Devils v Giants - 16/02 - 7:30pm - CC 2nd leg - Chat/Updates
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
We might have technically "won" last night but not sure how people can say we were the better team. Ultimately we lost 5-2.
Belfast came with a game plan and did exactly what they had to do - they were not interested in "winning" last night but just to play defensively and get through to the final - which they did.
I believe our game plan was to come out hard and score a few in the first and ultimately score at least 4 more goals than them - which we didn't.
So how were we the better team?
We did come out hard but only scored once which was negated by a Belfast goal in the first. We just couldn't seem to finish anything last night.
Belfast came with a game plan and did exactly what they had to do - they were not interested in "winning" last night but just to play defensively and get through to the final - which they did.
I believe our game plan was to come out hard and score a few in the first and ultimately score at least 4 more goals than them - which we didn't.
So how were we the better team?
We did come out hard but only scored once which was negated by a Belfast goal in the first. We just couldn't seem to finish anything last night.
Honestly not trying to be argumental or anything but I guess we just see things differently - of course we were likely to have more possession and shots on goal - Belfast knew they just had to defend and shut up shop - and they did that extremely well. We had to go out and score goals - and we only managed 2. Shots on goal count for nothing really unless you can finish them!
There is no way if last night had of been a league game, that Belfast would have played the way they did - and I think the result would have been different. I'm worried about the weekend but will be there cheering them on and hoping they find form and win.
There is no way if last night had of been a league game, that Belfast would have played the way they did - and I think the result would have been different. I'm worried about the weekend but will be there cheering them on and hoping they find form and win.
The Giants made some dirty plays, but so did we. In the third (I think) when a shot went in on Murphy, a few guys crashed the net, Finnerty skated straight in and landed at least 3 punches on Murphy. I thought he was gone for that. He also had his stick between the legs (Of Welch I think) and as the ref looked away raised his stick and.... well lets just say he'll be singing falsetto for a little while.
First period was an awesome intensity. Unfortunately too many needless whistles in the second put a stop too that and the game stuttered as a result, and ultimately stopped the fans getting into the game.
I get the impression some of the players are taking Weller for granted a little bit. Just treat him as any other player. I noticed a few times, players looking for the pass to Craig when there was an easier, and potentially a more lucrative pass elsewhere.
First period was an awesome intensity. Unfortunately too many needless whistles in the second put a stop too that and the game stuttered as a result, and ultimately stopped the fans getting into the game.
I get the impression some of the players are taking Weller for granted a little bit. Just treat him as any other player. I noticed a few times, players looking for the pass to Craig when there was an easier, and potentially a more lucrative pass elsewhere.
I wasn’t surprised we played the defensive game that was blatantly on display last night. Tight at the back, hold the puck deep and let the clock do the rest. We had done the work required back in Belfast, you now just leave it up to Cardiff to do the work they need.
I’m amused by the accusations at Belfast solely having the dirty game. I admit our defensive game was laced with what we saw necessary to retain the puck and draw penalties. But lets not throw too many stones in this glass house. Weller was slash happy (thankfully and rightly called on it after his insane swan dive behind the Giants net subsequently saw him turn and slash because he didn’t get the call. I like him as a player, he’s a monster, but that was petulant). Macrae deserved a slap for his off the puck antics (Who in our team would do it, I don’t know, Hoffman doesn’t know how to take his gloves off it seems), while Voth’s check, though called, was high and in my opinion warranted more. It was all in all a very dirty game from both sides.
Voth was a liability for your lot last night, missing hits, missing easy passes, hitting his own team mate at one point and taking a load of very very needless penalties (luckily for you our PP is shocking, despite us scoring what even I would call a fortunate goal. Your SH goal chances and scored one prove that).
As the game entered the final period I thought you guys would just have taken the foot off the gas and preserved the legs for this weekend. But seems there was still a little fight. Murphy was outstanding to keep us ahead.
Interesting work by the scorers on who have the goals and assists, by my calcs very few of the announced scorers or assists were actually correct. Pelle was quite blatantly the assist on the first goal, yet even in the correction didn’t feature. Same with the scorer. (I can forgive mixing up the Hemmingways on the Belfast goal). This is most odd. Anyone would think there’s a bit of point padding going on.
Always enjoy my trips to Cardiff, seeing old friends and making new ones. Was very under whelmed by the silence in the rink though. No support for your team at all as the periods drew on, 4 goals down and very little encouragement. I was entertained by the “classy” guy at the back of Block 3(?) and his cat calls to Welsh… If only I had a box of tissues to pass to him, he was obviously in bits about it all. A lot of us in the away block had a right chuckle. :lol:.
