Cardiff Devils v Fife Flyers - Sat 18 Nov 2017 - FO 7pm - Chat/Updates

#21
What a difference a year makes,! This time last year you never feared going behind as so much confidence in the team to turn it around, this year, often find myself anxious in games, even when in front.
 
#22
Lordo must be tearing his hair out. Six game winning streak then losing to Dundee and Fife at home. Coasting at 5-1 then we took the foot off the gas and it all went pear shaped. The calls Hogarth made might have been soft but he was consistent and we should have known that. It's a long time since I have seen a Devils team capitulate like that. The players need to look at themselves very closely.
 

Ocko

Well-Known Member
#26
That game was just bizarre. Horrendous refereeing and an even worse PK. Paris made a dumb play, a worthy GM and cost the team. What made it really dumb was the fact that he barely throws a hit all game most weeks then does a stupid one like that. Not a lot else to say on that.

One thing that is bothering me is how disappointing it is to see Batch's ice time cut again. Hes having a great impact but still doesnt seem to have the trust in him. If one of the forwards today sat it should've been Lord. I'm a huge fan of Lord, one of my favourite players but he isn't at it at the moment. He only has about 3 or 4 league assists and no goals all year despite his line mates both producing well. I think he needs to take a step back, not necessary in a suit but in tight games take himself out of the lineup. Batch is scoring and making things happen time to maybe hand the baton over.
 
#27
I agree Josh deserves more ice time, been great in a number of games and could have used his big body presence tonight. We certainly need Joey Haddad back asap as he is often the spark plug to get the team going. Also reflecting on how big a loss Culli is to the roster, pivotal to our success in recent years; forward or on D never let us down.
 
#28
Couldn't make the game but after being 4-1 up , I stupidly didn't check again until iI got home and saw we lost 8-6,!
i can only guess we tried to save ourselves for Panthers away but we shouldn't be turning over leads like this !!!
 
#29
As much as I love Lordo playing maybe it’s time for him to suit up ! A certain Person who has coached three eihl teams once told me the louder you shout the more the ref takes notice we don’t seem to have that person and maybe we need some animation on the bench .
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#30
We can all reflect on injured players or past players and how we're missing them but crucially for me, this team lacks the character and heart needed to win championships. We have good players no doubting that, but some don’t possess the necessary grit and fight that’s needed to win titles over a long hard EIHL season, when you can’t afford to take a night off. We've taken 2 nights off in 4 days and paid the price, you just can’t do that in this league.
Agree with Ocko about Batch. The way his ice time was cut tonight was criminal when Lord shortened his bench and went with the usual suspects. And with the game whistled down and with 41 seconds to go, having pulled Bowns, we have Reddick on the ice, back on D when we're pushing for the game tying goal. That’s a strange one for me. And he miscontrols the puck to allow the empty netter. A disastrous evening,
 

ASHIPP

Well-Known Member
#31
The team is playing this week like it was a few weeks ago- it's as if they are going backwards and not learning or developing from painful lessons in previous games.

Hard to tell if it's a skill issue, a discipline issue, a psychological issue, a coaching issue, an execution issue or any combination or all of the all the above.

Something is affecting this team. They can't seem to get over that hurdle to build some consistency. Until they deal with it, it will continue to define their performances.
 
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BostonBart22

Well-Known Member
#32
GARBAGE......almost another sellout and that happens, think our crowds will drop rapid with performances like this, dont like naming players but i didnt know ulmer was playing until the handshakes...serious though i did see him in the 3rd but what does he bring, another point we need a capt change imo , ok mo has improved a lot playing wise but a change is needed. heard that haddad was out till january, as soon as hes back he needs that C on his shirt....
 
#33
Hard to tell if it's a skill issue, a discipline issue, a psychological issue, a coaching issue, an execution issue or any combination or all of the above.
One of those will cause the rest as an inevitable consequence. Last night has given more answers to opposing coaches, only hope the experience to counter and take control of these increasing season repeating issues.




