Physical poll

[Wannabe2]

There’s a word that a few posters on here have used lately, a word that sums so much up, a word that I wouldn’t have thought of, but a word that sums up the hockey lately, and thats Sterile. The fighting days and knuckle dragging days are fading away and that’s life and fair comment, also the European game played by top teams, we can’t as a league emulate, and also these teams hit more than us anyway. Take the big hits, and the great tackling out of the World Cup Rugby and that would suffer. If teams are worried about the officials if they hit, then educate them, and make them realise they are killing the game. Attendances at the moment are good, and we all want that, but play sterile hockey and that will change. No one wants stupid hits that can cause injury, and no one wants their players constantly in the bin, we talk passionately about Dixon’s hits, we don’t frown about them, so why aren’t others taking a leaf out of his book, we have a minimum of 7 players that should at sometime be hitting, but most of them are anonymous, Duggan hits and he is a youngster, Reddick another small guy hits, most of the others are shadows, One of the toughest teams last season, who would take no crap from anyone ended up winning the league,winning the Challenge cup, and coming close to winning the play offs, so please don’t say you don’t win trophies playing hard nosed hockey. The perfect scenario surely is to be winning, and entertaining at the same time, but lots of feedback is that we are lacking on the entertaining front, and that is such a shame, I am sorry if I am rabbiting on a bit, and my glass is usually half full, but we are going down a road at the moment that we shouldn’t be going down, it’s still early days and I still believe we have the right players, and certainly the right coach, but we are not playing to our potential, and Saturday was a disaster to be fair. Wish I wasn’t writing this, but right or wrong I care about our club.

 

[RTfarty]

What would you be sacrificing if you kept the same team that hit.

Players potentially caught out of position, behind the play, late coming back on the back check.. and that’s if they even make a successful hit, not to mention the exertion of energy that goes into making hits which I don’t think many on here realise. We don’t play in the BBT anymore and teams transition faster up the ice now. Players need every advantage they can get and making a hit isn’t a high percentage play 90% of the time.

I see a lot of people talking about wanting players to show passion/grit/intensity.. passion and intensity doesn’t equate to playing a physical game. Look at elite players like Crosby and McDavid.. are they playing without passion and intensity because of their lack of physical play?

I’m not saying we shouldn’t be physical and hit at all, of course it has a time and place, but throwing hits just for the purpose of entertainment is stupid.

 

[doron]

i think the way cardiff are playing at the moment , its not going to attract new supporters to the game. if anything will put them off . at the end of the day its, not cheap for a season ticket. people want to be entertained, and when i want physical play i mean like chucking people off the puck. blocking bodys , not just taking people out.

 

[Devilsatw]

Players potentially caught out of position, behind the play, late coming back on the back check.. and that’s if they even make a successful hit, not to mention the exertion of energy that goes into making hits which I don’t think many on here realise. We don’t play in the BBT anymore and teams transition faster up the ice now. Players need every advantage they can get and making a hit isn’t a high percentage play 90% of the time.

I see a lot of people talking about wanting players to show passion/grit/intensity.. passion and intensity doesn’t equate to playing a physical game. Look at elite players like Crosby and McDavid.. are they playing without passion and intensity because of their lack of physical play?

Wait a minute if we lay a good hit then it’s still 4 on 4 man for man. What’s the excuse for this seasons team then? Don’t lay a hit majority of the game yet still get caught out on a hundred 2 on 1s or even 2 on 0??

 

[Wannabe2]

It’s not just a hit for entertaining for heavens sake, its What that hit brings with it, it sends a message to the team, it sends a message to the fans, and it certainly sends a message to the opposition. Why was Farynas name chanted regularly around the rink, was it because he had good hair, was it because he was a good guy, or was it because of the way he played the game, you decide. One thing is for sure it’s getting sterile.

