Devils Vs Blaze - CC - 30th Oct 24 - FO 19:30

James

James

Administrator
#1
Thread starter #1
The end of October and we finally get to see the Blaze in action. 2 more important cup points on the line as we seek to nose our way past Storm into contention for a spot in the next round. Blaze have had a pretty great start to the season only recording their first L on Sunday night against Belfast.
 
Wannabe2

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
#2
#2
Big game tomorrow against a team that are doing well at the moment, we need these points massively to carry on with our crusade to win silverware, and to also help with our finances. Play as we can and we look very good, but if we don’t play for 60 mins we can find ourselves in big trouble, hopefully the crowd will rally behind the lads and help get us the points that we desperately need.
 
E

E.D.S.

Well-Known Member
#3
#3
Be interested to see how Alderson plays and our reaction to that. He'll probably play like a man possessed as did Brittain when he came back. Really looking forward to this one. It feels odd though, it's October and we've normally played them 25 times by now. I love it when James points that out in his usual sarcastic manner.
 
ASHIPP

ASHIPP

Well-Known Member
#5
#5
Big game this. Here is a young team with a new coach doing well. What a start to their league campaign.. 10 points from first 5 games.
Definitely not to be taken for granted.
 
M

Martynwo

Well-Known Member
#6
#6
Hope the Microphone audio is fixed, could not hear the assists on Sunday, music
audio seems ok so maybe a "mic-in" issue.
Someone said a while back that there are issues with audio hopefully fixed in the not
too distant future
 
B

Bigphilbaby

Well-Known Member
#7
#7
I just wish they stop playing the same music over and over again, at times we have the same song 3-4 times a night. Songs they play just don't pump the crowd up!
 
D

Devil insane26

Member
#14
#14
No wonder we are seeing a drop in physical plays in this league when you are likely to get a 5 minute for what we have seen the past few weeks. That's now two 5 + games which should never have been called. Yes there was head contact this time (unlike Brandt) but the Blaze player put himself deliberately in a very vulnerable and dangerous position there...nothing Macwilliam could've done and would've been a big clean hit if he took the body.
 
H

hockeyhead29

Member
#15
#15
Devil insane26 said:
No wonder we are seeing a drop in physical plays in this league when you are likely to get a 5 minute for what we have seen the past few weeks. That's now two 5 + games which should never have been called. Yes there was head contact this time (unlike Brandt) but the Blaze player put himself deliberately in a very vulnerable and dangerous position there...nothing Macwilliam could've done and would've been a big clean hit if he took the body.
Click to expand...
Agreed, I'd also add that players are given guidance on being responsible for their own safety by not turning or ducking on hits. I could sympathise if the refs didnt have the benefit of video review (and God dont they love hanging out there) but ANYONE seeing the video can the see the player drops his head.
Finally, there isn't a coach that wouldn't expect their D man to step up, make the hit and hold the blue line. NIklas Kronwall made a career out of it! For players like Mcwilliams, they have been taught from a young age to make hits like that and impose themselves on the game. I'd like the ref to explain what Mcwilliam could have done differently on that hit. I've said it previously but half these refs struggled at NIHL level and there is no way they should be ref'ing at this level. Given the money the elite league has, I think it's time to bring in someone from North America and oversee a complete overhaul.
 
Swarley

Swarley

Well-Known Member
#16
#16
This league needs to sort it's self out, they take in all these sponsorship deals and then don't bother injecting it into the league by recruiting officials that have a brain cell.

How hard can it be for them to invest in proper officals that are non biased, not petty, understand the rules and can call a game straight down the middle?

Its no wonder some players leave the league and talk crap about it all on social media when the officals blunder calls use a video review and double down on their stupidity.

Eihl is an over funded beer league with clowns in striped shirts.
 
D

Devil insane26

Member
#17
#17
I have to be honest I didn't notice the officiating being as bad last year...this year it's absolutely woeful! Check through the numbers by Jurgens that period being missed was a stinker...and that was absolutely on the player forechecking as opposed to macwilliiam being done dirty.
 
D

Devil94

Well-Known Member
#19
#19
Swarley said:
How hard can it be for them to invest in proper officals that are non biased, not petty, understand the rules and can call a game straight down the middle?

Its no wonder some players leave the league and talk crap about it all on social media when the officals blunder calls use a video review and double down on their stupidity.

Eihl is an over funded beer league with clowns in striped shirts.
Click to expand...
Actually pretty difficult. The quality of the teams and players in the EIHL is much better than it should be with the facilities and structure of junior hockey in this country, due of course to the number of imports. The officials are not imports, and so if you compare their levels as players v officals then obviously there's going to be a big gap. Getting 'import' officals of a higher level would be great but not really practical. And I can't imagine there's much money out there to seriously develop homegrown officals, but even if there was it's not going to happen overnight.

The level of officiating is not up to quality of the league, but it's not biased. It's a classic sports fan expression to say the refs are biased against them, fans of 10 teams in this league would say it. It's a boring old trope.

As for this penalty, there is head contact so in this day and age it has to be called. I'm hoping there's enough mitigation with the Blaze player dropping his head, and also MacWilliam's elbow being tucked in and not high, to warrant no further action.
 
B

Block 2 Noise Boys

Active Member
#20
#20
From where I sit, MacWilliams’ Challenge didn’t look good in real time and having seen the replay (elsewhere on social media), I don’t believe it was a high hockey IQ play.

We’re already 2 import D men down, and will possibly be a minimum of 3 import D men down for a few games. DOPS will have their input, and I wouldn’t hold my breath for less than 3 games.

Why give the stripeys the ammunition? The only thing they will do is shoot you in the arse with it
 
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