Devils vs Frölunda - 15 Oct 19 - CHL
- Thread starter James
- Start date
Frolunda are probably the best side I have seen the Devil's face since watching ice hockey and it amazes me how Graz managed to beat them. They are unbelievably slick, fast and skilful and it's a credit how we stuck in there for 2 periods... unfortunately flood gates opened in the third period and defensively we were too loose for parts, but realistically Frolunda were just too good! Factor in fatigue from a tough schedule and inevitably lower fitness levels compared to SHL players and this happens. Some brilliant players for Frolunda but Fogemo seems to be an NHL star of the future and Ryan Lasch is some player! For the devil's was very impressed with Sointu particularly. A couple of our defenceman a bit error prone, Mcmonagle I feel needs to simplify his D game at time as well as Jardine and Louis' mobility was tested at times tonight.
Overall an enjoyable CHL campaign, I'm sure we would've taken 3 wins at the start of the campaign....now on to try and win some domestic trophies!
Overall an enjoyable CHL campaign, I'm sure we would've taken 3 wins at the start of the campaign....now on to try and win some domestic trophies!
We had nothing.
One goal from a Mark, a defence man, don’t get me wrong, great for him. Sums up our structure, disjointed. They didn’t look like getting out of 2nd gear until the 3rd. Now back to reality, the EIHL. I predict another few months of ups & downs with an interesting finish to the season.
One goal from a Mark, a defence man, don’t get me wrong, great for him. Sums up our structure, disjointed. They didn’t look like getting out of 2nd gear until the 3rd. Now back to reality, the EIHL. I predict another few months of ups & downs with an interesting finish to the season.
Disappointing that we fell apart in the third during both Frölunda games but they’re an outstanding team. I think for us to have any hope of beating them we need a fully fit roster who are all playing with confidence. Even then I’m not sure we’d beat them. I think it’s fair to say that 2 or 3 of our D look short on confidence at the moment and McNamee, Riley and Joey Martin still aren’t 100% fit.
We hung in there for 2 periods but their 4th goal just before the 2nd break was crucial. If we could have gone into that break at 3-2, it could have been an interesting third period. But let’s be honest, they brutally exposed our defensive frailties in the third period - 18 goals in 2 games is somewhat embarrassing (plus 6 more against Dundee this past week), I don’t care who they are, that shouldn’t be happening (note to Todd Kelman - if we’re in it next year and draw a European giant, can we please play them early and not twice in the last two rounds when they’ve got 2 months of the season under the belts and are firing on all cylinders!). Back to the bread and butter of the domestic league now and much improvement needed for me at the back end, where I think we have 2 defenceman who are being exposed/caught out of position time and time again and it’s costing us goals. Plus 1 or 2 forwards who are nowhere near the level of play, speed and physicality that we saw earlier in the season, not sure what’s going on but I hope it’s rectified soon, or a change or two might be called for. The CHL was fun to watch though, well except for the last two games!
I've enjoyed the CHL this year we've come a long way from our first game in it definitely.
Match report: https://downthebay.wordpress.com/2019/10/15/match-report-cardiff-devils-2-9-frolunda-indians/
Match report: https://downthebay.wordpress.com/2019/10/15/match-report-cardiff-devils-2-9-frolunda-indians/
Frolunda were good value for their win. A slick team with high skill levels and superb organisation. That said, I felt that the devils did well to stick with them. The 5th goal seemed to come after a non call in the frolunda corner, and the 6th after the linesman got in Richardson's way. After that heads seemed to drop badly. There were a lot of unforced mistakes though. We're lucky that the defensive frailties of the team don't get exposed so ruthlessly in the EIHL. There are a lot of positives from this year's CHL adventure though. The team achieved what they set out to do and made people take notice. I just hope we get to do it all again next year.