Pulling the goalie’s not worked for us all season, so why would it now? Guess there was nothing to lose and a minuscule chance of gaining from it.
I thought the few players we had left gave it every effort but it was an uphill battle in a blizzard.
Devils deserve their win but I say that through gritted teeth.
GAME THREAD. Steelers v Devils: PLAYOFF FINAL
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- steeler pete
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- Rendo
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It never ends well for us when we do it, other teams have had better luck with itDSLSteeler wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 7:28 pmCertaintly thought it was a bit early for it. I haven’t been around very long but I am yet to see an example of pulling the keeper actually paying off. Conceded an ENG every time its happened.
- Doom
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No complaints about how we played.
Sport is all about taking advantage of the moments when you're on top. In that 2nd it felt like we were on a permanent powerplay, but we didn't take advantage. Cardiff broke and scored against the run of play and that was that.
I think one of our issues all season came back to haunt us and that was faceoffs. Heard is ok, but not great. Cardiff won it cleanly and game over.
A good effort considering players we were missing, but ultimately we finished without a trophy.
Supporters were superb though.
Regards
Doom
Sport is all about taking advantage of the moments when you're on top. In that 2nd it felt like we were on a permanent powerplay, but we didn't take advantage. Cardiff broke and scored against the run of play and that was that.
I think one of our issues all season came back to haunt us and that was faceoffs. Heard is ok, but not great. Cardiff won it cleanly and game over.
A good effort considering players we were missing, but ultimately we finished without a trophy.
Supporters were superb though.
Regards
Doom
- Clear The Zone
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There's not a coach in the land who would have run out that game 5-on-5.steeler pete wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2026 7:29 pmPulling the goalie’s not worked for us all season, so why would it now? Guess there was nothing to lose and a minuscule chance of gaining from it.
From watching the stream I think we can be immensely proud of the guys, it would have required a herculean effort and a lot of luck to win that with basically 2 lines. Yes that 3rd Cardiff goal looks like we went to sleep for the final 5 seconds of that period but at the end of this day this is what fatigue does, you don't make the best decisions and a lot of that group will have been running on fumes.
The consolation prize for me is if we didn't win then at least neither did Panthers or Giants either. I don't know why, but if it has to be someone else this year I don't mind it being Cardiff, they've been too good recently to win nothing.
Our last 3 or 4 games were the standard that I expect a Steelers team to play. Easily the best games and performances of the season.
But unfortunately that was very much a one-off rather than the norm this and last season.
Unfortunately, both Heard and Diffley cost us this one. Although I’m not sure Cardiff really deserved to win, they were just more clinical than us.
Looking forward to hearing Fox’s post game thoughts.
Outstanding support from our fans.
But unfortunately that was very much a one-off rather than the norm this and last season.
Unfortunately, both Heard and Diffley cost us this one. Although I’m not sure Cardiff really deserved to win, they were just more clinical than us.
Looking forward to hearing Fox’s post game thoughts.
Outstanding support from our fans.
- MLL79
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Leaving anyone out on this list isn’t me saying they didn’t, but Tremblay, Dowd, Tait and Jasper absolutely ran themselves ragged.
Less fatigue and I would guess that third goal doesn’t happen.
We just didn’t have the bodies for fresh enough legs, losing Juusola was probably the killer blow. We certainly didn’t lose through lack of effort.
Congrats to Cardiff (also said through gritted teeth), and at least we didn’t have to suffer the Wembley goal music 12 times like my first Cardiff Steelers playoff final…
Less fatigue and I would guess that third goal doesn’t happen.
We just didn’t have the bodies for fresh enough legs, losing Juusola was probably the killer blow. We certainly didn’t lose through lack of effort.
Congrats to Cardiff (also said through gritted teeth), and at least we didn’t have to suffer the Wembley goal music 12 times like my first Cardiff Steelers playoff final…
- Keith Sheppard
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Currently on our way home so I’ll keep this short, we basically had Watling and Ritchie out , Sudra out hurt. Trembley playing in a knee brace , then we lost Jussola and Kelly. We basically had 2 lines. There was one goal in it until the final minutes, I thought all the boys battled hard and did a bloody good job against a top team. Proud to be a Steeler.