Stars Vs Devils - League - 12th Nov 22 - 19:00 FO

[Samael]

Many calling for DuPont to be sacked in his full first season….wow! The buck should stop with the coach and it is up to him to get the team firing again…..if he can’t then he should be given a chance by Todd to do whatever he needs to do to make this happen. If that means getting rid of a couple of players then so be it…..However the organisation has said they are against this!

As a coach what is he then ment to do? If TK and co wont let him do this then it is the organisation that are to blame and they should never sack him. Let the coach do what he feels is the best possible way to get the team going again.

Giving DuPont a blank chequebook isn't the answer. Sacking him right now isn't either, but he should be under no illusion that next year he will be coach but for the remainder of this season he has the chance to put something slightly more impressive on his coaching resume aside from "won a mini tournament in the UK they cutely call playoffs". Perhaps he's already been told this which is why his body language and PR has gotten worse. People who are pulling on the jersey though do need to wake up to the fact they are or should be playing for their jobs now.

 

[Ejercito Rojas]

Well, I could pretty much pick any of my posts from last week or last season for that matter and just
copy and paste!

 

[kingmo19.1]

Shipping 14 goals in 2 games is like being back in the Heineken League days!

 

[Samael]

Well, I could pretty much pick any of my posts from last week or last season for that matter and just
copy and paste!

Because of the copied and paste performances. Same lack of urgency, same lack of defensive care, same ineffective tactics, same results and same predictable by the numbers excuses.

 

[BostonBart22]

Register and carruth were our main line of defence last season, I would take them back in a heartbeat regardless of what went on with carruth, and I don't buy into certain players wouldn't sign this season because carruth wanted to come back. If those players didn't like him sod off, at least he turned up every night and gave 100 % and played for the badge..

 

[ASHIPP]

Disposable income is virtually a thing of the past in the cost of living crisis. People want value for money. If the product is not an acceptable standard, or the activities you once enjoyed are not fun anymore, people will seek other things. It's so sad hearing this from regular fans.

Perhaps when gate receipts fall and season ticket holders don't renew (because nothing improved this season), maybe the Club will realise they have far more serious issues than blocked toilets in the upstairs bar.

 

[lloyd_jeff]

I realise the council are looking for someone to run IAW, but do the Devils organisation currently operate the arena? If so, maybe money is the problem, and we're struggling more than we all think?

No the Council employ a GM, the Devils have zero input into anything to do with running the IAW. How long we keep the free ice agreement, I’d say it’s gone after this season. The owner group mentioned being at the club long term, at least 10 yrs was mentioned, not far from that point, so if their serious, we should get King saying they’d sent in an application to get the lease, he did say they’d offered to buy the rink, although the asking price was beyond them. Forward to now, running costs versus revenue, it’s far beyond their abilities & finances. Yes their well off, at least King has made millions, but he’s an ex banker who specialises in financing businesses that can’t borrow from banks. How much wealth is real liquidity, who knows, as one Dragon used to say, I’m not willing to risk my children's inheritance on a punt.

 

[lloyd_jeff]

Sigh, it's like they're rerunning skalde's post game interviews from last season.

You can’t be expected to turn donkies into racehorses, neither coaches went to Hogwarts.

 

[Kristoff]

I realise the council are looking for someone to run IAW, but do the Devils organisation currently operate the arena? If so, maybe money is the problem, and we're struggling more than we all think?

Last season we brought in Mcnalty, Brant and Coughler at this point ish and it changed our season. The monies will be there

 

[Samael]

You can’t be expected to turn donkies into racehorses, neither coaches went to Hogwarts.

Lord didn't go to 'Hogwarts' either but he worked hard and was passionate about the club. As much as you may disagree with that, electro, mazzoak or whatever the funk you are calling yourself this week.

 

[lloyd_jeff]

Lord didn't go to 'Hogwarts' either but he worked hard and was passionate about the club. As much as you may disagree with that, electro, mazzoak or whatever the funk you are calling yourself this week.

Lord had a big budget and huge amount of EIHL experience & it wasn’t all success, there was issues, which we managed to negate & get through. If you think Lord could turn this team around you really don't know hockey.

