People need to stop comparing to last year. We were a whisker away from winning all 4 trophies, I doubt we will do that again for many years and I don't expect any other side to come close to it either. We were spoilt last year, we didn't know how good we had it. As I have seen someone else post on twitter tonight, don't forget that this is what supporting a team is like most seasons, it's not always winning trophies.
Remember when Belfast won the league in about January a few years ago? From winning it so convincingly then, they haven't really come close to doing it again, maybe last year was the closest. You'd expect a club that was that strong to dominate for the next few years. But they didn't. It's very hard upgrading a team that had just won so much, and the new expectations of the fanbase doesn't help that either.
And I don't buy the nonsense of players not trying or playing with no heart. They will be more frustrated than anyone of us. They're professional hockey players, and their jobs might be on the line. Whether people think they're good enough for the reigning league champions is another thing, but not trying their best? No chance.