Devils v Flames

august04

Well-Known Member
#61
It was a bonkers game of hockey, one of my favourite (if frustrating) for some time. We actually played well, although let our frustration at the officiating show near the end.
Defensively we were MUCH better with more emphasis on team D and Jardine a rock (yes really!) We also knocked Flames around when we realised that the refs were not going to call anything which was good fun but had the inevitable conclusion when they suddenly found their whistles.
I am always loath today criticise officials but, it was a shambles today, if I was a Flames fan I would have been fuming for 50 minutes. Riley levels Davies miles after the puck has gone, no call. Louis breaks a stick slashing Watters, no call, then a Flame taps a Devil and gets 2 minutes. In the last 10 minutes the roles were reversed and that was when he lost the plot.
To be honest that performance was more positive than negative, far more aggression, far better D and unlucky not to get something out of the game.
Cracking match
Doesn’t sound like we choked then and encouraging to read. Thanks kettdevil1.
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#62
It’s very interesting to hear Lord’s post game interview and his frustration at being called time and again for finishing hits. Combine that with the pre game chat with Simms on Saturday and it looks like this league has an identity crisis. Simms emphasised that it’s a “bums on seats” league and they rely on income from that to survive without big sponsorship and tv deals. Then you have DOPS and these current batch of referees who are calling everything and trying to clean up a league which doesn‘t necessarily need cleaning up. British audiences want physical hockey and if these officials have their way, there’ll be nobody left in the stands. It’s about time Mike Hicks got this message across to DOPS, the officials etc. We’re not a goon league and playing physical hockey doesn’t make us that either as the likes of the SHL is far more physical than what we see here. It’s time for some serious discussions and direction from Kelman and the rest of the autonomous EIHL board - and as Simms said on Saturday, if these officials aren’t good enough, then recruit new ones, or the game in the U.K. is going to suffer.
 

Slartibartfast

Well-Known Member
#65
That's a great post above.

Also interesting to hear Lord suggesting that the fanbase wants his head. He sounded particularly deflated tonight.
Yes Im sorry to hear that he thinks we are calling for his head. Sounds like some of the comments on here have got to him.
I think the majority are happy with Lord just not happy with the inconsistency from the team. But maybe the inconsistency of the refs is part of the problem
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#66
Yes Im sorry to hear that he thinks we are calling for his head. Sounds like some of the comments on here have got to him.
I think the majority are happy with Lord just not happy with the inconsistency from the team. But maybe the inconsistency of the refs is part of the problem
If the team play like they have this weekend, then I don’t believe anyone will be calling for his head. Even if we’re not winning titles every year. I really don’t think that would be the case if the style of hockey is more entertaining. He’s more likely to come under pressure from fans if they revert back to boring, sterile hockey. Nobody wants that I’m sure.
 

kettdevil1

Well-Known Member
#67
I think the league must look at the officiating. Tonight was maybe an extreme example but there have been too many games this season where players’ tempers have boiled over due to inconsistencies. For once in my hockey life I actually felt quite sorry for the opposition for much of this game, off the top of my head I can think of four instances where we should have been either penalised or been more heavily penalised, credit is due to the Flames for not losing the plot. Then at about 50 minutes it was like a switch had been flicked and we began to get the rough end of everything. It culminated in Linglet being called for a fairly blatant cross check late on and going mad because nobody had been called for that all game and then in the last two minutes they decide to call it....

It was also noticeable that there was very little communication between players and official, although I am not always his biggest fan, Referee Darnell is always talking and appears to be telling players what to do/what not to do, tonight.... nothing.

Hopefully DOPS don’t look too closely at this game. The Jardine ‘fight’ was nothing more than handbag, I wouldn‘t imagine Riley or Linglet would be of much interest but Dixon’s hit (which got him a grand total of two minutes) had the hallmark of a ban....

As someone has already said, I think the dangers of poor officiating will start with penalties such as we saw tonight and end with players being out off coming here...
 

