Devils v Blaze - 27/02 @ 19:00 - League - Chat/Updates

[Armchair Coach]

Really didn't look up for the challenge tonight. Fair play to Coventry, they took their chances and could have had more. We make too many basic errors breaking out, putting ourselves under more pressure than necessary.

When we do get into the opposition zone, we seem to want to walk the puck into the net - we had a powerplay that other teams feared. I think they've all sussed us out.

Disappointing result for the last game in the BBT - but hey tomorrow we wake up and we're still Devils fans.

 

[august04]

I might get flamed here but we are throwing this league title away. Coventry have improved no doubt, but they're still a 9th placed team. We just cannot lose that game down the stretch. At the business end of the season, give me players with heart, commitment and desire. Too many lacked those qualities in spades tonight. The Salters, Doucet & Hervato line were passers by, absolutely dreadful. I'll forgive Hervato as its very rare from him but I'm afraid it's all too familiar from his linemates. It's not the first time I've said it, although he had improved of late, but Salters is beyond frustrating - on his day, unplayable but those games are too few and far between for me. If he's injured, get him out of the line up and play the likes of Hendrikx, who has given everything for that shirt when called upon and always does. I find his continuing omission baffling. The Devils have lost their physicality at crunch time and the absence of Hendrikx doesn't help this. We play our best hockey when we play a high tempo, physical game, particularly at the tent. Culligan does a great job at the back but get him back in the forward line up please, when Fournier returns. We're still in with a shout but we need to get out of this mini slump very quickly and a few need to take a long, hard look at themselves. A bitterly disappointing farewell to the BBT.

 

[Rabbitohs4]

Terrible performances only a few players were interested!!

Hotham and Hudson were shocking and when will we go back to shooting on the power play and stop being fancy? Really can't see us winning the league now either

 

[Wannabe2]

Not sure why we didn't play our best Defensman tonight, the best passer in our D, and the best hitter in our D. We needed a big lift tonight, and a big hit could have brought that possibly. Standing behind the Plexi tonight was Hendrikx, Marsh, Fournier, and Walton, when was the last time this club could have boasted that, the answer never. Gutted we lost tonight, but a big believer in that the best team will win it.

 

[ASHIPP]

Disappointing way to end our time at the BBT.

A Blaze team fighting for a playoff position was always going to come out fghting. Forget all the wins against them this season. Whatever chances they had in this game they were going to take....they showed the Devils how to execute a powerplay.
And that was key to the game...our pp was disorganised and Blaze defended pk well.

Amazed to see Trevor scratched. He and Batchy have been our most dependable d pairing. Bazed on the last 3 (lost) league games there are several players nowhere near tbeir bezt and deserve to be scratched.

 

[Slartibartfast]

My son hasn't been for a while so I explained to him before the game that there were two Devils teams. One has the most sublime inch perfect passing that takes opposition apart. The other cant string accurate passes together and struggles as a result. Sad to say that the latter played tonight. I cant really fault their effort though. Personally I think it was the line changes that bring about the poor passing. Noone seemed to know where their team mates were.

Why oh why did Lord break up that incredible line of Martin Doucet and Salters. They were destroying the opposition. Hervato as much as I like him does not fit on that line.

There was also something wrong between the D and the forward lines. Breakout passes were just not accurate. A couple of weeks ago our end to end transition was amazing due to the D to forward passes. Tonight it just crumbled in the neutral zone.

Sorry Lordo. We love you and all you have done for us but tonight this looked like a failure of coaching/selection not of the players. I would not be so harsh if this were a loss to Sheffield or Nottingham but that was a very average Blaze team that we lost to.

I hope we can learn from this and get back to the absolutely amazing hockey that we can play. When the lines click I have no doubt that we are the best team in league.

 

[SteveKing]

I have to say that I can't remember being so gutted after a loss. Besides the obvious importance of this game in our title hopes, I SO wanted this game for all of you great fans going to the last game at our beloved little tent.

The team now gets some much needed rest and some much needed practice. Our biggest weekend of the season awaits. Knowing the people in that locker room, I can't imagine that next weekend's effort will be the same as today's.

 

[El Supremo]

It goes without saying that we need to win all six games remaining in the regular season if we are to win the title.

Win all six and the team deserve to be champions.

 

[mazza03]

I have to say that I can't remember being so gutted after a loss. Besides the obvious importance of this game in our title hopes, I SO wanted this game for all of you great fans going to the last game at our beloved little tent.

