Hockeyfest - Live on UKHL

[TheStub]

Overall it was an excellent day.

I agree, I'm not sure how the fixtures could have been better - perhaps no fixtures on the Saturday?

You will never get it totally fair - but as a first attempt it worked well.

The games were entertaining - with the teams really trying to get into a format they had never tried before. Lots of fast, open hockey - real end to end stuff. To me, the only team that didn't 'take part' was Nottingham, who looked awful.

Caps looked the better team in their heat, just couldn't get the puck in the net.

More of the same next year please Just, fill those slots in the middle. There is nothing much around the arena, so more was needed to entertain the crowds. Plus, an hour isn't long enough to get anything to eat other than a junk food fix.

Maybe more space for food earlier, and have a later finish? Probably not the best...mind you, I wish I had remembered how good the food in Ice Sheffield is, or I would have nipped there and had something better than a rink hotdog!

Also, why were only half the food concessions open? It was a fairly big crowd trying to get something to eat in the same slot - you spent most of the break queuing.

 

[bubbles]

I think the league did an excellent job arranging the fixtures on the Saturday. Sheffield, Nottingham, Coventry and Hull having the home fixtures meant all 8 teams were in close proximity for an early start on the Sunday. All teams were a maximum of an hour and a half away. Now if you'd have had Sheffield vs Hull, Belfast vs Nottingham, Edinburgh vs Coventry and Cardiff vs Newcastle on the Saturday I could see how people would be annoyed and the conspiracy theorists doing the rounds.

As for the Friday game that never was...surely that was a good thing? You'd have had to travel up to Sheffield twice in 3 days which would have been ridiculous. You'd have been a lot more knackered than us and probably more likely to have gone out in the first game...

For once the league (oops I mean us :roll: ) have organised it all very well. Credit where credit is due for this one. Plus it only seems as though Panthers fans had a rubbish day. I wonder why! Most others seem to think the hockey was excellent.

I hope, and expect, that Dan Green has a smile the size of Yorkshire today! :mrgreen:

The point being the fixtures meant Sheffield were the freshest.

 

[TheStub]

The point being the fixtures meant Sheffield were the freshest.

Which is to be expected, as they were playing at home - but not much to be done about that.

Although, Devils would have stayed over - so would have hopefully had a good nights rest.

I'm not too convinced that it was that much of an advantage for Shuff - by the end of it, they wouldn't have had that much extra recovery over Blaze, or indeed the Devils.

Hopefully, next year this will be pre-season and a lot of these issue wont exist.

Great idea, good fun to watch and well worth the money.

Steelers just outplayed us - nothing to do with us being more tired IMHO, just we made far too many unforced errors again.

 

[august04]

I wouldn't say it is a 'mickey-mouse' trophy. It's a trophy I'd really like the team to have won.

While I want the Devils to win every game they play and try to win every competition entered, I'll take 2 points from a league win in Sheffield, rather than win this one day cup, every time. Playing several 4 on 4 games in one day, in a period when intense league and cup are coming thick and fast, was always likely to make players more susceptible to injury, I would have thought and I hope we managed to get out of Sheffield intact. Roll on the league games against Belfast next weekend.

 

[bubbles]

The point being the fixtures meant Sheffield were the freshest.

Which is to be expected, as they were playing at home - but not much to be done about that.

Although, Devils would have stayed over - so would have hopefully had a good nights rest.

I'm not too convinced that it was that much of an advantage for Shuff - by the end of it, they wouldn't have had that much extra recovery over Blaze, or indeed the Devils.

Hopefully, next year this will be pre-season and a lot of these issue wont exist.

Great idea, good fun to watch and well worth the money.

Steelers just outplayed us - nothing to do with us being more tired IMHO, just we made far too many unforced errors again.

The two teams that played the final only played one game the previous week.

 

[Koop11]

Does anyone know roughly how many attended this event?

 

[Finny]

Saturday 3rd Everybody plays, (strangely enough Sheffields game is switched from playing in Cardiff to now being played in Sheffield. And I musn't forget that the Firday 2nd game between Steelers and Devils is cancelled.) If I have these facts wrong I apologise.

I'm not quite sure where these friday away and saturday home fixtures v Steelers actually came from.
I got sent a set of fixtures the morning they were released and put on the website. However, there was no friday game on it and the Saturday game was away. I specifically remember that because Hitchy pointed out that it meant Devils fans could go to Sheffield for the whole weekend.

 

[Rempel16]

Saturday 3rd Everybody plays, (strangely enough Sheffields game is switched from playing in Cardiff to now being played in Sheffield. And I musn't forget that the Firday 2nd game between Steelers and Devils is cancelled.) If I have these facts wrong I apologise.

I'm not quite sure where these friday away and saturday home fixtures v Steelers actually came from.
I got sent a set of fixtures the morning they were released and put on the website. However, there was no friday game on it and the Saturday game was away. I specifically remember that because Hitchy pointed out that it meant Devils fans could go to Sheffield for the whole weekend.

I still have my printout off the website, taken on the day of release. Mine has Friday away in Sheffield, Saturday home in Cardiff on it.

 

[Finny]

I still have my printout off the website, taken on the day of release. Mine has Friday away in Sheffield, Saturday home in Cardiff on it.

What I'm trying to say, is I don't know how they got onto the Devils website. I can only assume in trying to do it as quickly as possible a mistake was made.

The email I got was from the league and forward on to me by a friend. It never had any friday game on it and the Saturday was always away.

 

[Holl_5]

The point being the fixtures meant Sheffield were the freshest.

Even though we had to double shift on Saturday because we're so short benched? None of this bringing in 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th British forwards for us...

