I have to say, I dislike the way Lord has discarded Louis and is now regularly starting two defenders who simply just cannot defend (and even pairing them together!). I know McMonagle and Reddick both have offensive upside but their main job is to defend first and foremost. Why does he keep doing it? They must have had a falling out as I can see no other explanation, as Louis doesn’t look injured to me at all (has played a full part in warm up for weeks and been scratched). I hear criticism of Louis’ plus/minus stats this year (we never get to see them though) but I’m betting that would be the case for anyone who has been partnered with McMonagle for any length of time! Given the way Lord played, I’m not sure what his problem is with “character” players but we’ve seen fall-outs with Mychan, Faryna, Hendo (edit - forgot Bordy!) and to a lesser extent I think even Hotham indicated they had some problems. He was our stand-out player though and too good to leave out. Bowns has had some justified criticism this season but in all honestly, it must be an absolute bloody nightmare playing in front of some of that lot. We keep hearing how strong the league is this year but to me that’s false. While there’s more depth in teams, the standard has been mediocre, which is why we’re still up there with a chance to win it all despite our netminding being the poorest it’s been for some time, our defensive play being shocking for much of the season and carrying several forwards who can’t score to save their lives (bar Joey Haddad of course!). Many of the players who come here after careers in very good leagues, are getting on a bit and like the average player already in this league, can't play the fast, physical game that the better leagues are now employing. Average players, playing slow, non-aggressive hockey is not good to watch and that’s the story of the season for me, not just in Cardiff either (perhaps Guildford being the one exception who at least try to play a faster and more entertaining game). For me, this is the poorest Devils team for a few years and bar a few games here and there, have been bloody awful to watch. I’m not holding my breath but I hope we have a complete re-set in the summer and that includes Lord taking a long hard look at himself also and adopting a brand of hockey that gives the paying public in Cardiff more bang for their buck - and not more of the dirge we’ve seen this season where fear of losing dictates the way we play. Note to Kelman - instead of gimmicks like kids night, can we just have real Cardiff Devils hockey back next year, win or lose?