Devils Vs Giants - PO Semi Final - 20th April - FO 19:00

[ASHIPP]

Good at talking the talk (we are prepared, we want it more, we have had some excellent battles this season and know this opposition well etc)....but when it comes to the big, meaningful games the Devils just keep falling at the last hurdle. Why is that?
Is it poor preparation, inability to change the game plan or players just incapable of executing?
No suprise the Giants go through tonight. They had done their homework, were the more dangerous offensively, and law of probability suggests they were due a win over our Team. Symptomatic of our season.....the big wins by the opposition have usually been delivered in the games that really matter!

Would like to see these faces amongst the leadership group next season.....Crandall (capt), Brandt, Davies, Arniel, Donaghey.
A meaningless game tomorrow. Playing for some exercise only and a farewell to any fans. Teams are only really remembered if they reach the Final.

Roll on tomorrow....James can post up the Rumours thread and we can finally talk honestly about who needs to depart this team/who we are hoping will stay!

 

[moggy#9]

Wouldn't be surprised to see at least 8 or 9 changes, we know Chad and river are gone already

I'd say add wall and alderson to that for a start.

 

[b.goldberg]

I hope I never see Martin,cox and Sanford on devils first line ever again.Obviously all three won't go but they need separating like Sanford on 1st and cox on 2nd and joey on the 3rd.Also Waller need to play higher up the lineup with two stud imports.

Too many passengers that 3rd line of the three ghosts ully, Busch and Alderson did they even break any sweat tonight?

 

[Hedd Wyn John]

I don’t think we were abysmal, we just looked toothless. We knew Belfast were going to be stingy defensively (as they were vs Coventry) but it looked like we hadn’t done our homework. Let’s be honest we were lucky to get that PP towards the end of the game that lead to Donaghey’s goal. The first period was fairly even but we didn’t look like scoring 5 on 5 in the last 40 minutes.

Belfast were well drilled and stuck to our players like glue all night. They were the better team & always looked more dangerous. Even when it went down to 3 on 3 the Devils just couldn't seem to produce many grade A chances & had to resort to low percentage plays, which Belfast dealt with. Had we somehow managed to scrape it past Belfast we'd have been thumped by Sheffield.

 

[moggy#9]

I'd say add wall and alderson to that for a start.

And duggan - contributes absolutely nothing. Why he has an A is beyond me.

 

[Swarley]

Between the absolutely shocking blindness of the officials and our lot not having the bottle to take chances we never deserved a win tonight, ot we spent more time with the puck in our own zone and the neutral zone then trying to actually shoot the puck.

Disappointed but expected Belfast to win as this team just doesn't have it in them to get the hard jobs done.

Roll on next season and ffs get some players that will get the job done and not just keep passing around until they slip up and cost us a game.

 

[osh]

Quite apart from tonights performance…..very happy to see the end of this season. Let’s face it, although we ended up 2nd to a good Steelers team, the standard of play in the league as a whole is poor compared to recent years. There is no getting away from the fact we recruited poorly and this surely is a wake up call to do something more positive about recruiting for next season. For most of the season, it looked like a lot of the players didn’t like - or understand - the systems Russell was trying to implement, and that is not acceptable. I repeat that changes should have been made pre Christmas but as there were none, a good few players simply went through the motions, and collected their wages without showing the desire we have always been so proud of and used to As a club.

 

[b.goldberg]

Well king was a questionable decision, but Franny's insight doesn't exactly seem to have been stardust in coaching and player recruitment.

Especially when franny recruited brittain and Alderson to dud power forwards

 

[Devo]

Well he got a better record than king did.

King is a fraud, Need to look at an assistant capable of assisting.

 

[tim78]

Why are you attacking King? Wasn't a passionate game but we made it to the weekend. Any way, Let's go PIGEON.

 

[RedDevil17]

Maybe instead of pissing away money on an unnecessary rebrand we should have spent that money on recruiting a better team…

 

[Devils86]

If ever there was a single example of our season in one game...

Started off OK, nothing too adventurous, no threats (P1). Then we started P2 under the cosh and were second best out of two - we hung in there, hoping we would come good. 3rd: we got there eventually due to hard work but without any great dominance or quality....

Whole game was 'cagey' as you would expect against the Giants. But this wasn't the Giants of last year or 2019 - we showed them too much respect and we didn't take the game to them - Tedesco may as well pitch his own personal flag at centre ice in the Vindico. Nobody would stop him. For such a big game we turned in one of the most vanilla performances of the year - seemed to be more drilled, than any individual quality. Silver lining being we know who clearly doesn't get the UK mindset even in the final games, and should jog on.

Can anyone point me to one deke, one hit, or clever play...? Devoid of anything. I don't expect a player to dribble passed 3 opponents and roof the puck, but I do expect him to try something - or work hard towards that goal and throw a hit or two.

We had good quality chances and didn't take them in P1 - so we didn't deserve OT. But when it came....WOW - an even better example of our play this season. 95% possession, a couple half-chances and then the opposition entirely fairly (and to their credit) pull a great finish...

Should never have got that far. I genuinely hope that this time next year I have either forgone my ST renewal - opting instead to catch up with people who I sit near in Block 10 at a local bar or whatever; or we have been delivered the promised 'PR hockey' and I have once again done the irrational thing and handed over a ridiculous amount of cash, for not very much.

Welcome to wit's end. It may sound entitled, but to be honest the product just isn't good enough again. And if its doesn't improve in 12 months time, I'm done. (Not postulating just honest feedback, a year ahead of when I cancel my direct debit)

Fight for the badge on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back

 

[kingmo19.1]

Maybe instead of pissing away money on an unnecessary rebrand we should have spent that money on recruiting a better team…

100% correct.

