Giants v Devils - Playoff Final! - Sunday 16th April @ 1700
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
That Giants team is a reflection of Keefe as a player. Hard working, nasty at times, bending the rules as far as they can but winners who will do whatever it takes to win. Sadly we’re more reflection of the DuPont we saw as a player. Work shy for most of the season, play well sporadically. Today was a classic example - we showed up for 20 mins, played really well and then sat back on the lead for 20 mins instead of going for the killer second goal. The third period was an inevitable Giants charge to victory. Your time is up DuPont, take Horn with you and half this team. Kelman now needs to step up to the plate, take a long hard look at where he wants this club to head and start investing in much better players and coaches if he wants us to contend for league titles again. A very disappointing season.
My take on the season.
When we signed the players in the off season I thought we will be top 2 and I said only giants will be above us.
Finishing where we did was a shock but there was only 5 wins between us and being champions.
I'm gutted we didn't win a trophy
As I thought this team is capable of that.
So I'm definitely disappointed
But I wouldn't say I'm I'm absolutely furious and glad the season is over like most of the fans on here.
When we signed the players in the off season I thought we will be top 2 and I said only giants will be above us.
Finishing where we did was a shock but there was only 5 wins between us and being champions.
I'm gutted we didn't win a trophy
As I thought this team is capable of that.
So I'm definitely disappointed
But I wouldn't say I'm I'm absolutely furious and glad the season is over like most of the fans on here.
Can you honestly say you haven’t left most games feeling short-changed by the effort levels of some of the team?
Most games have been lifeless this season.
Newer fans don’t have previous Devils teams to compare to so will accept this mediocrity as being the norm, but big changes are needed.
I would really like the club to be proactive to start the off season and have an interview with Kelman and King (et al) setting out what the intention for going forward is. It’s not going to happen though.
Most games have been lifeless this season.
Newer fans don’t have previous Devils teams to compare to so will accept this mediocrity as being the norm, but big changes are needed.
I would really like the club to be proactive to start the off season and have an interview with Kelman and King (et al) setting out what the intention for going forward is. It’s not going to happen though.
Kind of feel like if you take Belfast out of the league we’re competitive. By fair means or foul Belfast are at a different level. The rest of the league bending over and allowing them to ignore things like league personnel rules makes it worse. If this becomes the norm it’s a problem for the viability of the league. The Scottish teams are seeing falling fan engagement/attendances due to no longer being able to compete especially with arena teams, and there are rumours of one or more dropping out getting louder. Owners of other teams and the league bending over for the Giants will ultimately hurt their bottom line and I don’t see any NIHL teams jumping at the idea of replacing any exiting Scottish teams just to become cannon fodder for Arena teams. Trouble Devils have is how do you compete financially in order to keep pace? Our arena is half the size and Belfast don’t have many other local teams to compete for fans with. Season done and dusted the overtime win against Steelers will linger in the memories. Will be an interesting off season. Have a great summer everyone!
Well that’s that season over with, going forward what we’ve been told now that the Devils club have the lease to the IAW we can look forward to some major changes to the arena, game night experience and general improvements to the everyday running of the facility. Next season we’ve been told the club will make the changes necessary to be winners. Role on 23/24, couldn’t get much worse…….could it.
I'm sure Todd will do an interview in his own time but I think now is the time for the organisation to start to review its processes and its approach in team building in general. I think they've been relying a lot on bringing back older players and recruiting players purely because someone in the organisation knows them and played with them back in 20XX. Recruiting on past form is a gamble and it didn't pay off this year. We brought back too many older players who weren't upto the right level and mid season our recruitment stalled while teams like the Giants brought in major reinforcements.
The hangover from Lord leaving and the fallout/ recovery from COVID restrictions have punished us for 3 years. Hopefully a full review of past season performance, recruitment and coaching will lead to the improvements we all want to see.
It would be fantastic to get back to those glory days pre-2020. Wishful thinking or a possibility?
It would be fantastic to get back to those glory days pre-2020. Wishful thinking or a possibility?
Wasn’t our average attendance over 3,000 this season? That might be an issue as to why only “minor changes” are needed in some people’s eyes. And I don’t really mean that in a controversial/antagonistic way. Is there a desire to get us back to where we were pre-covid when we are close to selling out most weekends? You’d like to think with people like Todd Kelman and Steve King at the helm we won’t settle for top 4 and possibly a cup every other season.
