Really shocked at this, especially the timing.
After the extensive recruitment process the club went through I thought Skalde was going to be here long term. Struggling to think of a coach who has come into the UK and been successful straight away. Keefe and Lord were both ex-players and even then it took several years to be successful. Thommo had been here forever.
As a result I was willing to give Skalde this year to get familiar with the league, especially with the high turnover of players and disruption due to COVID.
Some of the summer signings were a bit surprising, but I put that down to being used to Lordo hockey for so long.
The style of hockey was different too, but actually worked well against Belfast and Sheffield. We definitely struggled to dominate against the ‘lesser’ teams but I put that down to Skalde’s UK hockey learning curve and expected it to be addressed with next years recruitment.
For much of the season I actually felt we were exceeding my expectations. Following the addition of Coughler and co we had an incredible run and were IMO the best team in the league and fully expected us to win the playoffs.
Then we won the CC SF, and instead of kicking on we seem to have been going through the motions. Injuries have obviously played a massive part and maybe we were saving ourselves for the CC final. And had we won it everything would have been worth it and it would have been a successful season.
But despite the underwhelming last couple of weeks it’s not even crossed my mind that Skalde would not be here next season. If he had been released after the playoffs I’d have been shocked but this is gob smacking.
I can only assume something has happened or been said this week that has made the Devils management decide that Skalde is not the long term solution for the club and there was no point in dragging it out.
Whilst slightly concerned that it means we’ve lost a year and we’ll be back to square one with a new coach for next year, its reassuring to remember that in Todd and Franny we have two of the best recruiters in the league. We’ve got a new core of guys and if we can re-sign the brits and half the imports we should be looking good for next year.
After the extensive recruitment process the club went through I thought Skalde was going to be here long term. Struggling to think of a coach who has come into the UK and been successful straight away. Keefe and Lord were both ex-players and even then it took several years to be successful. Thommo had been here forever.
As a result I was willing to give Skalde this year to get familiar with the league, especially with the high turnover of players and disruption due to COVID.
Some of the summer signings were a bit surprising, but I put that down to being used to Lordo hockey for so long.
The style of hockey was different too, but actually worked well against Belfast and Sheffield. We definitely struggled to dominate against the ‘lesser’ teams but I put that down to Skalde’s UK hockey learning curve and expected it to be addressed with next years recruitment.
For much of the season I actually felt we were exceeding my expectations. Following the addition of Coughler and co we had an incredible run and were IMO the best team in the league and fully expected us to win the playoffs.
Then we won the CC SF, and instead of kicking on we seem to have been going through the motions. Injuries have obviously played a massive part and maybe we were saving ourselves for the CC final. And had we won it everything would have been worth it and it would have been a successful season.
But despite the underwhelming last couple of weeks it’s not even crossed my mind that Skalde would not be here next season. If he had been released after the playoffs I’d have been shocked but this is gob smacking.
I can only assume something has happened or been said this week that has made the Devils management decide that Skalde is not the long term solution for the club and there was no point in dragging it out.
Whilst slightly concerned that it means we’ve lost a year and we’ll be back to square one with a new coach for next year, its reassuring to remember that in Todd and Franny we have two of the best recruiters in the league. We’ve got a new core of guys and if we can re-sign the brits and half the imports we should be looking good for next year.