 

[Mazzoak]

The physical side or lack of, isn’t from what I’ve heard, coming from the coach but higher up the chain of command. It’s a brand of family entertainment that prefers not to have grown men screaming aggressively at players who are acting aggressively.
lt is highly unlikely to change anytime soon.......

 

[august04]

The CHL is all well and good and I hope we’re in it every year (you never know, with the advancement of the U.K. game, we might get 2 or 3 allocated places in the future) and I thoroughly enjoy watching it - but we’re not going to win it or be in a position to win it for the forseeable future. The EIHL is our bread and butter and its attendances at those games which will determine the state and future of our club. Somebody mentioned they preferred to watch the SHL due to its skill and speed etc. Well, who wouldn’t?! It’s great hockey, played by highly talented players who skate like the wind and have the skills to match. Don’t underestimate the level of big hits/checking in that league though. We often perceive “Euro” hockey as non-contact, fancy dan stuff but the SHL is pretty physical and they hit hard and at speed! I’d love to watch that every week in Cardiff but unfortunately we can’t! We don’t have the level of player to emulate the SHL, that’s clear - but we still need to provide maximum entertainment levels to the paying public or risk them voting with their feet - the club should never take fan support for granted and I’m sure they don’t but many people who I know, who spend their hard earned cash watching every week and have done for years, have had enough of this sterile, boring stuff that‘s being served up week in, week out - and let’s be honest, bar the odd game here and there, it has been that way for a few years. Winning masks a lot and I get that winning overrides everything for some people. As I’ve said before, it doesn’t for me. I like to come home from a game thinking that I’ve been entertained not sat there wondering what the hell I’m doing watching this garbage on a cold, wet and windy winters night down the bay - what’s the point in going otherwise? Of course I want us to compete and yes, win too - but it’s not the be all and end all for me. As wannabe2 said, you can play a more exciting, hard nosed brand of hockey and still win - Belfast almost won the lot last year (and let’s be fair, they outplayed us really in the play-off final too and would have won that if not for the brilliance of Bowns and Fournier). So there’s no need to sacrifice anything in order to win and compete in this league. I urge the club to consider what I believe the majority of fans want to see - real Devils hockey - and we’re not seeing that at the moment and haven’t for some time.

 

[hip check]

The physical side or lack of, isn’t from what I’ve heard, coming from the coach but higher up the chain of command. It’s a brand of family entertainment that prefers not to have grown men screaming aggressively at players who are acting aggressively.
lt is highly unlikely to change anytime soon.......

That's disappointing, being told to reign in the physicality to please a family audience, will the family audience be pleased to see their heroes taking dirty hits and getting injured aka Blair Riley recently..hmmmm

 

[kingmo19.1]

The sterile and boring snooze fest isn’t for me. All round entertainment wise it’s been pretty dire for a couple of years now. I can live without the fights but Zero physicality isn’t hockey in my eyes. A good hip-check is a skilled play when pulled off as is a mid-ice hit. Im not for overly instigating physicality but zero response isn’t acceptable in my eyes - that’s being weak and liable to be taken advantage of plus encourages associated injuries. I’ve gone from season ticket holder to picking my games albeit more and more rarely. Im going to watch the Steelers and Giants home games then probably bail out. I’ve seen a few Fire games and although the skill level is much lower it’s quite enjoyable to watch (NB: they’ve not done great this season!), so I’ll probably get my hockey fix there.

 

[RedDevil17]

I’m genuinely considering picking and choosing my games next year. I am and always will be a devils fan but I’m not sure if I can put up with boring, sterile and dull hockey year after year. I used to love going to hockey games every week, especially when we had major rivalries with certain teams (Sheffield and Nottingham, mainly Sheffield) and generally had the slight edge of intensity to it in terms of the physical side of the game compared to the other games like Dundee and Fife. Not anymore I’m afraid. Steelers and Giants games don’t really feel like proper ‘rivalry’ games anymore because we lack the physicality style of play which doesn’t really get fans ‘off their seats’

For me, physicality and hitting is what makes it different to other sports and it’s what got me hooked into hockey. Unfortunately it’s defo changing for the worse. Seems I’m not the only one who feels this way...

