Guildford Flames v Devils - Sun 10 Sep 2017 - C Cup - Chat/Updates

ASHIPP

Well-Known Member
#41
Very true points in the above post. None of these teams give a toss our team is the League Champion. That was last season. Everything starts again. The opposition's focus is purely to win - not be in awe of the Devils and show them any respect.

By the same token, our Guys should be showing WHY they earned that title. And that was through hard, aggressive graft, relentless forecheck, simple systems and working as a unit.

Infact, the systems, style and line combinations that achieved that historic win against Davos. That should be the benchmark of effort and skill in al games. They know they have they ability to do it.

A bad early blip last night that can be corrected. The improvement in league style and recruitment this year is obvious...but with the skill and experience on our roster, our Guys should be destroying some of these teams.
 
#42
Not wishing to be negative but last night's result didn't hugely surprise me (apart from the actual scoreline), this due to what I watched at IAW on Saturday night, yes we got the win against MKL but I thought the performance was hugely lacking. Something isn't right with this team, I trust Lordo to get it sorted though.
 

bb1

Well-Known Member
#43
There is no excuse for that hammering imo.

Firstly Faryna the last few games has gone missing. Injury or under the weather???
Reddick has great potential but Lordo needs to reign his offensive instincts in a bit.
Ulmer is again having a slow start.
Crowder has a good hockey brain but for me when you retire once your always mentally retired imo. I'd have Cully back in a heartbeat or bring in a big power forward.

The frustrating thing is we have shown what we are capable of by beating a Euro giant Davos. Lord imo needs to get back on the ice with Myers and Faryna which is an unplayable line. They feed of each other so well.
I know Lord likes to try out different combos but sometimes just ride with what has just won us our most historic game ever (obviously having to sit either Jake or Crowder).
As for Batchy. Him and Moore (when given chance) have been outstanding. Anyone who thinks he's better in D is crazy. He looks far more comfortable and is showing what he is all about.
 
#44
"Crowder has a good hockey brain but for me when you retire once your always mentally retired imo. I'd have Cully back in a heartbeat" .

So let's get this right,you think because Crowder retired for a season he is mentally retired. And your solution to this is to get a retired player out of retirement to replace him?
 

Ocko

Well-Known Member
#45
Agree on Batch being a forward. His future at this level is as a forward, he's better at it than I thought. He's got good hands and is a real handful for opposition D, as a D man he's too passive. If anyone goes back to D it's Moore for me.

I do agree with the points on Reddick too, he plays like it's a rec game. Charging forward forechecking and playing loose, I like his spirit but it means a forward has to drop so we lose the ability of having a forward in the rush at his expense.

That said, it's still very early days and we've been playing a completely different style of hockey for weeks. We are a team who play on the front foot, in the CHL games we obviously couldn't be that team and it's hard to change one week to the next.
 

ASHIPP

Well-Known Member
#46
Actually Paul Crowder has blossomed in the last couple of games. We can see his skill as a good defensive forward.His play in the Davos game won high praise from commentator Paul Adey...Josh also won praise. Think these guys are finding their feet in new positions this season.

Regards Faryna - maybe he needs explosive gritty players on his line to act as a catalyst for his play. He had this with Switzer (sp) at Dundee. The chemistry between Lord- Myers-Faryna during the CHL games has been awesome. That combination works.
 

Devil94

Well-Known Member
#47
Last year we had a tough time in the CC group stages, but we were fine in the league. Maybe the players find it tough to get pumped for the group games, as it's sometimes harder to not qualify than to qualify. I'm predicting we'll be a different team this weekend.
 
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matbur

Well-Known Member
#48
"Crowder has a good hockey brain but for me when you retire once your always mentally retired imo. I'd have Cully back in a heartbeat" .

Worked out ok for Patrick Asselin. Give the guy a few months...

Agree on Batch being a forward. His future at this level is as a forward, he's better at it than I thought. He's got good hands and is a real handful for opposition D, as a D man he's too passive. If anyone goes back to D it's Moore for me.

I do agree with the points on Reddick too, he plays like it's a rec game. Charging forward forechecking and playing loose, I like his spirit but it means a forward has to drop so we lose the ability of having a forward in the rush at his expense.

That said, it's still very early days and we've been playing a completely different style of hockey for weeks. We are a team who play on the front foot, in the CHL games we obviously couldn't be that team and it's hard to change one week to the next.
Great post here, last paragraph is spot on IMO.
 
#49
Yes last night's game didn't go to plan and the guys didn't look as sharp like they did against Davos this weekend but I'm not worried.

I remember last season they started off a bit slow especially in those early CC games but I trust Lord knows what he's doing. At this point next month that's when I'd be looking to criticise if play is looking bad.

