Am I the only one that thought the Nott V Shuff game wasn't that great? As a spectacle it was really entertaining but as a hockey game it was poor. There was very little territory or recycling of the puck in the end zones. The stats would probably show a 50/50 split in terms of territory but that's because it was going from one end to the other. As I said, a great spectactle but a poor hockey game that was full of nerves, mis-handling and pucks bobbling everywhere - but I guess that's the pressure of play off hockey.
As for the final....I think the turning point for us was the tap in for Myers following G's turnover behind the net. We let them straight back in. If we had held out for another minute or two and kept the puck away from our net I believe we would have been home and dry. It's a real shame G did that as I thought he had a great tournament and probably his standout season as a Devil.. I do agree with other posters about the possibility of using Borrows, especially to relieve our second line, as I thought Phil Hill looked tired and wasn't having a great game. Equally I thought Sam Smith's naivity showed at times. On the 4th goal he chose a poor time to do a line change which left, was it Bellamy (??), to go one on one with Smith and score. That's not me blaming him for 4th goal as it should never have got that far but for me he never really seemed settle during that game. He's young and he's had a great season so hopefully he'll re-sign and come back strong next year as he has such potential. I just feel that Burrows might have been able to give Sam, Phil and Brad time to either catch their breath or settle down a bit. Sam's first season and he's playing in a major final. That's massive to deal with.
Lyle was phenomanal in the semi but looked shaky in the final. I thought Stuuuu worked hard and when are the league going to test Tylor for perfromance enhancing drugs?? That guy is incredible. Speed, hits, work ethic, determination - what a player. The difference for me when looking back on last year is that we threw it away this year which makes it even harder to take. I am totally gutted but thankful to to G for pulling together such a great team and making this season absolutely cracking. Regardless of how I feel you can only imagine how bad the guys feel. Seeing them lying on the ice at the end of the game was the hardest thing to see. A phenomenal season and nothing to show for it.
Well done lads, you gave it your all and just came up short. You've been a pleasure to watch.
Happy off-season guys.
secondly while we are the best fans in the league we are also the most fickle, if a player isnt amongst the fan favorites they get slated on a fairly regular basis, to be honest if i was a player i would think very very long and hard about returning or signing for the first time. and before i am flamed it's my opinion the same as other people have posted their opinion on the above comments in previous posts