The problem we had tonight was we weren’t clinical. We’re not gonna win many games winning 1 goal. Bowns played very well considering he hasn’t played many games recently. I do think some people on here need to calm down a little bit. It was a very tense tight game that could’ve gone either way. We didn’t help ourselves at times in all honestly but people saying this was the worst performance of the season need to grow up a bit. Angers are a great team that need to be respected a bit more. We should’ve won that tonight but that’s hockey. Let’s hope Nitra beat them tomorrow and then it’s back in our hands
Devils Vs Ducs - Continental Cup Final #1 - 13th Jan 23 - 19:00 FO
- Thread starter James
- Start date
We had parts of the game where we dominated & others where we were under the cosh, we had plenty of shots on goal just couldn't take our chances. We were up against a strong side playing on home ice. Both goalies were strong. For most of overtime we looked pretty comfortable. We had plenty of opportunities to win that in regulation but couldn't find the net (excluding that Angers gift to Reid).
Powerplay needs improving & we just to need to keep our composure. It's a shame as I think we really needed to win that in regulation to have a realistic shot at the title, its all uphill now.
Edit: I think because a couple of months ago we seemed to breeze through the opposition in the the first round of Continental Cup it might have generated unrealistic expectations of the quality we'd be up against in the final.
Powerplay needs improving & we just to need to keep our composure. It's a shame as I think we really needed to win that in regulation to have a realistic shot at the title, its all uphill now.
Edit: I think because a couple of months ago we seemed to breeze through the opposition in the the first round of Continental Cup it might have generated unrealistic expectations of the quality we'd be up against in the final.
I just don’t think we were at the races tonight for whatever reason. There was a lack of intensity, which surprised me and let’s be honest, we only scored because of that horrendous pass from their D man. We just didn’t look like doing anything tonight and they deserved their win. The French league is on a par with ours, but I think that’s more of a reflection of just how far the standard of the EIHL has fallen post pandemic.
To be honest when we beat them in the semi final round in November, Crowley stood between them and a 5 or 6 goal beating.
Cowley is a good goalie but Angers are an average team.
We didn test him enough tonight and we let them dictate the pace and style of play in the 1st when we should’ve been taking the game to them.
Yes we had the best of the 2nd and 3rd periods but we didn’t work him anywhere near enough apart from overtime where the game opens up.
He’s a big technically good NM so you gotta get him moving side to side and we didn’t!
Cowley is a good goalie but Angers are an average team.
We didn test him enough tonight and we let them dictate the pace and style of play in the 1st when we should’ve been taking the game to them.
Yes we had the best of the 2nd and 3rd periods but we didn’t work him anywhere near enough apart from overtime where the game opens up.
He’s a big technically good NM so you gotta get him moving side to side and we didn’t!
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What’s the standard like in France then? The EIHL isn’t the same level it was 4/5 years ago so both leagues are probably a similar level now right?
Angers have got 10 overseas players on their books and if you look at their cv’s most of them look like they could play for a top 5 EIHL team (I appreciate that’s on paper). Is it the French born players that aren’t great? But surely they must be a similar level or better than some of our Brits?
Was it really a game we should have won comfortably tonight?
Angers have got 10 overseas players on their books and if you look at their cv’s most of them look like they could play for a top 5 EIHL team (I appreciate that’s on paper). Is it the French born players that aren’t great? But surely they must be a similar level or better than some of our Brits?
Was it really a game we should have won comfortably tonight?
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I mean was it a game we should have won comfortably before puck drop? I know bugger all about the French league. Looking at the Angers roster on eliteprospects and having watched tonight’s match it looked like two evenly matched teams for large parts in my opinion. They’ve got 9 North American players and I was impressed with most of their CV’s and the Latvian player has played nearly 600 KHL games.
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Ah right. Tbh like I said previously I think some people might have got a bit overconfident after how we breezed through them at home in Cardiff. Away in Angers was always going to be tough. I don't think the French league gets the respect it deserves from many UK hockey fans & if you look at the players on Angers roster they wouldn't look out of place in the top half of the EIHL.
It probably isn’t mentioned enough how average the EIHL is at the moment. 4/5 years ago Cardiff fans (and probably Belfast/Sheff/Notts fans) were disappointed if they signed a player that didn’t have any NHL experience or 100’s of AHL games under their belt.
Back in the Hotham, Fournier, Strachan days I got the impression the EIHL was better than the French/Norwegian/Danish leagues but surely there can’t be much between those leagues now. Most players that come to the EIHL now are ECHL/NCAA players.
Back in the Hotham, Fournier, Strachan days I got the impression the EIHL was better than the French/Norwegian/Danish leagues but surely there can’t be much between those leagues now. Most players that come to the EIHL now are ECHL/NCAA players.
Yeah, back before Covid the Devils could boast at least 5or6 game changers on the roster.
A roster crammed with talent that also more often than not outworked the opposition.
A recipe for success.
How many times did we see a Devils team hit the ice and maul the likes of Sheffield in the first few shifts and be 2 or 3 goals up in under 10 mins!
We were so fortunate to witness that standard of hockey in the league and the Devils to be the dominating force!
Times have changed for the worse and the overall standard has dropped markedly.
But all that is moot as unfortunately we simply didn’t do enough to win tonight.
A roster crammed with talent that also more often than not outworked the opposition.
A recipe for success.
How many times did we see a Devils team hit the ice and maul the likes of Sheffield in the first few shifts and be 2 or 3 goals up in under 10 mins!
We were so fortunate to witness that standard of hockey in the league and the Devils to be the dominating force!
Times have changed for the worse and the overall standard has dropped markedly.
But all that is moot as unfortunately we simply didn’t do enough to win tonight.