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Johnnybravo1927

Well-Known Member
#50
this time last year I am fairly sure we lost to Manchester Storm in the CC up in Manchester . It was I think the debut of Patrick Bordeleau. Despite that loss the season seemed to go okay in the end........
 

DevilDom

Well-Known Member
#51
The hysteria on here becuase of one bad result in a game which was only slightly more important than a pre-season friendly is laughable. Already calling out players? Really?

No disrespect to Guildford, but we cannot play at the level we played against Davos or we will have to play in the big league games against the likes of steelers, panthers, giants etc week-in week-out for 8 months of the season so if we take it a little easy in the CC group games and we lose a couple - so what? All we have to do is get out of the group and 8 of the 12 teams will do that. We win 3 out 6 games and we probably will. Calm down people - remember the slow start in the CC last year? How did that work out for us?
 
#52
I understand we will lose a few games but no way should Guildford score 8 past us...
There one of the weaker teams in this league and why would the devils take it easy? U do that when u have qualified..

They simply under estitamsted them and paid the price
 

Johnnybravo1927

Well-Known Member
#53
I understand we will lose a few games but no way should Guildford score 8 past us...
There one of the weaker teams in this league and why would the devils take it easy? U do that when u have qualified..

They simply under estitamsted them and paid the price

I agree that we underestimated them a bit and that coupled with a poor performance but there is no doubt in my mind that we will be back firing on all cylinders this weekend. Remember getting routed by Panthers last season then 23 hours later we convincingly beat steelers. We have had a blip, we will have a few more yet but there is no way we wont finish top 2 this season and we ill qualify from our CC group as well
 

Devil94

Well-Known Member
#54
We had all of this last year, players being called out, Lordo's tactics not good enough etc.
The truth is there's been one weekend of domestic hockey. ONE. Guildford are not here to make the numbers, and going in to a new rink it was never an easy game. There won't be an easy game all year.
If results like that continue for the next month or two, then you might have a valid point. But let's give them a chance first.
 

RedDevil17

Well-Known Member
#55
Simply put, people say we underestimated them and what not but the reality is that we can't underestimate any team in this league. As Lord said in the MK game interview it's no longer a 4/5 team league because year on year every team is improving. That said, am I worried? Not really, not sure if the highlights are up but it sounded like Murdy was hung out to dry slightly. 8 goals isn't acceptable but I agree with the poster who said we are missing Brine and Scott Hotham because we are. Lord has to play every game IMO and we need to start throwing the body, upping the physicality and to sign someone who will actually fight because this team toughness isn't working for me. All in all a poor game but it's one we can learn from, rectify our mistakes and hopefully we bounce back with a win next week
 

KaneDevils

Well-Known Member
#56
Why shouldn't we call players out? Within reason of course. If player A has a poor game, let's say so. What he's like in 3 months time we can discuss accordingly. I want players to give their all, no matter what the competition or the opposition, but their only human and it happens. Doesn't mean we can't discuss it while being honest.

We have no divine right to beat anyone, and losing to Guildford is no shame.
However, conceding 8 is cause for concern. End of.
 
#57
The Guildford game is gone. Hooefully the guys will regroup and bounce back.
I agree Lord should play all games. He brings a spark to the team. But we've got other players on the team capable of that surely?
Also the 'team toughness' does not work. Wait until Fitzy and the likes are in town. They will try to run the show, whereas the Devils have no 'go to' guy. We can't have the likes of Hotham scrapping week in, week out.


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#58
Having listened to Lords radio interview, he made it very clear that the blame for this defeat and performance should be placed firmly on his shoulders and his alone. l agree with him. It's very early days to be so critical of the performance, frankly it's not unusual, it's happened pretty much every year Lord has been coach. To be honest I prefer these results, imagine how boring it must be having a team that beats everyone every game.


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Ocko

Well-Known Member
#59
You need a reality check sometimes. Both fans and players. I don't mind these defeats as we come out flying the following game, which this time is against Sheffield so it's a perfect game to put it right.

I also feel we should stop short of throwing players under the bus based on a game or two.

If it's based on a number of performances fair enough, and on things like positional issues, common issues, tactics. Take the crtitism Faryna for example; the guy puts everything he has into the game normally, and has done every game until this weekend. Do you think that he suddenly has become a more passive, lesser energy player overnight? No. He probably has a knock, might be unwell, not trained well for whatever reason or just had an off night. It happens, they aren't robots.

Base opinions on players individually over more than just 60 minutes. Our fan base are up an down like an emotional teenager at times.
 

ASHIPP

Well-Known Member
#60
The players are very lucky to have Lordo as coach.It's a learning process for him too.....but he will always take it on his shoulders publically even when sometimes in reality, the team, or individuals may also be responsible.
 
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