Devils Vs Blaze - League - 22nd Dec 21
- Thread starter James
- Start date
You don’t accept that a coach from the USA needs more time to adjust to the style of U.K. hockey. He wouldn’t be the first coach to the EIHL, to appear with a good CV and not hit the sweet spot straight away, happens in all sports.
I hope we go in to 2022/23 with Skalde, a proper budget, no pandemic and give Skalde absolute control of player selection, retention or releasing. Unfortunately with Todd in charge, I’m not convinced that’ll ever happen.
I hope we go in to 2022/23 with Skalde, a proper budget, no pandemic and give Skalde absolute control of player selection, retention or releasing. Unfortunately with Todd in charge, I’m not convinced that’ll ever happen.
I was listening to the 2 ales podcast earlier that had Dixon, JM and Dease, there were a couple of remarks which may be significant from Dixon.
1) the change to home games on Saturday is not allowing the team to bond as well/as much as when the home game was on the Sunday night
2) the start of the season again didn’t allow for bonding to happen as per previously
3) the team is made up of good guys in the room
4) that even though players/coach say the right things re difference about the league in the uk it still takes a while for that to truly sink in, to the extent that after 5 years of it in the Uk JM wasn’t comfortable about the lax attitude in Europe about losing a game and wanted that every game matters attitude
Perhaps the above plus trying to play with covid restrictions are actually really important factors.
I’m wary of negative comments about sack the coach etc, however I do think the team and coaches need to step back, ask questions of themselves and come back with better attitude going forward and plans for dealing how the game is played here.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all
1) the change to home games on Saturday is not allowing the team to bond as well/as much as when the home game was on the Sunday night
2) the start of the season again didn’t allow for bonding to happen as per previously
3) the team is made up of good guys in the room
4) that even though players/coach say the right things re difference about the league in the uk it still takes a while for that to truly sink in, to the extent that after 5 years of it in the Uk JM wasn’t comfortable about the lax attitude in Europe about losing a game and wanted that every game matters attitude
Perhaps the above plus trying to play with covid restrictions are actually really important factors.
I’m wary of negative comments about sack the coach etc, however I do think the team and coaches need to step back, ask questions of themselves and come back with better attitude going forward and plans for dealing how the game is played here.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all
But we’re talking about a North American coach moving to an English speaking country and to a league that play North American style hockey!! Stop acting like it’s a Russian coach that can’t speak a word of English moving to the NHL! Of course you give a coach time to adjust but we’re 4 months down the line and we are still stuck at square one for me. Let’s not forget he had 12 months before the season started! He should have known the UK game better then any new coach this league has ever seen. I’ll repeat what I said a few weeks ago. I don’t believe he put in the hard yards during those 12 months and I question how much game tape he watched of the type of hockey played in the EIHL
So the explanation then is what. Either Skalde has been extremely lucky in his career and has suddenly been outed in Cardiff as a fool who’s managed to deceive the owners, after all we apparently had the pick of some amazing coaches begging to come to Cardiff. Or he’s been and continues to be limited in his role, this is a scenario I feel makes more sense given our ethos regarding player retention and release. Maybe these current players (not a team yet) got contracted by someone other than Skalde, maybe he’s frustrated at having to coach this team every week and looking like an idiot. If it’s the later, it’ll come out, Skalde is well respected in Ice Hockey with some very good contacts, if he’s being made to look like a fool, he’ll be very vocal and he won’t be around for long...........he’s not going to ruin his reputation in a beer league in England.