The two teams that played the final only played one game the previous week.

Edinburgh and Hull both played one game the previous week and went out in the first game...

Newcastle had the worst schedule of the lot and still managed to come very close to getting to the final!

 

[nmase20]

Even though we had to double shift on Saturday because we're so short benched? None of this bringing in 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th British forwards for us...

So short benched? as far as im aware you were missing basiuk and hutchins? Yes reiter but that wasn't until the third period and you had a backup so not like you were skating a player short. When the devils brought in extra forwards we were 5 players short, bit of a difference. Not that we really need an excuse :? its not like theres anything wrong with doing it.
Im not getting into this arguement because i dont think things were put into the steelers favour, but i think that comment you made is garbage.

 

[drainage]

Even though we had to double shift on Saturday because we're so short benched? None of this bringing in 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th British forwards for us...

So short benched? as far as im aware you were missing basiuk and hutchins? Yes reiter but that wasn't until the third period and you had a backup so not like you were skating a player short. When the devils brought in extra forwards we were 5 players short, bit of a difference. Not that we really need an excuse :? its not like theres anything wrong with doing it.
Im not getting into this arguement because i dont think things were put into the steelers favour, but i think that comment you made is garbage.

Tend to agree there - bit different to be down 5 players rather than 2 !! I suspect winning makes up for the current league performance so lets let them enjoy it - as someone said 2 points in league are far more valuable at the moment and would sacrifice this for league points in a heart beat. Only concern is the errors we make - but onwards and upwards!!

Oh and why would bringing in British forwards be the wrong thing to do ????Surely we nuture GB talent when we can and let them have a go ??????????? Or am I missing something !

 

[Holl_5]

So short benched? as far as im aware you were missing basiuk and hutchins? Yes reiter but that wasn't until the third period and you had a backup so not like you were skating a player short. When the devils brought in extra forwards we were 5 players short, bit of a difference. Not that we really need an excuse :? its not like theres anything wrong with doing it.
Im not getting into this arguement because i dont think things were put into the steelers favour, but i think that comment you made is garbage.

Talk about an over reaction. Yes, we were 'only' missing Basiuk and Hutchins. Yes, you brought in 4 ENL players when you had suspensions. Did I say there was anything wrong with that?! :roll: I honestly wish we had that luxury!

Matsos has clearly stated that we don't have a budget for 10th, 11th, 12th British forwards. I suppose that's a downside to having an EIHL, EPL, ENL team in Sheffield, because your average British forward would rather get regular time across the road than sit on the bench for the Steelers. I would LOVE for us to roll out 12 forwards a game but it's not possible for us. As soon as one player gets injured we're double shifting and the way we play means it's hard to sustain. I'd love for us to a put a Davies, Henry, Ferrara on when we've lost players but we can't! If we don't pressure hard and skate hard we get turned over because we aren't as skillful as your Nottingham's or Coventry's...hence the last 4 weeks!! Is that garbage enough for you?!

Drainage - I never mentioned that it was a bad thing to do. We are the only team in the league to have 9 forwards. Annoying as hell!

 

[DevilDan]

We know your not being negative about the Brits holl, its such alot of people are very proud of the amount of british talent we do have to hand. It shows that the junior facilitys are working well and that we have alot of prospect in Cardiff. So its a tough subject to mention. Maybe when you move over to ice sheffield next season you'll strike a deal with the scimitars? That could get you some good 2 way contracts =]

Also i felt shuff deserved the 20/20 cup, you played the best. However on Saturday we deserved the 2 points, and even though im one of the massive supporters of this new torni, i'd not of enjoyed it nearly as much if we'd not won the night before. Fact. League is more important.

 

[Holl_5]

So its a tough subject to mention. Maybe when you move over to ice sheffield next season you'll strike a deal with the scimitars? That could get you some good 2 way contracts =]

We have Rob Farmer and Matt Haywood signed up on 2 way contracts at the minute but only for when Scimitars aren't playing. As yet we haven't played a mid-week fixture for them to help us out. They are two excellent young prospects and I wish they had a more regular position on our roster!

I can't see us moving to Ice Shuff as they are pushed for ice time at the minute for all the rec teams. Rother Valley in 2000-and-never on the other hand would help us immensely!

As for the 20/20...make that 4 trophies in a row! (Stat shamelessly stolen from Finny)

 

[nmase20]

Talk about an over reaction. Yes, we were 'only' missing Basiuk and Hutchins. Yes, you brought in 4 ENL players when you had suspensions. Did I say there was anything wrong with that?! :roll: I honestly wish we had that luxury!

Matsos has clearly stated that we don't have a budget for 10th, 11th, 12th British forwards. I suppose that's a downside to having an EIHL, EPL, ENL team in Sheffield, because your average British forward would rather get regular time across the road than sit on the bench for the Steelers. I would LOVE for us to roll out 12 forwards a game but it's not possible for us. As soon as one player gets injured we're double shifting and the way we play means it's hard to sustain. I'd love for us to a put a Davies, Henry, Ferrara on when we've lost players but we can't! If we don't pressure hard and skate hard we get turned over because we aren't as skillful as your Nottingham's or Coventry's...hence the last 4 weeks!! Is that garbage enough for you?!

Drainage - I never mentioned that it was a bad thing to do. We are the only team in the league to have 9 forwards. Annoying as hell!

The way in which you wrote it made it read as though sheffield were doing the better thing in not bringing in british forwards to replace there injuries. And yes i would still say saying "we were so short benched" is garbage when you were only 2 players down. Considering the injury problems the devils have had to deal with over the last few seasons it looks kind of feeble.