Cardiff Devils have completed the signing of Italian/Canadian forward Sean Bentivoglio.

The 30-year-old has spent the last five seasons in Italy with Asiago, leading the scoring in four of his five years with the team.

Bentivoglio helped Asiago win two Italian play-off championships and two Supercoppa Italiana titles.

Devils’ Player/Coach Andrew Lord said: “This one’s the big one – we’ve been working at this for a long time.

“We went after him hard last summer, but he just wasn’t ready to commit.

“It’s been a collaborative effort – Joey Martin grew up with him and Scott Hotham won a championship with him at Asiago.

“He has a great skillset, is extremely quick and has great playmaking ability. Above all else is his character – he’s a real competitor.

“He’s won multiple championships with Asiago and he’s going to bring so much to this team – we’re absolutely thrilled right now.”

Bentivoglio played four years at Niagara University, winning two league championships.

After finishing his university career, he played for the Boston Bruins’ farm team in Providence for the final 15 games of the season and the play-offs where he scored 23 points in 28 games.

He spent the next three seasons in the American Hockey League with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the top affiliate of the NHL’s New York Islanders.

In 2008/09 he was called up for his only NHL game with the Islanders, before finishing the season in Bridgeport and then moving to Europe the following season to join Augsburger Panther in the German DEL.