GAME THREAD. Steelers v Devils: PLAYOFF FINAL

[steeler pete]

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.

[Rendo]

Certainly not a 5-2 Hockey game, I know why they pull the keeper but I really wish they wouldn't, I think we had better chance 5 on 5 actually

Certaintly 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.

It never ends well for us when we do it, other teams have had better luck with it

[Doom]

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

[Clear The Zone]

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.

There's not a coach in the land who would have run out that game 5-on-5.

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.

[smbmetal]

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.

[MLL79]

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…

[Keith Sheppard]

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.

[greeny]

Dont think cardiff was too much better on the night,,,,,, if we had a full roster on the ice tonight i think we would of taken that game,,,,,,,

[Bryan]

I agree with the growing consensus on here that given the pretty awful circumstances we did as well as could reasonably be hoped for. Also agree that the last few games in the cup have been much better than a lot we have seen this season. I was delighted that Tansey left us with a goal after yet again being shoved up front. There is little more that needs to be said. The club must now think about the future.

I personally don’t feel that the owner, who has been by far the best in his position, will see the need to make significant changes. However to keep doing the same thing and hoping to get different results is a poor strategy. I have mixed feelings about the massive increase in prices. I want to see a sound financial basis but whether 8000 will turn up on average is hard to say. I wonder if the changes to infant prices in central blocks are an experiment to see how differential pricing might go.

We shall have to wait and see.

[sunnybank]

Again, I’m pretty new to hockey, but I’ve been fully committed to it since the beginning of the year.

The same goes for my mate, and we now have a team we can support together and really invest in. We went along yesterday without tickets, but two came up on the arena site and we grabbed them. So we set off with none and arrived with two—excited to see the final and experience the atmosphere. The plan, if we didn’t get tickets, was to watch in the Salt Box.

Being new, we didn’t quite realise how disliked we are—but we love it and are happy to represent the Steelers.

On to the game…

I thought we came out and were immediately on the back foot, with Mitch Heard getting put in the box for four. It’s always going to be tough defending a power play against a team as strong as the Devils—but for four minutes… Cardiff scored and the arena erupted. We were in the Blaze block, but there were a few of us Steelers holding the fort.

I thought we saw out the first period well and finished the stronger side. In the second period, we dominated and could—and probably should—have grabbed a couple more. Then came a quick one-two sucker punch, and it became obvious it wouldn’t be our day.

We needed a quick goal in the third, but it didn’t happen—not through a lack of effort, as the lads gave everything. Pulling one back gave us hope. Pulling the netminder at that point didn’t seem right until after the face-off—but, as I’ve said, I’m brand new to this.

All in all, we had a great day. I would have gone on Saturday too, but I had prior football plans.

One added point: being new, I haven’t spoken to any Steelers fans yet. It’s making me feel a bit awkward—I don’t know if it just takes time to fit in. No dig at any fans; I’d just like to chat with some