
Cloutier said: “We watched a video of the Nottingham game and it showed how well we played in the first half of the game and how bad we played in the second half. We just need to put it together for 60 minutes. “It has been a tough start for us, we knew it would be. But we have been competitive and we will fight through it.
“G [Devils player-coach Gerad Adams] has done a good job in Cardiff. He has a good team and has managed to keep a good core of guys together. “We have to be ready to play. We have to match their intensity. They play physical and in your face, that’s G’s style. They play hard and honest.
“We have to match that for 60 minutes and hopefully the message will have sunk in and we can give ourselves a chance.
“Cardiff had our number last year, they have for the last two years really. I think we have only beaten them once. They have a good system and players buy into that and that is why they have been so successful.”
Stingrays then return to league action on Sunday when new-boys Fife Flyers visit Hull Arena.
Cloutier added: “It is going to be another tough game. I keep saying there are no easy games. “I spoke to [former player] Drew Bannister [Braehead Clan player-coach] who has scouted them and he told me they work hard for 60 minutes and never quit.
“They will feel they can take points from us. We are going to have to be ready and play to our best to beat them.”
Stingrays take on Fife Flyers at Hull Arena in the Rapid Solicitors Elite League on Sunday September 26 (6pm face-off). Tickets can be purchased by ringing the Hull Arena Box Office on 01482 325252.