The_Puck

Active Member
#68
SoG - G26 D20
PIM - G40 D76
Physicality served us well there then!
I've been saying this for a while now and I've been shot down every time. If we play physical then we get penalised and we end up losing. Even Lord admitted it in his interview tonight that he feels he can't let us hit anymore as we always seem to end up on the penalty kill. This isn't the fault of the players or Lord, it's the referee's fault as they are killing our great sport. I feel that if this continues i can see Lord changing our recruitment style dramatically and going for all small, speedy and skilful players. But then again people will still be complaining so i guess nobody can win in this situation.

Now don't get me wrong, i love physical hockey but it's clear to see the league don't and are therefore punishing those who do play physical. So i'd rather see us have no physicality and win than playing physical like we did tonight and spend the majority of the game on the penalty kill as well as have players suspended.
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#69
So i'd rather see us have no physicality and win than playing physical like we did tonight and spend the majority of the game on the penalty kill as well as have players suspended.
No physicality will be the end of the game in this country. There won’t be many of you sat in the stands watching that kind of garbage game week in, week out. It’s a myth that other Euro leagues don’t play physical. Watch the Swedish league on Freesports/Premier Sports. The problem lies with our substandard officiating set up, not the style of play in the UK which is miles away from the supposed goon league of yesteryear. Sensible officiating from experienced refs = problem solved.
 

The_Puck

Active Member
#70
No physicality will be the end of the game in this country. There won’t be many of you sat in the stands watching that kind of garbage game week in, week out. It’s a myth that other Euro leagues don’t play physical. Watch the Swedish league on Freesports/Premier Sports. The problem lies with our substandard officiating set up, not the style of play in the UK which is miles away from the supposed goon league of yesteryear. Sensible officiating from experienced refs = problem solved.
I agree with you. We won’t progress as a league until new refs are brought in. There’s been already a lot of missed calls, weak calls, incorrect decisions even when looking at the replay for a review.
 

Imp

Active Member
#71
Code:
        No.    Min.    Penalty     Start    End  
08:27     8    2       INTRF       08:27    10:27    
11:15     3    2       ELBOW       11:15    13:15    
30:21    42    2       SLASH       30:21    32:21    
35:49    20    2       TRIP        35:49    37:49    
38:18    25    2       FIGHT-INST  38:18    40:18    (70)
38:18    25    5       FIGHT       38:18    43:18    
38:18    25    10      FIGHT-INST  40:18    50:18    
50:16    11    2       BOARD       50:16    52:16    
58:38    70    2       CROSS       58:38    60:00    (16)
58:38    70    10      ABUSE       58:38    60:00    
59:08    15    2       CROSS       59:08    60:00    
59:08    25    10      ABUSE       59:08    60:00    
60:00    77    5       FIGHT       60:00    60:00    
60:00    77    20      FIGHT       60:00    60:00
5 penalties across 50 minutes...
Plus a couple of fights...
Plus a massive goal mouth scramble (or two) in the last 90 seconds as Devils tried to equalise.

I thought Fournier was a bit unlucky, but assume the tripping call was technically correct.

Linglet? Maybe? Who knows? The puck ended up in the net (after the whistle, but soon enough that presumably he thought they were ruling out a goal). With all the hacking, slashing, pushing, shoving, and trying to bundle the puck over the line, I’d hate to be the one trying to sort out what’s fair or foul during the melee and suspect those late game cross-checking calls look perfectly okay if you’re a Flames fan.

Abuse penalties are pointless, selfish and stupid. No excuse. Ever. Even if you’re right and the ref was wrong, it can only hurt your team... and, especially if you only get 5 minutes for punching an opposing player, there are more productive ways to vent.

What I simply don’t understand is Devil’s power-play. We look so much less likely to score that we’d be better off simply declining the penalty and staying at equal strength.
 
#73
What I simply don’t understand is Devil’s power-play. We look so much less likely to score that we’d be better off simply declining the penalty and staying at equal strength.
I don’t think the powerplay is an issue at all. Yes sometimes they overhandle the puck, or allow the opposition to close down shooting lanes by hanging onto the puck for too long, but the Devils have the only powerplay that is over 20% efficiency in league action.

