GAME THREAD: Devils v Steelers: Sat 24th: Cup

[mark]

Off to the land of music, mountains and an ice rink that should have been built with a larger capacity.

[NinjaBreadMark]

According to Jonathan F on the ice line, a regulation win here would guarantee Steelers finish in the top spot in group A. An overtime/shoot out win would guarantee a top 2 spot, an overtime/shoot out loss would guarantee at least a spot in the play-in game.

A regulation loss would mean we need to pick up a point against Manchester to guarantee at least as spot in the play-in game, a win here would guarantee second place at least.

Steelers could potentially be overall top seeds if: we pick up 4 points from the last 2 games, and Belfast DON'T pick up 4 points from there remaining 2 games (after Fife did us a favour by beating Belfast yesterday)

[Doom]

It was interesting listening to CBW on the Ice Line stating that we had a lot of offensive zone time during the weekend, but too much was perimeter with not enough shots and traffic in front of the netminder.

Is this something which is easily corrected through coaching or is it a recruitment failure?

At the start of the season I thought we'd signed too many creative players and not enough who could finish.

To my mind this squad is crying out for a Talbot or Roy who would get in front of a netminder and score the scruffy goals. I'd also suggest we'd benefit from a warrior type player like Peron, but Fox just doesn't seem to like that style of player.

Hopefully this is an issue which can be corrected with practice, but it will be difficult getting players to get in close to the netminder if it isn't their natural game.

Regards

Doom

[Bryan]

It was interesting listening to CBW on the Ice Line stating that we had a lot of offensive zone time during the weekend, but too much was perimeter with not enough shots and traffic in front of the netminder.

Is this something which is easily corrected through coaching or is it a recruitment failure?

At the start of the season I thought we'd signed too many creative players and not enough who could finish.

To my mind this squad is crying out for a Talbot or Roy who would get in front of a netminder and score the scruffy goals. I'd also suggest we'd benefit from a warrior type player like Peron, but Fox just doesn't seem to like that style of player.

Hopefully this is an issue which can be corrected with practice, but it will be difficult getting players to get in close to the netminder if it isn't their natural game.

Regards

Doom

Absolutely right all this. Exactly as I saw it. I seem to remember Gettinger saying how he was going to be type of player we need. Not much of sign of that up to now. Far too many of our efforts were from distance with little or no traffic in the keepers eyes. One extra point, the game was also crying out for Dowd who we missed a good deal. Not just for what he does but how he leads and set the tone.

[smbmetal]

Can’t see anything other than a Cardiff win here.

Guessing we’ll be without both Dowd & Balmas?

4-2 Cardiff.

[Doom]

I guess Cardiff will come out hard and fast playing with intensity. They always do when we're in town.

The question is, can we match their intensity from the start or will we buckle?

I did see mention of Cardiff having a few injuries and illness in the camp when they played Dundee last weekend, so maybe that could be a factor.

If we could pick up one point in this game it would be a very good result.

Regards

Doom

[Johnny777]

Apologies if this has been announced somewhere but I’ve missed it, what is actually wrong with Dowd as he’s been missing for awhile now?

[Doom]

Apologies if this has been announced somewhere but I’ve missed it, what is actually wrong with Dowd as he’s been missing for awhile now?

I've not seen anywhere what is actually wrong with him, but I do recall him being interviewed a couple of weeks ago saying it was frustrating because the injury was healing slower than he hoped.

Regards

Doom

[Johnny777]

Thank you, just hadn’t seen anything about his absence and it’s gone on awhile now so thought I’d see if anything had been said that I’d missed

[steeler pete]

As feared no Balmas on the gamesheet either. Feeling a bit pessimistic about this one.