Onward and upward to the final. Good luck this weekend. After such a good mid season, would be a shame for you guys not to win anything at all.
I’m amused by the accusations at Belfast solely having the dirty game. I admit our defensive game was laced with what we saw necessary to retain the puck and draw penalties. But lets not throw too many stones in this glass house. Weller was slash happy (thankfully and rightly called on it after his insane swan dive behind the Giants net subsequently saw him turn and slash because he didn’t get the call. I like him as a player, he’s a monster, but that was petulant). Macrae deserved a slap for his off the puck antics (Who in our team would do it, I don’t know, Hoffman doesn’t know how to take his gloves off it seems), while Voth’s check, though called, was high and in my opinion warranted more. It was all in all a very dirty game from both sides.
Voth was a liability for your lot last night, missing hits, missing easy passes, hitting his own team mate at one point and taking a load of very very needless penalties (luckily for you our PP is shocking, despite us scoring what even I would call a fortunate goal. Your SH goal chances and scored one prove that).
As the game entered the final period I thought you guys would just have taken the foot off the gas and preserved the legs for this weekend. But seems there was still a little fight. Murphy was outstanding to keep us ahead.
Interesting work by the scorers on who have the goals and assists, by my calcs very few of the announced scorers or assists were actually correct. Pelle was quite blatantly the assist on the first goal, yet even in the correction didn’t feature. Same with the scorer. (I can forgive mixing up the Hemmingways on the Belfast goal). This is most odd. Anyone would think there’s a bit of point padding going on.
Always enjoy my trips to Cardiff, seeing old friends and making new ones. Was very under whelmed by the silence in the rink though. No support for your team at all as the periods drew on, 4 goals down and very little encouragement. I was entertained by the “classy” guy at the back of Block 3(?) and his cat calls to Welsh… If only I had a box of tissues to pass to him, he was obviously in bits about it all. A lot of us in the away block had a right chuckle. :lol:.
Onward and upward to the final. Good luck this weekend. After such a good mid season, would be a shame for you guys not to win anything at all.
The Devils won a very tough game last night and should take heart from that. They must be gutted about the CC, but need to take all the positives and move on very quickly. They can now throw everything into the league chase and get revved up for the playoffs.
It was the confidence boost they needed to start getting back on track - a tough game where: they played relentlessly for 60 minutes, were short most of the time, solid defence, a netminder playing well.
Giants disrupted almost every aspect of Devils' game - 1 man forward/4 men back worked. Good man marking and turnovers in neutral zone. But the Giants weren't allowed to play their normal game either. Unlikely Christiansen would have allowed them to ease off the pedal - they would have wanted to win both legs.
Devils will want to work hard to eliminate those negatives from last night - too much time in the bin, scrappy puck clearance, puck 'passed' to opposition, one or two players contributed little to the game. I felt, at times, the guys were a little off the pace chasing down - are they tired? Are they carrying injuries? How about some extra bodies as they are going to get exhausted?
MOM- good to see Symmo out there and solid. Some of the other players were equally deserving of MOM, not least Stevie who pulled off some fantastic moves.
Come on Devils - everything to play for now. Storm the weekend. :evil: Hard work reaps good results and the Devils so deserve that. :twisted:
They must be gutted about the CC, but need to take all the positives and move on very quickly. They can now throw everything into the league chase and get revved up for the playoffs.It was the confidence boost they needed to start getting back on track - a tough game where: they played relentlessly for 60 minutes, were short most of the time, solid defence, a netminder playing well.
Giants disrupted almost every aspect of Devils' game - 1 man forward/4 men back worked. Good man marking and turnovers in neutral zone. But the Giants weren't allowed to play their normal game either. Unlikely Christiansen would have allowed them to ease off the pedal - they would have wanted to win both legs.
Devils will want to work hard to eliminate those negatives from last night - too much time in the bin, scrappy puck clearance, puck 'passed' to opposition, one or two players contributed little to the game. I felt, at times, the guys were a little off the pace chasing down - are they tired? Are they carrying injuries? How about some extra bodies as they are going to get exhausted?
MOM- good to see Symmo out there and solid. Some of the other players were equally deserving of MOM, not least Stevie who pulled off some fantastic moves.
Come on Devils - everything to play for now.
