Christiansen Cody is No.1

Edinburgh Capitals player-coach Doug Christiansen has told skysports.com that Cody Rudkowsky is the best netminder in the Elite League.

Canadian stopper Rudkowsky, 31, helped the Caps to their first road shutout in franchise history in Sunday's 1-0 win against the Cardiff Devils and has starred between the pipes for the Murrayfield-based team.

Although the fans voted Coventry's Peter Hirsch as the All Star starter for the overseas players in the EIHL, Christiansen has no doubt which goalie he believes is number one.

"Cody Rudkowsky is the best goaltender in this league," Christiansen told skysports.com.

"We rely on him every night and it was nice to see him get some accolades for a shutout because it is a tremendous achievement. And for us, our overall team defence was exceptional (in Cardiff on Sunday)."
Healthy

Rudkowsky's form this season has been all the more impressive considering Edinburgh's lack of defensive depth due to injury problems.

He has faced an even bigger workload when the Caps have travelled and played on back-to-back nights as the skaters have faded in the second game.

The Caps bolstered their blueline recently by bringing back Sean Perkins, but are still awaiting the return of Michael Beynon, who has been sidelined after suffering a concussion.

After an exhaustive search, Perkins was signed just in time before the international transfer card deadline passed at the end of January.

"We are starting to get healthier and the addition of Sean Perkins helps us immensely," Christiansen added.

"Before (Perkins arrived) we had one import defenceman, two national team British defencemen and a forward playing D. At least for now the forward playing D is our fifth defenceman (Neil Hay), who has been brought in to help give the others a break and more energy later in the game.

"I think Perkins is a big help and if we can continue getting healthy we'll be much better on the back end."