 

[Samael]

I didn't say he could turn it around. Scotty Bowman couldn't turn this around. What I'm saying is Lord worked hard and took pride in the product. Skalde and by the looks of it DuPont don't. How do you know Lord had a bigger budget to play with too? Yeah you are definitely Mazzoak and going back on ignore soon, you're as transparent as greenhouse glass.

 

[devilsjayy]

I think Louis and batch on the same line is a bit stupid they seem so slow together, bowns is well off the mark this season, brittain is just a waste of a 6ft5 body I’d have McNally over him anyday liability or not, we’re missing carruth and register imo our main issue is defence

 

[hip check]

As a club over recent years we've become used to being successful both on and off the ice.
This season most fans looked at our roster and probably thought this would continue, the predictions thread for instance had most fans predicting Devil's to be in one of the top two places, I myself had us down to win it but don't know whether that was through being blindly patriotic to my Devils or truly believing we would actually do it.
Recent form and results would certainly point to me being way off the mark, so where has it gone wrong? As I am not the most knowledgeable in the game of hockey but can certainly see 'things ain't what they used to be',
there seems to be a lack of fire in the belly and a bit of a lethargic attitude amongst most of the team, to concede 14 goals in the last two games is worrying, not only are we losing but are being made to look like mugs, didn't expect us to win in Belfast but hoped we'd give them a run for their money and if I was one of our players I'd certainly be looking in the mirror and asking myself some searching questions.
After that debacle I really expected a reaction at Dundee but it was much of the same. We are in a slump, is it because we've lost confidence in our ability or maybe we haven't actually got enough of that ability in the squad, is it lack of leadership and direction or maybe unrest in the changing room?
It's a problem so what is the answer? some want wholesale changes to the team, some want a change in the coaching set up, let's hope the people who can sort this out actually have a plan to get us back on track or maybe we should all accept we have an average team this season and lower our expectations, all teams in all sports have highs and lows maybe the wheel has turned a little and this is gonna be a period of mediocrity for Cardiff Devils.

 

[osh]

Taking nothing away from the Stars who fully deserved the win…….it’s past the time when we should have been making at least 3 changes to the roster. We know the players who just aren’t performing to an acceptable level and have been found out. Let’s see what management do this week irrespective of tonight’s home game. Recent performances confirm I personally made the right decision in saving my money by not attending many games this season.

 

[ASHIPP]

The keys to a successful team are great recruitment, great coaching, full fitness and consistency. We have none of those at the moment.

 

[lloyd_jeff]

I didn't say he could turn it around. Scotty Bowman couldn't turn this around. What I'm saying is Lord worked hard and took pride in the product. Skalde and by the looks of it DuPont don't. How do you know Lord had a bigger budget to play with too? Yeah you are definitely Mazzoak and going back on ignore soon, you're as transparent as greenhouse glass.

Skalde and Dupont aren’t working hard and don't have pride, you’ve written that & Lord did, clearly you seem confused. Like l said if you believe hard work and pride from the coach is all that you need, you don’t know hockey. Yes please ignore me, please, please, l beg you.

 

[Kevin roog]

I wonder if we lined all the Dundee players and Cardiff up against the wall at the start of the season (like my old school days when I used to get picked last for rounders) and let Todd pick 20 , how many current devils would he pick, would he pick 15 or 16 from Dundee coz they are more skilled , personally I don’t think we are getting the best out of what we got

 

[bb1]

Giving DuPont a blank chequebook isn't the answer. Sacking him right now isn't either, but he should be under no illusion that next year he will be coach but for the remainder of this season he has the chance to put something slightly more impressive on his coaching resume aside from "won a mini tournament in the UK they cutely call playoffs". Perhaps he's already been told this which is why his body language and PR has gotten worse. People who are pulling on the jersey though do need to wake up to the fact they are or should be playing for their jobs now.

So if the club keep him (which I hope they give him a chance) but also do not allow him to sign new players.....what the hell does he do?!? We will be talking about the same issues week in week out.

 

[Samael]

The keys to a successful team are great recruitment, great coaching, full fitness and consistency. We have none of those at the moment.

It's the old saying, forwards win you games, defencemen win you titles.

This year we are Jekyl and Hyde up front and at the back we are the invisible man. It really is a horror film of hockey. I predict absolutely nothing but disappointment. Even if its announced Fournier and Register, are coming back my reaction would be shrugged shoulders now.