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pjj365

Well-Known Member
#34
Hmmm

What went wrong? On even strength we were 3-2 (counting SH and EN as ES for this purpose). Fife had 9 PPs we had 10 so, as we know, Fife won on PPs but we won even handed (not happy clappy just a fact).

What went wrong seems therefore to be special teams and giving up too many penalties. Is that a team failing? Well obviously on one hand it is. But you have to ask if the team is OK at FS why are we not more careful on penalties ( and, yes, I do know about heat of the moment things and poor calls) knowing that our PK is not working this year.

This is not rocket science and I have no doubt that the team as a whole and coaches in particular are aware of these "failings". The question is can it be fixed in time for a good run to the finish.

One other thought. Do coaches do ref. analysis so as to give guidance to the team. We know that some refs are inconsistent but what I don't know is if they, individually, have areas they focus on, have shown bias to one team, are they tolerant of one player in particular etc. etc. This kind of analysis is common at top level rugby and playing the ref can win or lose games.
 

DevilDom

Well-Known Member
#35
Seems to me as though lessons from earlier in the season have not been learnt - there can be no room for complacency in this league anymore. With exception of perhaps the Caps, any team is capable of beating the other if not taken seriously. At 5-1 up, Fife put the back-up in and the majority of the Devils players light up their cigars and think the game is won. How wrong they were! A series of dumb and soft penalties later coupled with sloppy play and we are chasing the game and ultimately losing it. Completely unacceptable IMO.

Are we are bad team? Hell no, we play at our best and we are one of the best in the league. However, consistency is a huge problem and to be frank there are players on the team who are either not pulling their weight or who are a shadow of the players they were last season. The others can’t cover for this every game especially when the opposition are as up for it as Fife were last night. Credit to them as they worked their socks off and never gave up. Something I would like to see a bit more from the Devils when things don’t go our way. The lack of consistency means I can’t see us retaining the league.
 
#36
One other thought. Do coaches do ref. analysis so as to give guidance to the team. We know that some refs are inconsistent but what I don't know is if they, individually, have areas they focus on, have shown bias to one team, are they tolerant of one player in particular etc. etc. This kind of analysis is common at top level rugby and playing the ref can win or lose games.
I believe coaches do, a few are good at it.




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#37
IMO this is now a 'stick and carrot' situation.
I think we can all agree that there are plenty of 'carrots' for players to become Devils but
there appear to be no 'sticks'!
 

jimmy snels

Well-Known Member
#38
Tell u what i found more telling on poor batch. We go a D man down for 5 mins and he sits the misconduct. Be ridiculous if we then lost another D man to a stupid penalty... oh right, yeah we did! Terrible couching decision. Hotham must have played 35 minutes tonight. He barely left the ice. But he can not do it all on his own. To get the best out of our best player we cant be playing him to death. You need to trust others and let him save energy for those pp opportunities for example. Batch sitting those 5 minutes showed a lack of trust. Especially when you've got import forwards who dont pk sat on the bench.

Hogarth was awful. But both ways. Fife just delt with it.

We got out hit again at home. We had gauthier running riot out there with no reply and i didnt like it one bit. No one even had a word.

The rest of what i thought has already been said so i wont repeat
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
#39
So what really did happen last night, as I don't have a bloody clue. I sat in my seat and watched some awesome hockey being played by our guys, then it all turned turtle. This morning it all seems like a nightmare, how can something so so good, turn into something so poor. The Dundee game was one thing, but this game was something else, I take nothing away from Fife, they work their butts of, but at 5-1 up at home come on. Let's hope this lights a fire in our guys belly to put things right tonight, we are capable of losing to anyone, but we are also capable of beating anyone, Rollercoaster comes to mind. Beat Panthers tonight and we will all feel a bit better, lose and it's 3 on the trot, and not good. Great shame there's no webcast, unless we play like last night of course.
 

Hedd Wyn John

Well-Known Member
#40
5-1 ahead & the Devils thinking the game was won switched off both mentally & physically. Crucially they lost composure when the Flyers started the fight back, they needed to remain calm, keep their cool and instead they lost their heads.
 
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