CARDIFF,U.K-The Elite league Cardiff Devils are set to have a huge physical presence on defense this season. Wes Jarvis (6’4″ 230lbs) and Doug MacIver (6’5″ 235lbs) will be joining Mike Hartwick on defence at the Cardiff franchise for the 2008-09 season.
In a recent interview with Mike Hartwick I described how the Devils were looking for him to provide a physical presence in the Devils zone. That still stands, but with MacIver and Jarvis now on board the Devils have a 
wealth of size on defence.
The Devils defensive zone is set to be an intimidating place for opposition forwards, particularly in the confines of the small ice surface at Cardiff Bay. “There’s no hiding in our small rink,” Head-coach Gerard Adams said “It’s important for us to make Cardiff an intimidating place to play for every team, we don’t want other teams to look forward to coming to the Bay.”
Adams has clearly built his side from the back. While the only known quantities are Championship winning goaltender Peter Aubry and Welsh defenseman Jason Stone, the new look defence looks to be arguably the toughest to break down in the Elite League. Fans will be looking to Jarvis to fulfil the role of shutting down opposing forwards along with Hartwick, who he will also be studying alongside at Cardiff University Business School.
Drafted in the second round (46th overall) in 1997 by the New York Rangers, Toronto born Jarvis brings an excellent pedigree to the Devils. He has represented the Canadian National team 50 times and has nearly 50 games experience at AHL level.
Jarvis also has experience of playing in the UK. By signing for the Devils he has become the second player from last season’s Basingstoke Bison roster, after hard-hitting forward Derek Campbell made the move to Wales capital city for the 2008-09 season.
Adams clearly saw things he liked in Jarvis. Despite being known more for his playing than his fighting, Jarvis twice stood-up to Devils Brad Voth, who is considered to be one of the toughest players in the Elite League and has previously fought NHL heavyweight Derek Boogaard.
Voth shares that accomplishment with Doug MacIver who joins the Devils to provide the kind of physical presence on defence that Voth supplies as a forward. MacIver’s record speaks for itself. At just 28 he has amassed 1751 penalty minutes including a career-high 326 minutes for the ECHL’s Louisiana Ice Gators in 2005-06.
“You can see from his stats he’s a big physical player and we’re bringing him in to be physical,” Adams said “He’s about the same size as Brad (Voth) and one thing we missed last year was a big D man who will clear the net.”
MacIver, from King City, Ontario, showed his offensive capabilities last season when he had a career-high point a game for Den Haag Wolves of the Dutch Eredivisie. Adams will be looking for more of the same from MacIver when he pulls on a Devils uniform. Contact the author at Aled.Lloyd@prohockeynews.com
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