Devils Vs Steelers - 18 Jan 20 - League

jenks33

Well-Known Member
#63
Bowns is not the issue. His workload is. I have said it before that his icetime over the last 5 years dwarfs any other netminder in the UK. He has played upto the playoff final most years, then has GB and over the last few years, his pre-season is early due to the CHL (which is more games and travel). Need to put faith in Lawday/Murdy. Target the Challenge Cup and target two teams in the league where Bowns can have nights off.
The amount that he is playing, he simply cannot be the star guy every night. It is certainly not Bowns fault.
In my opinion it’s both. Bowns certainly hasn’t been the issue all season as we were very average until early December. Over the past 6 weeks though (apart from a few games early January) I feel the team have raised their performance levels but Bowns hasn’t. He’s letting in one or two incredibly soft goals every game.
Now is his workload an issue? It must be. The amount of hockey he’s played over the past two seasons is ridiculous. What’s inexcusable for me is the amount of minutes he plays in the challenge cup. Let’s be honest you can afford to lose games in that competition so sit him out of a few. Not just one game a few! I remember an interview with Lordo earlier this season and John Donovan asked him about Bownsy’s workload and he said the issue is Ben wants to play every game. It’s a great attitude for a player to have but surely as head coach you have to make tough calls. If the goalie says he wants to play but you feel he needs a rest then rest him.
 

Kevin roog

Well-Known Member
#64
Jenks last post is the best post I’ve read for a while. Hit the nail on the head. I think we all love bownsy on here but he has let in few soft goals since Xmas.
 

Mazzoak

Well-Known Member
#65
For me Bowns has peaked and is now starting to show dips in performance. A massive player for the Devils, a huge fan favourite. He should’ve moved to a higher league 2 seasons ago, he’d have got the coaching and experience to grow, why he hasn’t moved l don’t know. I could speculate he’d prefer being the big fish in a small pond, it could be he wasn’t seen as anything special, l don’t know. The issue for the club is one we see throughout the new ownership, loyalty before anything else. That makes dropping Bowns to number 2 a very unlikely scenario. You don’t have to be an NHL franchise to make what is basic coaching decisions, l don’t need to watch NHL games to see talent, we had talent in the league we are in, with the team we’ve recruited. The issue is the team we’ve retained this year are one or more season passed their best, it’s not rocket science, you remove those and replace.

A broken clock is right twice a day, but l wouldn’t rely on it for accurate time keeping.
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
#66
But there’s not a goalie in the league that hasn’t let in some soft goals, that’s why they are playing in our league and not a higher league. It’s also a unforgiving position, people remember the boo boos far more than the terrific saves, as it results in a goal. Myself if Bownsy wants to play, then play him, no one knows his body better than him.
 

Mazzoak

Well-Known Member
#67
Myself if Bownsy wants to play, then play him, no one knows his body better than him.
No that isn’t the correct stance, if it was, you wouldn’t have employees burnt out, stressed and suffering various issues. Bowns is putting too much onto himself, he needs to be rested, he need to balance shifts, on this team that’s more important than others.
 

voth26

Well-Known Member
#68
Cobblers, you are just not "far superior". We were missing two top scorers tonight in Dowd and DeLuca. Credit where credit's due eh?
And we were missing joey Martin and even Mosey so that cancels out your point, plus if you read the end of the post you see where he says steelers are playing good hockey, so credit was given!!
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
#69
No that isn’t the correct stance, if it was, you wouldn’t have employees burnt out, stressed and suffering various issues. Bowns is putting too much onto himself, he needs to be rested, he need to balance shifts, on this team that’s more important than others.
Its not the right stance to you, but it is to me, hopefully my opinion is as important as yours. Neither of us could hold a candle to Lordo, so surely his decisions are what matters.
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
#70
One of our biggest problems is how many times we give the puck away, silly passes giving possession to the others, and taking our momentum with it. Hockey is all about puck possession, when you have it you can do things, but we lose possession so so often and hand the advantage to our opponent, that then makes it so much harder to punish teams. We can be a joy to watch at times,take that first period last night as a example, but then we can be our worst enemy it happens too often unfortunately, things are still in our hands let’s not bottle it guys. We need to take it out on Stars tonight.
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#71
In my opinion it’s both. Bowns certainly hasn’t been the issue all season as we were very average until early December. Over the past 6 weeks though (apart from a few games early January) I feel the team have raised their performance levels but Bowns hasn’t. He’s letting in one or two incredibly soft goals every game.
Now is his workload an issue? It must be. The amount of hockey he’s played over the past two seasons is ridiculous. What’s inexcusable for me is the amount of minutes he plays in the challenge cup. Let’s be honest you can afford to lose games in that competition so sit him out of a few. Not just one game a few! I remember an interview with Lordo earlier this season and John Donovan asked him about Bownsy’s workload and he said the issue is Ben wants to play every game. It’s a great attitude for a player to have but surely as head coach you have to make tough calls. If the goalie says he wants to play but you feel he needs a rest then rest him.
Spot on. What player worth his salt, is going to say they don’t want to play? It’s up to Lord to make the big decisions on when he plays and when he rests, not Bowns. He’s the boss. I’ve never quite understood his reluctance to play Murdy from time to time, particularly in games when Bowns is struggling (and it’s usually pretty clear early on whether Bowns is seeing it or not). I’ve always thought he’s done a good job on the very few occasions that he’s been called upon. He’s wasted his talent by accepting such a severely limited back up role here.
 