 

[Mazzoak]

That's disappointing, being told to reign in the physicality to please a family audience, will the family audience be pleased to see their heroes taking dirty hits and getting injured aka Blair Riley recently..hmmmm

No idea what the family audience would feel about it. I’m sure teachers of the school children given promo tickets prefer a family atmosphere.

Pretty sure players taking those dirty hits are none too pleased about having the style their accustomed too removed. Not happy at all, maybe a recruitment concern going forward.

 

[hip check]

Why sign players whose playing style is physical then have them not use those qualities? If we're going down the skill/speed road then why not just sign players who play that way? Surely a physical player who is coached/advised to be less physical is having their best qualities coached out of them and other teams come to town knowing they can play tough and have little bother from our guys.
I perfectly understand that there are lots of fans who enjoy the tippy tappy skilled style of hockey and it has proved successful over the last few years but myself and others feel we should be playing tough when the need arises, hockey is entertaining because it offers skill, speed toughness and passion but it seems we have been a bit low on the toughness and passion aspect for a couple of seasons now, we have a few tough physical players they should be able to use those parts of their game without fear of being benched.

 

[jimmy snels]

are you suggesting Todd has told the team not the play aggressively? seriously? That just doesn't ring true.

To me I'm finding myself not up for games anymore and rarely do i look forward to a big belfast game with anticipation of a big hitting rivalry game. i tend to come away thinking we got knocked all about our own barm.
im missing this weekend and im genuinely not that bothered after watching non contact attempted fancy dan hockey for much of the season. I didnt like writing that at all either.
what i find incredible is Lord was as passionate and aggressive as anyone we had play for us. he also scored goals. thats what made us love him. wuite why he doesn't get that and get a few players just like him in recruitment i dont know.

 

[august04]

Well I don’t think we really need a poll!

 

[CaldicotDevil]

Problem is Lords between a rock and a hard place. Imagine he replaced Schiestel this summer with Gagnon or Springer. If we lost a couple of games or got white washed in the CHL there would be a meltdown on here about downgrading Schiestel for a goon.

Personally I love Belfasts style and hate this European style but it’s so hard to replicate especially with a smaller budget. Panthers tried last year and ended up having to release hand full of players just to make the playoffs.

 

[Devilsatw]

Whoever tells me mcmonagle or jardine are upgrades on shciestel is wrong!

That guy hit more than them and was really solid defensively. I would have him back right now for one of them

 

[CaldicotDevil]

Whoever tells me mcmonagle or jardine are upgrades on shciestel is wrong!

That guy hit more than them and was really solid defensively. I would have him back right now for one of them

My gut feeling is Jardine will be on everyone’s re signing list come April.

Still haven’t made my mind up about mcmonagle, high skill set but lacks a lot of pace.

 

[Gazza272]

My gut feeling is Jardine will be on everyone’s re signing list come April.

Still haven’t made my mind up about mcmonagle, high skill set but lacks a lot of pace.

Agreed on Jardine,

I think he is very much like Reddick was when he first came over, he is trying to do too much at the moment which is leaving him a bit out of position at times. Once he settles down and plays a more simplified game I think he will come good.

 

[hip check]

are you suggesting Todd has told the team not the play aggressively? seriously? That just doesn't ring true.

If you read back for about 8-9 posts on this thread it is stated the less physical approach is being encouraged by higher up the pecking order than Lordo so as to encourage a more family orientated audience, read into it what you may but my post takes this into account when pointing out the more passive approach being taken by the players, I'm not privy to how things are run on the management/coaching side of things but it does appear that we're definitely holding back on the physicality.

 

[jimmy snels]

i read back and to me thats where the finger is being pointed which i find incredible. only person above lord and Todd is Steve and we all know he loves a dust up