 

[Hedd Wyn John]

This season has been a complete let down.

.14 points of top spot in the league.
.1/4 Challenge Cup Exit.
.3rd in the Conti Cup in our own rink.
.Losing in the Play Off Semi Final to a Belfast team that aren’t a patch on any team they’ve had in recent years.

I don’t see any movement forward this season.

Ultimately we haven't had a team good enough to expect silverware this year & that hasn't been a one-off year. The 3 teams we've had post-covid have been a shadow of our Andrew Lord era teams. The Belfast Giants of the last couple of years have been the best in the league but this year they've been significantly weaker. They were there for the taking. Fair play to Keefe he analysed the Devils in detail and coached his players into knowing exactly how to shut us down. Meanwhile, it's almost like they had a route 1 bus ticket straight through our D onto Bowns. If that had been last years all conquering Giants we could have expected multiple goals past Bowns in regulation time but their team this year lacks that quality and they could only produce 1 goal in regulation. All that matters very little when we just we could barely create a grade A chance against them. We did not look like scoring 5 on 5 or 3 on 3. Where's our Fournier, Haddad, Hotham, Linglet, Ulmer etc? We simply dont seem to have the players who can break defences or create something from nothin. To me it doesnt look like the team has moved forward over the last couple
of seasons. Our playoff win 2 years ago kinda papered over the cracks & gave the false impression that we were moving in the right direction. Our team was very inconsistent then but managed to pick up a run of form going into the playoffs. While I am confident in PR our actual team doesn't appear to be much better than previous years and without a significant improvement next year we won't win anything- especially if Sheffield hold on to their current roster. I'm not a hockey expert but I know sports pretty well and what strikes me is this: Our core of Devils are ageing. A lot of them are well over 30 and performance does drop-off at that age. While you can offset that to some extent by bringing in younger talent with restricted bench sizes and limited budgets you can only do so much and with every passing year that gets harder. It also means that every younger signing HAS to be the bees knees & its pretty clear that several recent signings have not delivered what was hoped. We've struggled these last few seasons against teams with big players and we've struggled against well drilled defences. My opinion on that remains unchanged. All this means is that the Devils outfit have some big decisions for the off-season. What we can't expect though is for a little tinkering with the team to produce results next year. If we do that, I wouldn't expect any more than a top 3 league finish and at best runner up in one of the other cups. We've been tinkering with the team for too long.

 

[moggy#9]

100% correct.

Didn't Todd or the owners say that the rebrand would be forgotten when we're lifting trophies. Well then, looks like we'll be talking about it a while longer...

 

[Dappy50]

Another season where we have flattered to deceive and another season where many of the same problems were still evident.
In truth we were further away from winning any silverware than either of the previous two seasons and I have very little optimism that we will do what needs to be done to finish above a resurgent Sheffield and a Belfast organisation with a point to prove that this season’s dismal showing is a 'one off'!

Apparently, I believe the Club have said they are happy with progress both on and off the ice, however I am not of that opinion myself.

I have been biding my time for a few weeks to put up this post so it’s no knee-jerk reaction, it’s a measured response!

I can understand being happy with the progress off the ice, they have nailed it IMO and I love seeing a full rink week in week out, being happy with the progress on ice though just shows how far the standards have slipped since lord has left. The slating of individual players had started already which I'm not a fan of, all players including the coach need to take accountability unfortunately

 

[moggy#9]

I can understand being happy with the progress off the ice, they have nailed it IMO and I love seeing a full rink week in week out, being happy with the progress on ice though just shows how far the standards have slipped since lord has left. The slating of individual players had started already which I'm not a fan of, all players including the coach need to take accountability unfortunately

That's fair comment, however if say that accountability needs to go tight the way up to Franny and Todd. Since lordo went they have made some very questionable decisions.

 

[Ocko]

When ticket income is king, where do people realistically think we should end up? I think too many of you were spoilt during the Andrew Lord years.

We play in the 5th biggest rink; we will never be able to spend what Sheffield, Nottingham and Belfast do, soon Glasgow will catch up too. For as long as we play in a little rink that will always be the case.

Reality and the expectations of what a lot of you expect are very, very far apart. A second place finish and making POFW is realistically doing quite well.

 

[lilbigdevil]

When ticket income is king, where do people realistically think we should end up? I think too many of you were spoilt during the Andrew Lord years.

We play in the 5th biggest rink; we will never be able to spend what Sheffield, Nottingham and Belfast do, soon Glasgow will catch up too. For as long as we play in a little rink that will always be the case.

Reality and the expectations of what a lot of you expect are very, very far apart. A second place finish and making POFW is realistically doing quite well.

Don’t we get free ice where the arena teams have to pay for the stadium? So putting us all not that far apart.
End of the day, ticket prices etc is high so people want a return on their investment.

 

[Vogon]

When ticket income is king, where do people realistically think we should end up? I think too many of you were spoilt during the Andrew Lord years.

We play in the 5th biggest rink; we will never be able to spend what Sheffield, Nottingham and Belfast do, soon Glasgow will catch up too. For as long as we play in a little rink that will always be the case.

Reality and the expectations of what a lot of you expect are very, very far apart. A second place finish and making POFW is realistically doing quite well.

Results wise, isn't this season pretty similar to Du Ponts? And he was out on his ear, so i guess it wasnt deemed acceptableby the owners. What's different this time around?