Storm the weekend. :evil: Hard work reaps good results and the Devils so deserve that. :twisted:
Agreed!! If I hadnt been stewarding I would have gone home halfway thru the third! By that point it was like watching pain dry! Belfast came to spoil and frustrate the Devils! They didnt mind racking up the pens just as long as they didnt concede the goals! They came with a definite tactic and werent worried as long as they got the result they needed.
http://www.eliteleague.co.uk/more-ice-t ... ds-p169465
breif mention of last nights game as well
Didn't realise he was man of the match last night. I must have been watching a different game. I did miss the first 15 minutes due to traffic on link road... did he do a lot then (I believe he got an assist) ~ I only seem to remember lots of passes going to Giants :?
I agree with whoever said Voth didn't have the best of games either.
On a more positive note. Hopefully the win will be a confidence booster for Devils going into the massive games on the weekend.
breif mention of last nights game as well
Didn't realise he was man of the match last night. I must have been watching a different game. I did miss the first 15 minutes due to traffic on link road... did he do a lot then (I believe he got an assist) ~ I only seem to remember lots of passes going to Giants :?
I agree with whoever said Voth didn't have the best of games either.
On a more positive note. Hopefully the win will be a confidence booster for Devils going into the massive games on the weekend.
ASHIPP said:
Last night was all about confidence building and getting back on track. A tough game was exactly what they needed before the games this weekend. Why would they have pulled Stevie? He needs to be at the top of his game.....and he certainly had a good one last night.
a couple of people by me agreed when i said it but obviously us fans always know better :lol:
jimmy snels said:
ASHIPP said:
Last night was all about confidence building and getting back on track. A tough game was exactly what they needed before the games this weekend. Why would they have pulled Stevie? He needs to be at the top of his game.....and he certainly had a good one last night.
a couple of people by me agreed when i said it but obviously us fans always know better :lol:
For every fan who would have wanted the netminder pulled, you would have had another fan wanting us to get a win on the board after our recent poor form.
I did wonder whether we should have done that, but by the middle of the final period when it was clear we weren't going to win the tie - I was just hoping we could win the game and keep our good home record going.
I did wonder whether we should have done that, but by the middle of the final period when it was clear we weren't going to win the tie - I was just hoping we could win the game and keep our good home record going.
I thought our best player last night was Weller - but had a feeling the MOTM award would go to Symo. A couple of his passes went to Giants players but then the whole teams passing was poor at times - especially in the second period where we seemed to be trying to force it too much.
Considering the opposition I think last night was one of Symo's best ever games for us - his passing was much better than in the past and he created the first goal by not getting rid of the puck straight away, but taking his time to pick a player and create a quick counter-attack.
Considering the opposition I think last night was one of Symo's best ever games for us - his passing was much better than in the past and he created the first goal by not getting rid of the puck straight away, but taking his time to pick a player and create a quick counter-attack.
I think to be fair he has taken his chance recently and deserved the icetime he's getting.He played a regular shift in the last 3 games and has been one of the best D.What he has done is learned to keep it simple and cut out a lot of his silly passes across the net which seemed to cost him and us a goal every timr it happened earlier in the season.
I think its testament to him and his patience that he is being rewarded,just a shame another local lad didn't do the same recently as with Michel being out Davies would have been a valuable player to call on.
I think its testament to him and his patience that he is being rewarded,just a shame another local lad didn't do the same recently as with Michel being out Davies would have been a valuable player to call on.
I agree with you wildthing that it would have been nice had Ben remained with us, and yes, he would have played a part last night. However, he would have probably have spent the past 5 weeks or so warming the bench up before he was given any sort of ice time. I asked the question last night had anyone been brought in from the ENL for last nights game and was told 'Nope', so why do you think that was ?
jimmy snels said:
ASHIPP said:
Last night was all about confidence building and getting back on track. A tough game was exactly what they needed before the games this weekend. Why would they have pulled Stevie? He needs to be at the top of his game.....and he certainly had a good one last night.
a couple of people by me agreed when i said it but obviously us fans always know better :lol:
I was expecting the MOM to go to Weller....or maybe Matzka......possibly Mcrae.........with Finnerty as an outside bet.....................but Symonds !!!!!
I think the MOM awards this season so far, have been well deserved and easily understandable. I may not have agreed with several ..but...I can usually appreciate why the given player might have been chosen by someone. Last night's decision however completely baffled me.
Weller's stick-handling and skating skills were an absolute joy to witness.......and if we need to bring criteria back to a more basic EIHL level....that man showed as much effort and commitment as any other single player. His display was fantastic.....in a match where the Devils played very well but did not get the 'breaks'.( I hope we get the Giants in the play-off final.)