Panthers Vs Devils - League - 30th Oct 22 - 16:00 FO
- Thread starter James
- Start date
Some of the guys on the ice dont appear to be playing anywhere near the standards we have seen them play before, the question is this - is it down to the way the coach wants the players to play or is it down to their ability to play at this level week in week out dropping due to age? If its the first then thats changeable quickly. If its the latter then it wont change until next season.
We brought in a full time assistant coach, have performances improved since then? I dont think so.
As a team we dont seem to want to play easy hockey, everything is over elaborated and its been causing us huge problems. Fancy play by the D ends up with the puck being given away, usually in our own zone which puts added pressure on us. We dont screen the goalie enough, but if your not doing that you have to move the puck around quick and we dont. We dont even try to get physical with a team either. Brandt tries his best but physicality is not in this teams make up right now and thats sad.
As has already been mentioned our powerplay is garbage right now but that fits with what ive said above.
Whilst the league cant be won this early in the season, your early season form can make the run in easier or much much harder. If we want to be challengers for all cups you cannot have one game that challenges you mentally and emotionally and then flunk the day after. Thats not a trophy challenging team.
We brought in a full time assistant coach, have performances improved since then? I dont think so.
As a team we dont seem to want to play easy hockey, everything is over elaborated and its been causing us huge problems. Fancy play by the D ends up with the puck being given away, usually in our own zone which puts added pressure on us. We dont screen the goalie enough, but if your not doing that you have to move the puck around quick and we dont. We dont even try to get physical with a team either. Brandt tries his best but physicality is not in this teams make up right now and thats sad.
As has already been mentioned our powerplay is garbage right now but that fits with what ive said above.
Whilst the league cant be won this early in the season, your early season form can make the run in easier or much much harder. If we want to be challengers for all cups you cannot have one game that challenges you mentally and emotionally and then flunk the day after. Thats not a trophy challenging team.
Dai Sport report and those rather interesting post-game quotes from yesterday.
https://www.dai-sport.com/devils-fall-to-self-inflicted-defeat-at-panthers/
https://www.dai-sport.com/devils-fall-to-self-inflicted-defeat-at-panthers/
I wonder to what extent the individual problems result from players trying to improvise because the systems the coach is trying to play don't work. Certainly the long stretch passes sent to come from our ineffective break outs. Meanwhile the poor passing on the pp seems to result from us using a predictable set up and putting ourselves under pressure.
It also massively helps if within those losses you aren’t losing to your main rivals.
The Devils historically, during the 4 seasons you have mentioned tended to beat Belfast and Sheffield more way more times than they lost.
Yes, 2 points against Fife amount to the same as 2 points against Sheffield but the win against Sheffield puts another L in their column!
The Devils historically, during the 4 seasons you have mentioned tended to beat Belfast and Sheffield more way more times than they lost.
Yes, 2 points against Fife amount to the same as 2 points against Sheffield but the win against Sheffield puts another L in their column!
Don't post often but having travelled to Nottingham yesterday, 360 mile round trip, nearly £95 on tickets, fuel costs etc etc, I need to rant at what was an absolute shambles of a display.
Firstly, I don't expect us to win every night, but I expect to see an effort. Grit. Determination to win puck battles. A response when we go down a couple of goals. I saw absolutely none of that last night and we got what was coming. That Panthers team is probably the most average team we'll play this season - their fans were congratulating us on the two points as we entered the arena!
The in-house stats had the SoG as 48 for the Panthers, with us managing to successfully kill 4 of our own powerplays without the Panthers even breaking a sweat. Kozun was absolutely hung out to dry and did everything he could to keep us in the game.
I know DuPont can only say a very limited amount during his post-game interviews but it annoyed me to hear his excuse of an "emotional" comeback win against the Blaze. We turned up for 20 minutes of that game and pinched it. Yes we've had a busy schedule, but that is not an excuse for yet again not turning up against the Panthers.
I'm sure we'll put a few past Fife on Wednesday and paper over the massive cracks. Fin.
Firstly, I don't expect us to win every night, but I expect to see an effort. Grit. Determination to win puck battles. A response when we go down a couple of goals. I saw absolutely none of that last night and we got what was coming. That Panthers team is probably the most average team we'll play this season - their fans were congratulating us on the two points as we entered the arena!
The in-house stats had the SoG as 48 for the Panthers, with us managing to successfully kill 4 of our own powerplays without the Panthers even breaking a sweat. Kozun was absolutely hung out to dry and did everything he could to keep us in the game.
I know DuPont can only say a very limited amount during his post-game interviews but it annoyed me to hear his excuse of an "emotional" comeback win against the Blaze. We turned up for 20 minutes of that game and pinched it. Yes we've had a busy schedule, but that is not an excuse for yet again not turning up against the Panthers.
I'm sure we'll put a few past Fife on Wednesday and paper over the massive cracks. Fin.
I think the downside of the Conti Cup is starting to show.
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3 games a week for 3 weeks is showing in our energy levels. I thought it was odd we had so many midweek games now, but I’m guessing It’s not just the 2 games we’ll miss for the coming round but planning ahead for potentially making the final too. And we need to fit in CC QFs too.
Obviously it’s budget dependent but I’m hoping we can bring in an extra import in the coming weeks to help out with giving players a rest when needed. One of the advantages we should have had this season was being able to roll 4 lines each night and wear teams down. Injuries have meant we’ve barely done this.
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3 games a week for 3 weeks is showing in our energy levels. I thought it was odd we had so many midweek games now, but I’m guessing It’s not just the 2 games we’ll miss for the coming round but planning ahead for potentially making the final too. And we need to fit in CC QFs too.
Obviously it’s budget dependent but I’m hoping we can bring in an extra import in the coming weeks to help out with giving players a rest when needed. One of the advantages we should have had this season was being able to roll 4 lines each night and wear teams down. Injuries have meant we’ve barely done this.
It's easy to blame the continental cup, but the real problem is the ludicrous schedule that the eihl runs to. Not only do we have an absurd challenge cup format, we have few gaps for rest and opportunities for GB to get together to have proper preparation.
Added to this the rules around make up of squads and two way player rules, which seem to offer few benefits to elite league clubs, and it's no wonder players get tired and injured.
All that said, it might still be possible to cope if only one or two players had an off night at a time, and the team actually had something resembling a game plan.
Added to this the rules around make up of squads and two way player rules, which seem to offer few benefits to elite league clubs, and it's no wonder players get tired and injured.
All that said, it might still be possible to cope if only one or two players had an off night at a time, and the team actually had something resembling a game plan.