The team now gets some much needed rest and some much needed practice. Our biggest weekend of the season awaits. Knowing the people in that locker room, I can't imagine that next weekend's effort will be the same as today's.

It was a very disappointing night for us fans, I have to say that our PP was a disgrace, when do you ever score by getting into the (not so perfect) position? Coventry had our play covered right from the start.
I don't know why Trevor was rested (unless injured) when we had a D short through suspension, very frustrating.

On-wards and upwards.

 

[Finny]

I'm as gutted as anyone after last night's loss. But I don't agree with the comments saying the players weren't trying or they'd bottled it. If we'd bottled it we'd have blown our two goal lead in Belfast on Tuesday.

Maybe it's blind hope, but it looked to me that most of our team looked exhausted mentally more than physically. 5 games in 8 days in 4 countries is a crazy schedule and hopefully next season we do all we can to avoid that. I believe Lord is a coach who likes to have all the games videos analysed afterwards, all that travel means even something as simple as that hasn't been possible.

But our great form in the previous two months does mean we are still top of the table, albeit it until later today. And we do unfortunately have a tougher run in than Sheffield. Probably similar to Nottingham.

But the guys do now have a full 5 days to recover and work out what went wrong. After scoring 2 PP goals in Belfast we scored none in our next two games - so I'm guessing they'll start there. And bizarrely our record on big ice lately as been much better than small ice! Hopefully the move to IAW will be a positive and will have come at just the right time.

 

[osh]

Much too angry to post last night, so after a good nights sleep, here are my thoughts. Firstly, I thought we had the mind set and ability to go on and win the league. Having watched that garbage last night, I now have severe doubts we will be good enough to win anything this season. All the comments "if you had told me we would be top of the league and in the running at this stage of the season etc etc" mean nothing unless you actually go on to win something, and the league is always the main trophy, followed by the play off title and then the CC. I fully expected to be at or near the top at this stage of the season, but I didn't expect us to give it away quite so easily as we have in games we really should have won.
Like others, I cannot get my head around the line changes and strange omissions regarding certain players, I expect we will learn why in time, but it still leaves me scratching my head. Steve King says the team can now have a well earned rest and time to practice ! Steve, you can practice all you like, but if you don't have settled lines that will mean nothing in a game environment. For whatever reason, we look sadly lacking in confidence and belief in each other out there on the ice in recent games. Our D is as tight as a 2nd hand colander and Hotham - whilst great going forward - is a liability as a D and Hudson is just going through the motions. Yes his points tally is great, however, he has been responsible for goals that have cost us games and that's just not good enough. I sincerely hope Lord gets them together on Monday and shows them the horror goals conceded recently, see how much Bowns has kept us in games and gets his bloody lines sorted out once and for all. Not the way I wanted to remember the last game at the BBT, l only hope we can turn things around, and sharpish !

 

[Rich Best]

I have to say that I can't remember being so gutted after a loss. Besides the obvious importance of this game in our title hopes, I SO wanted this game for all of you great fans going to the last game at our beloved little tent.

The team now gets some much needed rest and some much needed practice. Our biggest weekend of the season awaits. Knowing the people in that locker room, I can't imagine that next weekend's effort will be the same as today's.

It was a very disappointing night for us fans, I have to say that our PP was a disgrace, when do you ever score by getting into the (not so perfect) position? Coventry had our play covered right from the start.
I don't know why Trevor was rested (unless injured) when we had a D short through suspension, very frustrating.

On-wards and upwards.

Hendrikx wasn't rested - we had an import (Fournier) out with a one match ban. You therefore have to play an import short as far as I understand.

 

[august04]

I'm as gutted as anyone after last night's loss. But I don't agree with the comments saying the players weren't trying or they'd bottled it. If we'd bottled it we'd have blown our two goal lead in Belfast on Tuesday.

Maybe it's blind hope, but it looked to me that most of our team looked exhausted mentally more than physically. 5 games in 8 days in 4 countries is a crazy schedule and hopefully next season we do all we can to avoid that. I believe Lord is a coach who likes to have all the games videos analysed afterwards, all that travel means even something as simple as that hasn't been possible.