But I’m basing this on Skalde as a head coach for a professional team. I’m not doubting he can coach but let’s not forget the last time Skalde was head coach for a professional mens team was 2014/15. I’m sure he said all the right things to Todd during the interview but then the hard work starts after that. He’s become used to being a peripheral figure in a large coaching team or he’s coached kids at OHL level, which is certainly about development more than results. Maybe he doesn’t understand the work load and responsibility that comes with being a head coach in the EIHL. Yes the league isn’t as big as some of the leagues Skalde has coached in but the workload is bigger than he would have been used to for a number of years. It’s not just concentrating on developing teenagers or just concentrating on defence or attack. It’s the whole package
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Everything you’ve said is probably spot on, I mean no disrespect when l write this, but you’re a fan, those issues should’ve been blindingly obvious to whoever interviewed him and did the required due diligence before offering him the role as coach. Which means he was either cheap, we didn’t have much options or the person doing the interview made a massive error. I’m sorry but a company, a sports team or whoever is only as good as it’s weakest person and if that person is incapable of carry out that role then you’ve got to question the people above. Like it or not, it’s reality.......
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They are only moving forward if they have signed replacements for these guys, and they are upgrades. Panthers fans think no one is arriving, only time will tell. You of course are a different kettle of fish Nostradamus,you have known about this move since November so whats the answer. Do let us know.
I think there’s a lot of overreaction regarding sacking skalde. I’m not scared to admit performances haven’t been good enough so far. But that doesn’t mean we sack a coach in his first year. Only once in the EIHL era has a coach without British league experience won the league in their first year. Rebuild seasons take time. Let’s not forget when lord first took over the win was to win the league in 5 years. We did it in 3. We’ve seen the potential this team has, It’s just not consistent. I’m not judging him this year, I’ll judge him end of next season as things like this take time. Belfast didn’t win the league in Keefes first year, Sheffield didn’t either with Fox either. If we sack skalde this year, then next year is another rebuild season and what happens if things don’t go well in that year? Do we sack that coach? We’ve been fortunate these last few years and we’re not going to win every year. So let’s just enjoy that we have hockey back. I’m all for criticising performances but sacking a new coach mid year is a bit dramatic.
I do agree with parts of your post but have we really been inconsistent? Surely an inconsistent team is a team that are outstanding one night and awful the next, is that really us? I don’t sit there thinking “which devils team will turn up tonight” unfortunately it’s been predictably dull for large parts of this season. In my opinion we’ve been consistently average with no team DNA and we’ve regularly played with a lack of hunger. Most performances have been very underwhelming, I enjoyed our performance and effort against Sheffield but that was a rarity for me.
You mention Keefe and Fox not winning anything in their first season and I do sympathise with Skalde that he’s following Lord. Keefe was following Walser and Fox was following Thompson/Barrasso so there was less pressure on those two. Having said that when I look back at Keefe’s first season with Belfast and Fox’s first season with Sheffield I do remember thinking early on they were building something. Unfortunately for them they were up against a very, very good devils side. I think that’s the big issue I’ve got at the moment. For me there are absolutely no signs of something positive being built. Four months clearly isn’t a huge amount of time but I do think it’s enough time to see signs that we are moving in the right direction.
You mention Keefe and Fox not winning anything in their first season and I do sympathise with Skalde that he’s following Lord. Keefe was following Walser and Fox was following Thompson/Barrasso so there was less pressure on those two. Having said that when I look back at Keefe’s first season with Belfast and Fox’s first season with Sheffield I do remember thinking early on they were building something. Unfortunately for them they were up against a very, very good devils side. I think that’s the big issue I’ve got at the moment. For me there are absolutely no signs of something positive being built. Four months clearly isn’t a huge amount of time but I do think it’s enough time to see signs that we are moving in the right direction.
Also they don't know us the fans.
With hardly any games on a Sunday and covid, they haven't had a chance to develop a relationship with us.
This can lead them to feel isolated and not feel our passion and desire for them to succeed.
No after game meet and greet in the bar is bad it has always been important to every Devils team.
I wonder how much damage this has and will contribute to our season if they haven't met the Red Army.?
With hardly any games on a Sunday and covid, they haven't had a chance to develop a relationship with us.
This can lead them to feel isolated and not feel our passion and desire for them to succeed.
No after game meet and greet in the bar is bad it has always been important to every Devils team.
I wonder how much damage this has and will contribute to our season if they haven't met the Red Army.?