steelers Vs Devils - 8 Mar 20 - Challenge Cup Final Spectacular

Hedd Wyn John

Well-Known Member
#81
Horrendous 1st period, 3-0 was always going to be nearly impossible to come back from, but at the end of the 2nd I thought we were unlucky not to be in front.

This game was won & lost with the netminding tonight for me.

Duba was the better of the 2 goalies on the ice....completely different player to that of Friday.

Great event, brilliant atmosphere from both sets of fans.

Now let’s take the league to make this loss a little less painful.
I wouldn't blame the loss on Bowns, he was left out to dry a few times. Steelers learned from Friday and barely let a Devil get near Duba. Our D on the other hand made some shocking passes and gave steelers too much space. The Devils were looking strong and likely to come back but that mistake which lead to the 4th goal killed us. From what I say the Devils spent too much time making long passes and skating down the boards so it was relatively easy for Steelers to protect Duba. I'd also like to call out how shockingly bad the refereeing was tonight. So many blatant penalties missed it was laughable. After all that the Guys need to pick themselves up, learn from it & focus on the league.
 

doron

Active Member
#82
i thought Sheffield outplayed us. a very good aggressive game, Connolly davies Vallerand
Sheffield wanted it more .entertaining game to watch, i well enjoyed that game. i didn't think we played bad. though
 

Jonesy83

Well-Known Member
#83
I wouldn't blame the loss on Bowns, he was left out to dry a few times. Steelers learned from Friday and barely let a Devil get near Duba. Our D on the other hand made some shocking passes and gave steelers too much space. The Devils were looking strong and likely to come back but that mistake which lead to the 4th goal killed us. From what I say the Devils spent too much time making long passes and skating down the boards so it was relatively easy for Steelers to protect Duba. I'd also like to call out how shockingly bad the refereeing was tonight. So many blatant penalties missed it was laughable. After all that the Guys need to pick themselves up, learn from it & focus on the league.
I’m not blaming Bowns and saying it’s all his fault, some of the passes made in our own zone were shocking to say the least, bet he was clearly the 2nd best goal tender on the ice tonight.
Duba played out of his skin, I think we had the better chances by the end of the game, we just couldn’t get them past him.
 

jenks33

Well-Known Member
#84
Horrendous 1st period, 3-0 was always going to be nearly impossible to come back from, but at the end of the 2nd I thought we were unlucky not to be in front.

This game was won & lost with the netminding tonight for me.

Duba was the better of the 2 goalies on the ice....completely different player to that of Friday.

Great event, brilliant atmosphere from both sets of fans.

Now let’s take the league to make this loss a little less painful.
Agreed. Bownsy didn’t make any huge errors but you need your goalie to come up big in finals and I just thought he had an average night. I thought his positioning was a bit suspect for the first goal and he just didn’t really make a big save all night. Where as Duba went from the ridiculous on Friday to the sublime tonight.
 

Rich Best

Well-Known Member
#85
Rubbish. Absolute rubbish, we weren’t the better team. Steelers deserved that 100%. Refs were terrible but let’s not use that as an excuse as to why we lost. We move on
In my opinion we were by far the better team. 2nd and 3rd period it was just constant waves of attack. A couple of mistakes and Steelers were clinical. They deserve it for being clinical but they were not the better team.
 

Mazzoak

Well-Known Member
#86
Sounds like it’s what we’ve had all season from this team. So no real surprises. We can still win the league, although that’ll need as much reliance on others coughing up as us turning up.
 

Hedd Wyn John

Well-Known Member
#87
I’m not blaming Bowns and saying it’s all his fault, some of the passes made in our own zone were shocking to say the least, bet he was clearly the 2nd best goal tender on the ice tonight.
Duba played out of his skin, I think we had the better chances by the end of the game, we just couldn’t get them past him.
I totally get what you're saying. I was sitting on block 4 almost directly behind Duba for two periods so didn't get the best view of Bowns except for the penalty shot. I'm just saying the Steelers D did a lot more to protect him at those key moments in comparison to what happened to Bowns. That's full credit to the Steelers D for learning lessons from Friday and making changes. In my view it took the Devils too long to get pucks on Duba but realistically going 3 down to the Steelers was always going to be a very tough ask to turn around.
 
#88
I think some of our frailties were exposed today. But I also thought that we could take it as we had the momentum for good periods of the game, just couldn't get past Duba. Good test of character now to refocus on league, think we can do it. Fingers crossed !
 

Jonesy83

Well-Known Member
#89
I totally get what you're saying. I was sitting on block 4 almost directly behind Duba for two periods so didn't get the best view of Bowns except for the penalty shot. I'm just saying the Steelers D did a lot more to protect him at those key moments in comparison to what happened to Bowns. That's full credit to the Steelers D for learning lessons from Friday and making changes. In my view it took the Devils too long to get pucks on Duba but realistically going 3 down to the Steelers was always going to be a very tough ask to turn around.
I think Steelers D did do a lot to help him yes, but I think we had nearly twice as many shots on goal as they did.
I was sat in Block 19, so middle of the rink. His positioning was just better, he seemed to always go down at the right time etc. I think we hit him in the mask 3 times.
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#90
They outplayed us in the first and out hit us, which was disappointing with the big bodies we have. The second period was much better, we dominated that and I really felt we would go on to win it in the third. But I thought we were dreadful in the third, and looked clueless at times. Duba won the battle of the netties, he played well tonight as did their defence in fairness. No complaints from me - it just sums up the Devils this season - one night unplayable/unbeatable and the next, far from that with defensive frailties.
 
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Hedd Wyn John

Well-Known Member
#91
They totally outplayed us in the first and out hit us, which was disappointing with the big bodies we have. The second period was much better, we dominated that and I really felt we would go on to win it in the third. But I thought we were dreadful in the third, and looked clueless at times. Duba won the battle of the netties, he played well tonight as did their defence in fairness. No complaints from me - it just sums up the Devils this season - one night unplayable/unbeatable and the next, far from that with defensive frailties.
The third was going well until the (I think it was Ritchie's) suicide pass into the neutral zone which was intercepted & lead to the 4th goal. All through that the Devils looked dominant and comeback looked on the cards but after that it fell apart.
 

moggy#9

Well-Known Member
#93
it was nothing else but the net minding once again Bowns not strong enough witch I think has been the case all season long , that the difference with us and other teams this year they have good net minding and we don’t
I felt he should have done better on the first, but when his defence hang him out to dry there's a lot to how much he can do. We gave up a lot of quality shots.
 

pjj365

Well-Known Member
#94
I think Steelers D did do a lot to help him yes, but I think we had nearly twice as many shots on goal as they did.
I was sat in Block 19, so middle of the rink. His positioning was just better, he seemed to always go down at the right time etc. I think we hit him in the mask 3 times.
We out shot them 45-23 . Duba had a good game
 

CaldicotDevil

Well-Known Member
#95
Congrats to Sheffield. Great final, could've gone either way. Fair play to Duba, after all the stick he had Friday he bounced back well (with a bit of puck luck).

Think Riley missed a trick in P1 by not putting Connolly in his place. Connolly then went into full Rat mode and was a nuisance all night.

Would love it if we could get the league won before Sheffield. Then go up there all guns blazing.

Also Reddick > Mcmonagle everyday.
 

Hedd Wyn John

Well-Known Member
We out shot them 45-23 . Duba had a good game
Yes Duba had a good game but a lot of our shots against him were from distance or onto a heavily defended goal. Apart from the penalty shot Bowns was mostly caught out when Steelers were allowed to get in up close or into good shooting positions. Lordo needs to work on these defensive frailties because other teams will be taking note.
 
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