Let's be honest, performances of late, particularly last weekend have been on a downward curve. As a 2nd placed team, we should be seeing out 5-1 games and beating 10th ranked teams.
We can all blame travel, we fly to Scotland, I believe Stars with 4D didn't. The club agreed this schedule and additional European games etc.
For me it's down to a coach, in this case PR, to create and manage his roster from recruitment up the the last game, manage injuries, define hockey style, coach lines and systems, change systems during games and out coach the opposition etc.
This is PR's roster, he made decisions to retain players and recruit. We can all debate if someone else is making decisions and if they did / are then any coach has to be strong to either accept or walk away.
I'm no coach, I have watched the devils since day one which gives me no advantage over the fan sitting next to me but I can see that there is something wrong. We have good players, I'd argue that, Arnell, Busch, Sandford, Ully and Martin could be on Belfast and Steelers top 2 lines, most of our Brits on the rosters of up to a 3th placed team, all that's open to discussion. Point is that they started well and we've lost games where we shouldn't have. Yes we've 2nd but I don't want to be 2nd, I want to be competitive and win EVERY game not just for the top games.
So my questions to the coach are, why do we seem to be out coached during games? why aren't we finishing checks?, I saw 1 hit on Saturday by Riley, why do we not take action against cheap shots and injury sustained hits?, aka Waller on Saturday especially as he's been out with concussion protocol before. Why is our PP ranked 7th ?, Although our PK is excellent J1st. Do you think teams "fear" to come to Cardiff ? they did in the WNIR and BBT so how can we replicate this environment? please don't say it's down to the fans, the product on the ice dictates the atmosphere. At what point do you think that "European" over N. American hockey may not be the answer?
There's an American saying, if it ain't broke don't fix it, I'm not saying i's broken yet but it's starting to look like it needs some maintenance.
My summary in asking those questions are, If we had Plan B, C, even a plan D during a game, if we were more physical off the puck, If we sent a message as a result of a cheap shot etc, if our PP was 2nd in the league, if we established a fear for opposition teams to play here do you think we would be more successful? I think and hope so, we would have tried everything other that the 2-week letter ;-)
I love this club and it hurts me to see performances of late, I just want to maybe press the re-fresh button and start a new "season as soon as possible"....apart from the Conti-cup distraction !! but that's another discussion ha ha
We can all blame travel, we fly to Scotland, I believe Stars with 4D didn't. The club agreed this schedule and additional European games etc.
For me it's down to a coach, in this case PR, to create and manage his roster from recruitment up the the last game, manage injuries, define hockey style, coach lines and systems, change systems during games and out coach the opposition etc.
This is PR's roster, he made decisions to retain players and recruit. We can all debate if someone else is making decisions and if they did / are then any coach has to be strong to either accept or walk away.
I'm no coach, I have watched the devils since day one which gives me no advantage over the fan sitting next to me but I can see that there is something wrong. We have good players, I'd argue that, Arnell, Busch, Sandford, Ully and Martin could be on Belfast and Steelers top 2 lines, most of our Brits on the rosters of up to a 3th placed team, all that's open to discussion. Point is that they started well and we've lost games where we shouldn't have. Yes we've 2nd but I don't want to be 2nd, I want to be competitive and win EVERY game not just for the top games.
So my questions to the coach are, why do we seem to be out coached during games? why aren't we finishing checks?, I saw 1 hit on Saturday by Riley, why do we not take action against cheap shots and injury sustained hits?, aka Waller on Saturday especially as he's been out with concussion protocol before. Why is our PP ranked 7th ?, Although our PK is excellent J1st. Do you think teams "fear" to come to Cardiff ? they did in the WNIR and BBT so how can we replicate this environment? please don't say it's down to the fans, the product on the ice dictates the atmosphere. At what point do you think that "European" over N. American hockey may not be the answer?
There's an American saying, if it ain't broke don't fix it, I'm not saying i's broken yet but it's starting to look like it needs some maintenance.
My summary in asking those questions are, If we had Plan B, C, even a plan D during a game, if we were more physical off the puck, If we sent a message as a result of a cheap shot etc, if our PP was 2nd in the league, if we established a fear for opposition teams to play here do you think we would be more successful? I think and hope so, we would have tried everything other that the 2-week letter ;-)
I love this club and it hurts me to see performances of late, I just want to maybe press the re-fresh button and start a new "season as soon as possible"....apart from the Conti-cup distraction !! but that's another discussion ha ha