So what happens now..?

[paul johnston]

Would I take another Fox season with no silverware? I suppose if he brings a hard working team who play entertaining competitive hockey consistently and yet narrowly miss out on silverware then I probably would take that

And this is the issue. Have we had a hard working team who play entertaining competitive consistently over the last two seasons? I and others I speak to would argue not. This season has been worse than last year. Some of the CHL performances were tremendous

[Clear The Zone]

Perhaps we haven't, but we've not been that far off. A lot of stuff has to go right for you to win silverware, not all of it is in your control as a team/organisation. I don't get the impression that there's been much fundamentally wrong in the last two seasons. Last year we played some of the best hockey ever played in a Steelers jersey in the CHL and probably paid the price for that in the domestic setting, This year if Watling hadn't eaten a puck in training or Pu not turned out to be a wifebeater we could be sat here with a couple of trophies. It's narrow margins.

[greeny]

Never been a massive foxy fan mainly down to his playing styles he wants his team to play, he has done what the club wanted , a grandslam so for that he was entitled to another year or two to try and replicate that. As this was never achieved then to me its a no brainer that you try something new and dont stagnate in the past maybe just through loyalty, so for me i would like to see new coach/players etc,,,,,,, but from tonys point of view and he is the one calling the shots, bussiness is doing well with consistent good numbers of bums on seats /merch sales etc, etc so he must be happy bussiness wise so in that respect i cannot see him making any big changes too soon

[ginger]

Last year, we're a Greenfield injury away from probably winning the league, after that immense CHL campaign.

This year too many misses in early recruitment (although in paper all good signings), the Pu situation, and injuries to multiple players after deadline.

I'm 50/50 on Fox - if he's coach next year, we need less misses on recruitment, especially at centre. Need a true top line centre to allow Balmas to play wing (assuming he stays).

If he's not, I would like to see him as GM. He's had more to deal with in his 7 years than most - COVID, Tron and Alex Graham (RIP both), AJ/MP, Pu. Grade A human being from all reports and found some of the best players we've seen for a long time (Greenfield, Cormier, Balmas).

But the big things have to be recruitment next year. Centres who win draws, better offensive D with higher shot generation (think Noel, Estes) so Cormier not having to provide it all. Brits/4th line needs sorting.

Heard one rumour on the Brit front - Brandon Whistle apparently coming back

[mark]

What is Fox style hockey ?.

If it's the style that won us a Grand Slam then I'll keep it.

If it's the style that we played in the CHL, some of the best hockey I've ever seen in the UK then again I'll keep it.

Seems to me it is very dependent upon the quality of recruitment along with having the usual share of luck with injuries and avoiding getting shafted by certain Brit players.

[ekt]

What is Fox style hockey ?.

If it's the style that won us a Grand Slam then I'll keep it.

If it's the style that we played in the CHL, some of the best hockey I've ever seen in the UK then again I'll keep it.

Seems to me it is very dependent upon the quality of recruitment along with having the usual share of luck with injuries and avoiding getting shafted by certain Brit players.

I've been guilty of criticising Fox's style of hockey on this forum, but you're right, Grand Slam - great, CHL - great, the way he dealt with the Johnson incident, he did the right thing.

I think we are all guilty of looking for a scapegoat when the results start to go the wrong way, and it usually ends up being whoever is the coach at the time.
If its just the coach, how do we put in a performance one week then be absolutely dire the next, same players, maybe slightly different lines, maybe they have been told to play a particular way, but the players are on the ice, they can make decisions.

Fox has been lucky on recruitment and found some gems, some by circumstance like Cormier as Petgrave's replacement.
He's also been unlucky with a few players as mentioned by Mark above.

Overall I cant see anyone out there who would be a drop-in to this league for us, other than Keefe and to be honest I find Belfast games boring, usually low scoring affairs but they get the result or go home with a point most of the time.

The problem is we want entertaining hockey AND results/silverware.
We are very lucky as a club to rarely be a few steps away from the league title or a semi or a final, most clubs don't get that.

So I don't think Fox is going anywhere, I think he's staying at least another year and I personally intend to stop the sniping and get behind him and whoever we have come next August/September time.

[smbmetal]

What is Fox style hockey ?.

If it's the style that won us a Grand Slam then I'll keep it.

If it's the style that we played in the CHL, some of the best hockey I've ever seen in the UK then again I'll keep it.

Seems to me it is very dependent upon the quality of recruitment along with having the usual share of luck with injuries and avoiding getting shafted by certain Brit players.

While the Grand Slam achievement was outstanding, I'm afraid I didn't enjoy the style of hockey played, which was better than this season, but just not my cup of tea. Again, the Grand Slam style of hockey was a one-off season for me. We don't play consistently at that level and in terms of silverware, we have won one other trophy under Fox's tenure in 5 seasons is it? That's not good enough in my eyes.

However, the CHL games, is the best I've ever seen quality wise and that includes my favourite ever Grand Slam team of 2000/2001.

And that's where my frustration lies. In the CHL season, yes we got some injuries, but we never played like that again for the rest of that season or this season. Not even close.

I just feel we've gone stale and need a new direction. I would be happy to see Fox stay in some capacity, but not as coach I'm afraid. Whilst Fox has a high win percentage, that's not translated into silverware success outside of the Grand Slam season. We've won nada in the last 2 seasons.

Just my two-penneth.

[mark]

We don't play consistently at that level and in terms of silverware, we have won one other trophy under Fox's tenure in 5 seasons is it? That's not good enough in my eyes.

So that is four trophies in five years, that is elite level performance, always at or near the top, always challenging.

[Bryan]

I’m fortunate to have Premier Sports so I enjoy the Stanley Cup. I watch teams in cities where I’ve worked, Buffalo, Philadelphia and Boston (MIT and Harvard). Also St Louis Blues. My son is Vice President of Enterprise they sponsor shirts and arena. NHL understands that it is entertainment and focus on that. All clubs have clear names and numbers on shirts. Some of ours are awful.
The NHL stripeys seem generally less fussy than ours. Scraps occur but are often quickly sorted out with having to call penalties. There’s more 5 on 5. I enjoy fast and physical play, but actual fights bore me. As a result of the NHL stripeys quickly defusing disputes there are few outright fights. The game gets less interruptions. The actual refs have mics and explain situations clearly. This makes such a difference to the spectator experience and surely is not technology beyond our means.
Several of our EIHL clubs streams do not have penalty clocks. Surely, if you’re going to charge £16+ this is unacceptable. Some NHL even often show the unexpired time of penalties in the centre of the ice of both zones. Brilliant but probably beyond us.

One negative. I prefer our arena size. It seems to allow the skilful to shine more.

[jas]

I just cannot see Fox going because Tony will not want to pay him off. Regardless of Fox's abilities there are very large numbers of fans attending the games. And it is not just the revenue from bums on seats but also the merch sales that brings, along with 50/50, SOYB and the huge income generated from Chuck a Puck. While all this money is coming in I doubt very much if Tony will be too concerned if we win or lose. When/if income starts to fall significantly that is when Tony might think of a change. So with what I imagine a predicted income would be, and not giving Fox a pay out I expect the status quo to remain until maybe the following season. At that point I think Fox's reign will come to an end regardless of results.