steelers Vs Devils - League - 26th March 23 - 16:00 FO

[august04 2.0]

Am I missing something with kozun last night and bowns tonight, I really don't get why the change for todays game, mind boggled.

I feel for Kozun. For me, he’s the better netminder but our management group seem to push Bowns' case whenever possible. I guess they want value for money as he’s bound to be on a hell of a lot more dosh than Kozun, and a multi year deal to boot. I’d feel much more hopeful about a play off win (still unlikely I know but you got to have hope!) with Kozun in net. We all know Bowns can let one or two duffers in quickly. If that happens in the playoffs, we're done.

 

[kettdevil1]

Am I missing something with kozun last night and bowns tonight, I really don't get why the change for todays game, mind boggled.

It does seem unfair on Kozun but if Bowns is doing the playoffs and we know that the more he plays, the better he gets, then I suppose the thinking is going to be that you need to keep him warm.

Netminding was definitely not the issue tonight, for each goal we had a D man not doing his primary task …. which was frustrating.

Strange game, played in a funereal atmosphere despite the large crowd. We were horribly flat against very limited opposition and some of our decision making was baffling.

Poor game all round

 

[Gavevs88]

Just seen that GWG, Connoly is an absolute rat. Trips Thompson who is marking him to create the space. Official staring right at it, absolutely shocking.

 

[RedDevil17]

Bowns and the gruesome twosome at fault for the goals…what’s new there?

 

[Swarley]

Just seen that GWG, Connoly is an absolute rat. Trips Thompson who is marking him to create the space. Official staring right at it, absolutely shocking.

The more I see this sorta thing going on in front of refs the more I'm convinced the refs are trying to fix the result.

 

[ASHIPP]

Very disappointing result when we actually took the lead at one point but it really does illustrate our season....lacking ideas and,more importantly, the killer instinct to grab a game by the throat and nail it.

Two classic examples of teams that could do that just last night....Guildford turned a 4-1 deficit against Dundee into a 5-4 win, Coventry behind all game managed to win their game.

Look back through our season and it is littered with overtime losses or regulation games lost by 1 goal. If those games alone had been converted in to wins, our Team would have been in a higher league position.....or progressed further in competitions.

Whether it's coaching issues or player issues, the same mistakes from early season have not been fixed. We can play like world beaters for one game, and simply average for a handful more. The thing is that every game is important and consistency is the key to success.

Sadly perhaps we shouldn't hold out hope that our better players even want to return next season. If they have an opportunity to play on a strong, successful team or better league they might just do that.

 

[Eynonz]

Just seen that GWG, Connoly is an absolute rat. Trips Thompson who is marking him to create the space. Official staring right at it, absolutely shocking.

I've only just seen it myself. Refs are getting worse every season, and its normally Cardiff that are on the receiving end of bad calls.

 

[lloyd_jeff]

Devils posted this video, very telling.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1639744990392852482

 

[kettdevil1]

Just seen that GWG, Connoly is an absolute rat. Trips Thompson who is marking him to create the space. Official staring right at it, absolutely shocking.

Good spot. Missed that at the time and simply assumed Thompson had lost him, when I saw the goal scorer I should have known better

 

[E.D.S.]

Crawford, absolute garbage defending on the second and third goals. People might wax lyrical over his plus minus but he’s a liability.
Clear trip on Thompson as well by the ultimate rink rat.

 

[august04 2.0]

Crawford, absolute garbage defending on the second and third goals. People might wax lyrical over his plus minus but he’s a liability.
Clear trip on Thompson as well by the ultimate rink rat.

I just don’t rate the guy. I was watching his game last night, some of his passing was atrocious. We've been blessed with some unbelievable defensive talent since the new owners came on board, but this years D corps are not in the same league of the likes of Hotham(s), Fournier (good to see him in the arena last night, shame he seems to have signed for Fehervar again next year!), Richie and Lou in their prime, Strachan, Mikkelson, Marsh, Register etc. We need a clear out on defence and to pretty much start from scratch. I’d only keep Richie and Batch personally on D next year (the latter really as there aren’t any/many British options out there for a 6th D man and I don’t think Kelly is good enough just yet).

 

[Diablo3]

Crawford, absolute garbage defending on the second and third goals. People might wax lyrical over his plus minus but he’s a liability.
Clear trip on Thompson as well by the ultimate rink rat.

