Gazza272 said:
Lately i have been taking a lot more notice of line changes and they seem to be happening for a variety of reasons, i will use the Stingrays on Sunday as an example.
We started the game with
Davies- Smith - Birbrear
Hill-Latuillipe-Voth/Hayes (rotating every other shift these two were)
Miller-Finnerty-Michel
Now this stayed consistent until Michel went into the box for his 2+10 penalty where Voth was then put on the third line, while hayes retained a consistent shift on the second (and boy what an assist for Latuillipes goal!) But Voth,Miller and Finnerty really clicked on that second line and the whole game changed from their work imo the two odd man rushes Finnerty and miller created with each other seemed to lift our bench and they were kept together on the third where they scored some more goals.
Personally i am teetering on being in favour of the line changes at home (havent seen enough away to comment) For me Adams has used them to try and change the course of the game and up until recently that worked, you cant argue with our home form this year really even with the Edinburgh game, and a big chunk of that has come from Adams and Franny looking at the opposition teams and trying to match lines that beat the oppositions lines and giving us an advantage.
For me it shows Adams attempts to change something for a positive rather than him not knowing what he's doing/not knowing the 'right; line combinations.
What he says above ;-)
I have being paying attention to the home line ups all season - I have to in order to write the match reports...and from my opinion, I have only seen the lines changed for genuine hockey reasons..
i.e Injuries, big penalties and the need to change something to try to win a game.
Not sure of the stats, but maybe one for Finny here, but how many home games have we come from behind to win? Has the change in forward lines helped us in turning around a losing scenario into a winning scenario?
Also you have to remember, we play like the Devils used to play back in the Vez days, where were put a forward (normally Smithy or Tylor) on the point when we go on the Power-play...this has the effect of disrupting the lines for when we return to 5 on 5 hockey. You will then sometimes see a mixed line sent out so we can reset the normal forward lines a short while after...
As it has been mentioned - our home form this season cannot be questioned really...I cannot comment on away games as I have not seen any, but I don't believe it is down to the lines - because if that was the case then that would affect our home form too.
The only real disappointment this season at home is that certain player combinations have not lit up the league like we expected (and losing to Edinburgh and Coventry at home too, lol).
No-one can understand our away form - but surely it has to be a mentality thing now.
Anyway, back on topic - I thought the Devils played a good game against Hull - they looked solid at the back, and eventually found a way to get the goals their possession deserved. Now lets see if we can kick on from here...