CaldicotDevil

Well-Known Member
#72
But there’s not a goalie in the league that hasn’t let in some soft goals, that’s why they are playing in our league and not a higher league. It’s also a unforgiving position, people remember the boo boos far more than the terrific saves, as it results in a goal. Myself if Bownsy wants to play, then play him, no one knows his body better than him.
Disagree with this. As a fan base every time makes Bownsy a great save Devils fans go crazy on social media. His save on Smotherman last year is probably the most watched clip by devils fans.

The simple matter is a burnout Bownsy is still way better than a fit Murdy. So there's not much we can do about it till the off season. Just need to hope Bownsy can cope.

Benti is my concern at the minute. He's probably my favourite devil but his work rate without the puck seems to have dropped this year. I know he's probably short of confidence with points & he's missing 88 but he's playing first line minutes.

I still think we'll win the league this year but its going to be nervous.
 

Samael

Well-Known Member
#73
Disappointing. It's the only word to describe last nights result. I hope that word doesn't end up being the defining word of the entire season but the way things are going l think it well might be. Really don't want to see the Yorkies winning everything.
 

Mazzoak

Well-Known Member
#74
Its not the right stance to you, but it is to me, hopefully my opinion is as important as yours. Neither of us could hold a candle to Lordo, so surely his decisions are what matters.
If you want to play this game, fine......

Current WHO puts a figure of 264 million employees globally at a cost of $1 Trillion. Those are figures relating to employee’s suffering from work related depression and anxiety.

Is Bowns suffering from symptoms, l don’t know, but to suggest he’s best placed to know is massively incorrect & a viewpoint best left in the 1950’s.

Work-related risk factors for health

There are many risk factors for mental health that may be present in the working environment. Most risks relate to interactions between type of work, the organizational and managerial environment, the skills and competencies of employees, and the support available for employees to carry out their work. For example, a person may have the skills to complete tasks, but they may have too few resources to do what is required, or there may be unsupportive managerial or organizational practices.

Risks to mental health include:

  • inadequate health and safety policies;
  • poor communication and management practices;
  • limited participation in decision-making or low control over one’s area of work;
  • low levels of support for employees;
  • inflexible working hours; and
  • unclear tasks or organizational objectives.
Risks may also be related to job content, such as unsuitable tasks for the person’s competencies or a high and unrelenting workload. Some jobs may carry a higher personal risk than others (e.g. first responders and humanitarian workers), which can have an impact on mental health and be a cause of symptoms of mental disorders, or lead to harmful use of alcohol or psychoactive drugs. Risk may be increased in situations where there is a lack of team cohesion or social support.

Bullying and psychological harassment (also known as “mobbing”) are commonly reported causes of work-related stress by workers and present risks to the health of workers. They are associated with both psychological and physical problems. These health consequences can have costs for employers in terms of reduced productivity and increased staff turnover. They can also have a negative impact on family and social interactions.
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
#76
they don’t look dropping points . We might need a 4 point weekend in Belfast or their lead could be up to double figures
Hopefully Giants can pull the rabbit out of the hat tonight, and we need to have our A game to beat stars, my wish is
Steelers 2 Giants 4
Stars 1 Devils 3
liverpool 3 United 0
that would be a nice Sunday .
 

Imp

Active Member
#78
... if Bownsy wants to play, then play him, no one knows his body better than him.
Completely disagree with this. It has to be the coach’s call (and I do not envy him that responsibility).

Sportsmen absolutely cannot be trusted to make the call about their own physical/mental condition. It doesn’t matter how bad they are hurt, how exhausted they are, what’s broken, or pretty much what else is going on in their life ... they will ALWAYS tell you that they are perfectly fine and ready to go. I imagine it is a vital part of the make up that makes them who they are - that capacity to push themselves above and beyond, to comeback after a bad day at the office, to do the hard work in training - but it can also be a liability that leads them to play well beyond the point where they desperately need to rest, recover, and reflect.

I cringe whenever I hear Lord say, “Bownsy insists on playing”, but I trust that Lord also knows that ultimately it is his call to make... and that the relationship is strong enough that he’d make it if he felt it was appropriate.
 

Diafol

Well-Known Member
#79
So at the moment we are 5 points behind Sheffield with 4 games in hand.

Am I correct in thinking that those games will be:

16 Feb Guildford A
19 Feb Fife H
15 Mar Dundee A
18 Mar Coventry H

?
 
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