I actually quite enjoyed last night, and have enjoyed our run in the CHL on the whole as well. We were never going to win this competition, and if we don't win one game then that's OK, I think it's safe to say that everybody knew we were going up against teams of a much higher level than anything we've played before. Would I like to see us win one? Obviously. Is it the end of the world if we don't do that against teams who play at a much higher speed and intensity, across the whole of their game (some of Liberec's passing & puck control last night was outstanding)? Absolutely not.
I think in these kinds of situations you need to think of the bigger picture. These sides are the best we're likely to face all year, offensively, and while it might not be the most enjoyable experience for the players to lose by these margins it's still a good preparation for the team on the whole, defensively, with an eye toward the domestic season. Yes, there are some things to take away and work on from last night, and that won't change, but consider the way that we played in the first games against the Panthers to how we looked in the first period against Davos & Liberec away, and then in the first period last night - it was a completely different team, and I would back us to beat most teams in our league if we were to play like that.
The biggest negative from last night, I thought, was the refereeing. Some of the calls Darnell & co made seemed ridiculous, almost apologist calls to make up for angering the Liberec coach. Also, can somebody explain why when they had four players in the bin and we had two that the referees insisted we went down to three men instead of four, when we were supposed to be on a power play? Nobody seemed to know what that was about last night.