Re Crawford, He is scoring more than he is conceding, can't see an issue there.
re the rink rat, absolutely should have been a penalty but he got away with it again. But then we were not on it all game.

Remaining two fixtures are both now dead rubbers. Results of those don't matter at all.

 

[Gavevs88]

We could well end up 5th at this rate....

 

[Diablo3]

We could well end up 5th at this rate....

nope, Coventry don't have enough games left

 

[BostonBart22]

Crawford, absolute garbage defending on the second and third goals. People might wax lyrical over his plus minus but he’s a liability.
Clear trip on Thompson as well by the ultimate rink rat.

Maybe our rat brandt could sort the orange rat out next week, it just seems nobody can touch connoly with what he gets away with week in week out..

 

[Kevin roog]

Re DuPont surviving next season, hypothetical score
Cardiff 3 Coventry 2
Coventry 6 Cardiff 0 ( wake up call, we will learn from this)

 

[Swarley]

Maybe our rat brandt could sort the orange rat out next week, it just seems nobody can touch connoly with what he gets away with week in week out..

Can't touch him, the refs always go out of their way to protect him from any sort of actual justice. Furthers my mind set of this sport is as fake as WWE now a days.

 

[E.D.S.]

Re Crawford, He is scoring more than he is conceding, can't see an issue there.
re the rink rat, absolutely should have been a penalty but he got away with it again. But then we were not on it all game.

Remaining two fixtures are both now dead rubbers. Results of those don't matter at all.

It’s all about perspective and personal choice. He isn’t for me and whilst he may score more than he screws up, that just isn’t a defenceman for me. He may assist or score a hatful against lesser teams but repeatedly gets exposed in close games and in over time. Additionally as August04 says…. And this is the main point for me… It his passing.,.. constantly putting our forwards under an unnecessary pressure, giving them no chance, or the blind and pointless icing putting us more pressure. Then there’s the petulant penalties. Never a big hit or a fight, it’s a daft slash or cross check that does nothing for the game or to help us. It doesn’t swing momentum. Very happy for him to turn up in other colours. Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.
Said it before and I’ll say it again… defence wins you titles and whilst he isn’t the entire defence, he is a massive weakness for me.

 

[moggy#9]

It’s all about perspective and personal choice. He isn’t for me and whilst he may score more than he screws up, that just isn’t a defenceman for me. He may assist or score a hatful against lesser teams but repeatedly gets exposed in close games and in over time. Additionally as August04 says…. And this is the main point for me… It his passing.,.. constantly putting our forwards under an unnecessary pressure, giving them no chance, or the blind and pointless icing putting us more pressure. Then there’s the petulant penalties. Never a big hit or a fight, it’s a daft slash or cross check that does nothing for the game or to help us. It doesn’t swing momentum. Very happy for him to turn up in other colours. Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.
Said it before and I’ll say it again… defence wins you titles and whilst he isn’t the entire defence, he is a massive weakness for me.

In the games I've seen this season, passing has been a real issue throughout the team. When it comes to summer recruitment I'd love to see us signing a few Scandinavians. At least then we'd some better passing, skating and puck retention.

 

[Finny]

I feel for Kozun. For me, he’s the better netminder but our management group seem to push Bowns' case whenever possible. I guess they want value for money as he’s bound to be on a hell of a lot more dosh than Kozun, and a multi year deal to boot. I’d feel much more hopeful about a play off win (still unlikely I know but you got to have hope!) with Kozun in net. We all know Bowns can let one or two duffers in quickly. If that happens in the playoffs, we're done.

From what I've seen this season Bowns is by far the better technical netminder. Yes he's let in a couple of shockers (including the first against Steelers) but I'd say Kozun has let in far more weak goals over the season.

And I don't get the argument that "it's not fair to drop Kozun after Saturday". From the game reviews I read Bowns had a superb weekend in Belfast last week. Kept it being a hammering on Saturday and then was a key reason for us winning on the Sunday.
So was it fair for Bowns to be dropped for the Fife game?

'Dropping' a netminder after a shut out is nothing new. Happened lots in the ISL days when we had Herlofsky and Lyle rotating. I'm guessing the netminders will get a game each next weekend too - but I've not seen anything this year that suggests Bowns shouldn't start our Playoff campaign for us.