The Canterbury Red Devils is an ice hockey team based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and are members of the New Zealand Ice Hockey League. The club plays their home games at the Alpine Ice Centre. Since their foundation in 2005 the team have won both the regular season title and the playoffs on four occasions with their most recent coming in the 2014 NZIHL season.
History The Canterbury Red Devils were founded in 2005 and joined the New Zealand Ice Hockey League (NZIHL) for its inaugural season. In their debut season the Red Devils finished the regular season in last place and failed to qualify for the playoffs. They again missed the playoffs in 2006 after finishing third in the standings. In 2007 the Red Devils won their first regular season title, edging out the Botany Swarm on goal difference. The team advanced to their first finals appearance however lost to the Swarm. The Red Devils won their second regular season title in 2008 however, went on to lose to the Swarm in the final. In 2009 the team won their third straight regular season title and advanced to the final against the Southern Stampede. The Red Devils defeated the Stampede to claim their first playoffs title. The 2010 and 2011 seasons saw the Red Devils finish the regular season in third place, losing out to the second placed team only on head-to-head win ratio. The team returned to the playoffs in 2012, winning their second playoffs title after defeating the Stampede in the final. The Red Devils went on to win the 2013 and 2014 playoffs, defeating the Dunedin Thunder in both finals and also claiming their fourth regular season title in 2014. Following their 2014 playoffs win the Red Devils became the first NZIHL club to claim three titles in a row. The 2015 season saw the Red Devils finish the regular season in second place and lose to the Stampede in the finals.
Season-by-season results SeasonRegular Season FinishPlayoff Result2005 6 0 – 0 – 6 17 38 2 4th Did not qualify 2006 6 1 – 1 – 4 22 26 9 3rd Did not qualify 2007 10 7 – 1 – 2 63 37 26 1st Lost final (Botany Swarm) 2008 12 9 – 2 – 1 93 48 32 1st Lost final (Botany Swarm) 2009 16 14 – 0 – 2 133 35 28 1st Won final (Southern Stampede) 2010 16 8 0 – 2 6 92 75 26 3rd Did not qualify 2011 16 10 1 – 1 4 77 62 33 3rd Did not qualify 2012 16 7 3 – 2 4 80 68 29 2nd Won final (Southern Stampede) 2013 16 9 2 – 1 4 93 63 32 2nd Won final (Dunedin Thunder) 2014 16 12 0 – 1 3 79 58 37 1st Won final (Dunedin Thunder) 2015 16 9 1 – 2 4 96 64 31 2nd Lost final (Southern Stampede) 2016 16 9 1 – 1 5 85 79 30 2nd Lost final (Southern Stampede) 2017 16 2 1 – 1 12 51 127 9 5th Did not qualify 20181611–0145812555thDid not qualify20191620–113339675thDid not qualify2020810–07266833rdPlayoffs not held20211621–1125610995thPlayoffs cancelled2022 16 7 2 – 0 7 62 60 25 3rd Lost semifinal (West Auckland Admirals) 2023 16 3 1 – 3 9 60 82 14 4th Did not qualify 2024 16 2 1 – 2 11 53 115 10 4th Did not qualify 2025 16 0 0 – 0 16 46 104 0 5th Did not qualify
NZIHL Awards NZIHL champions 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014 NZIHL Minor Premiership: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014 Toa Kauhunga Riri Tio: New Zealand Ice Hockey League#Toa Kauhanga Riri Tio NZIHL Finals MVP: Justin Findlay (2009), Valeri Konev (2012), Takumi Ledbetter (2013), Dale Harrop (2014) NZIHL League MVP: Janos Kaszala (2007), Chris Eaden (2009, 2012, 2022) NZIHL Rookie of the year: Dale Harrop (2007), Dan Nicholls (2008), Ryan Ruddle (2009), Jerreau Hohaia (2011), Jake Ratcliffe (2013), Jacob Carey (2021), Lachlan Hodge (2023) NZIHL Top Scorer: Janos Kaszala (2007, 2008), Chris Eaden (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2022) NZIHL Best Goaltender: Justin Findlay (2009), Michael Coleman (2014) NZIHL Best Defenceman: Hayden Argyle (2007), Mitchell Oak (2010), Dan Nicholls (2011), Terry Watt (2013) Team MVP - Canterbury Red Devils: Troy Crittenden (2005), Andreas Ericcson (2006), Janos Kaszala (2007, 2008), Paris Heyd (2009), Justin Findlay (2010), Kyle Papai (2011), James Kirkwood (2012), Brett Spiers (2013), Chris Eaden (2014, 2017), Dean Tonks (2015), James Archer (2016), Jaxson Lane (2018), Adam Goss (2019), Petr Pospisil (2021), Joe Orr (2022), Dan Nicholls (2023)
Players and personnel
Current roster Team roster for the 2026 NZIHL season
Team captains
Hayden Argyle, 2012–2015 James Archer, 2016 Chris Eaden, 2017
Head coaches Jonathon Whitehead, 2010 János Kaszala, 2011 Anatoli Khorozov, 2012–2013 Stacey Rout, 2014 Anatoli Khorozov, 2015 Matthew Sandford, 2016–2017 Anatoli Khorozov, 2018
General managers Jake Lane, 2012–2015 Martin Jeffreys, 2016 Sherry Peck, 2017 Jake Lane, 2018
References
External links Canterbury Red Devils