Over the course of the weekend it only dropped from 25% overall to 24.56% so the powerplay to me isn’t an issue. League average on the PP is 17.14% so the Devils are way above that right now.
Inconsistency in what’s called one night to the next is a league wide issue, and unfortunately until that’s sorted teams can only play what they’re given on any night. It’s frustrating to have to adapt your approach to the game on a night by night basis because on referee will call it one way, and another will call it another way. But even on the penalty kill the Devils have the second best record in league play behind the Giants. I don’t think special teams are an issue at all.
 

bb1

Well-Known Member
#74
This weekend has been tremendously positive with the amount of grit and heart we have shown.

The guys and Lordo are realising the need for physicality and show we are no pushover.

I'd rather lose showing a physical side with grit than lose the way we had been prior to this weekend.

I think a lot of the frustration is more down to the fact our forwards can't score and not just the officiating. This is worrying.

I do hope we are actively looking for an out and out goal scorer because imo that's the reason why defensively we have been poor. Defenceman pinching trying to score leaving gaps etc.....

Hope we can find the net a bit more ASAP.
 

hip check

Well-Known Member
#75
This weekend has been tremendously positive with the amount of grit and heart we have shown.

The guys and Lordo are realising the need for physicality and show we are no pushover.

I'd rather lose showing a physical side with grit than lose the way we had been prior to this week.








Agree absolutely, one of the main reasons I fell in love with this sport is the grit and physicality of it, ice hockey with minimal body contact wouldn't be hockey in my eyes and render it mundane and predictable.
loved Cam Jansen when he played for Panthers, worth the entrance money just to see him play.
 
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Gazza272

Well-Known Member
#76
I hope Lordo doesn't think the opinions on inferno are'the fanbase'
We are but a tiny minority.
Personally, I think it was a misspeak from lord that has been taken at face value and a little too literally.

I took the tone of what he was saying to mean, the fan's want me to get us playing more physically, rather than calling for him to be sacked if that doesnt happen.
 

Samael

Well-Known Member
#77
I agree with you. We won’t progress as a league until new refs are brought in. There’s been already a lot of missed calls, weak calls, incorrect decisions even when looking at the replay for a review.
But who will pay for the new refs? I suggest the money made from the webcasts part fund them. :D
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #79
It’s obvious to everyone now that our officials are strangling this game, they ain’t paid a fortune but the way it’s going they won’t get paid anything if they kill the game. Physicality in this sport is huge in its attraction, if it becomes non contact it will surely wither and die. The devils v Steelers game was a cracking entertaining night out physicality and all. In today’s world people have lots of other attractions to attend on Sat/ Sun night, and hockey is just one option to take, remove a huge part of that attraction meaning the physical side and that really is the road to rack and ruin. Hockey really is a beautiful sport, the speed, the amazing skating, the awesome skill, goals, saves, all are massive in the make up of this game, but equally so are big hits, and bodily contact, it’s obviously all about striking a happy medium, we need to grow this sport not decapitate it. Coaches along with fans and players are getting totally frustrated with Amateur officiating and something has to change, and it has to change sooner than later.
 

CaldicotDevil

Well-Known Member
#80
Our coach Fox regularly criticises refs in his interviews. Maybe more people piling the pressure on them will bring change.
Agree, unfortunately the EIHL Boys Club won't change till it's forced to changed. Look at the DOPS, if FretterGate never happened the DOPS would never have changed. The momentum of ex players, clubs media and coaches criticising the DOPS lead to such negative media and social media attention. It was that negative spin that prompted the changed. If FretterGate never happened we'd still only have one ref covering the whole ice.

I'm not blaming the refs but the system. The EIHL expects clubs/owners to take a gamble and invest their money in teams to grow & improve the UK game. It's only fair for clubs to expect the EIHL to do their fair share and improve & invest in the running of the league, That includes improving the standard of refereeing.
 
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