The effort put in last night by several players was absolutely pathetic (and the skill set even lower!). You'd have thought we were a mid placed team with nothing to play for, rather than fighting for the No.1 prize in British ice hockey. And every team has had crazy schedules, in fact for the past few weeks, many have been catching up on the games in hand they had on us. If we had rotated players properly in the past few weeks, perhaps we might not have appeared so lethargic of late. We've been shocking these final two games at the tent. You don't think players do much travelling in the North American pro leagues? Our players get well looked after, let's stop looking for excuses. I hope Lord doesn't do the same. Admit we were awful, read the riot act and do something about it next game.

 

[jimmy snels]

I have to say that I can't remember being so gutted after a loss. Besides the obvious importance of this game in our title hopes, I SO wanted this game for all of you great fans going to the last game at our beloved little tent.

The team now gets some much needed rest and some much needed practice. Our biggest weekend of the season awaits. Knowing the people in that locker room, I can't imagine that next weekend's effort will be the same as today's.

It was a very disappointing night for us fans, I have to say that our PP was a disgrace, when do you ever score by getting into the (not so perfect) position? Coventry had our play covered right from the start.
I don't know why Trevor was rested (unless injured) when we had a D short through suspension, very frustrating.

On-wards and upwards.

Hendrikx wasn't rested - we had an import (Fournier) out with a one match ban. You therefore have to play an import short as far as I understand.

The suggestion is that the wrong man missed out. Which is 100% true. Might not be a flashy skater but he actually defends!

 

[mweller]

I think last night's game may have been one of the most frustrating I've seen. It wasn't lack of effort, or possession, but we seem to have lost confidence in front of net. Watching Lordo's interview, he suggests some guys are 'overthinking' it. I think this is true - Kurka, Doucet, Salters and Lord himself all had chances they would have buried earlier in the season and we would've been 5 or 6 up. But last night I felt we could've played for another 2 hours with an empty net and we wouldn't have scored. Similarly, the defence seem to hesitate, give the puck away and put themselves under pressure as if they've lost faith in their own ability.

I guess this is what handling pressure is about (or if you prefer, what not choking is all about).

Like everyone else I am completely baffled by the lack of rotation. I thought Hendrikx was a bit of a liability earlier in the season but he's really refocused on doing simple things effectively, and that's what I feel we need. If we're not going to rotate in this week of fixtures then what is the point of the extra import? We could have rotated Hotham, Hudson, Hendrikx so everyone was fit (or Salters, Lord, Haddad and given Culli a go up front, he looked good on that line with Kurka). That's not a criticism of any of those players, just about keeping everyone fresh (and maybe giving them a bit of extra competitive zip to respond to being rested). Maybe there is a reason I'm not seeing - a friend once told me "if clever people are doing something that seems stupid, then assume there is something you don't know". Maybe that is the case here.

Hopefully the rest and chance to review, talk and practice will do them good.

BTW - despite criticism of how he's using the rotation, I love Lordo as a coach. His interview today was just right. He doesn't moan, or goad other teams. He takes it on the chin. I think fans take a bit of a lead from how their coach or team responds and that's why I loathe the whole Simmsey/Steelers spoilt brat approach - it encourages that kind of whinging in fans too.

 

[Kal]

I agree with Lord's assessment that some guys were over thinking everything. It was frustrating watching them waste opportunities, especially on the PP, where we were waiting for the perfect opening and ended up turning the puck over without an actual shot.

I don't think Coventry played that well either but they seemed to have a plan to protect the net and keep bodies in our way and they executed that plan flawlessly.

Lets hope Blaze can frustrate the Steelers like that again tonight and we can start preparing for Nottingham.

 

[Sheincar]

For me the player left out should have been either Hotham or Hudson. Both too offensively minded but not producing there at the moment whilst being dubious on defensive duties. Unless Hendo is actually carrying an injury he should have been in that game. He's improved his play immensely this season & doesn't deserve to be left out so regularly. However don't forget we were missing Fournier so much last night.

 

[J.B]

Good win for Blaze - needed the two points and wanted it more.

 

[BostonBart22]

Good to see tyson in the warm up, think he will be back next weekend to rally the troops hopefully .

 

[Wannabe2]

Osh why do you think we should have won in Fife, Flyers at home are a match for anyone, especially at this moment in time. That was our 4th game in 8days, and we lost it in the 3rd I think that was due to fatigue.That's my only disagreement with your post. Last night was lousy for us all, but fortunately all the top teams are experiencing lousy times at some time. We are still in it, but we need to really play at the top end of our game, please please play Devils physical hockey it's missing big time.