GAME THREAD: Panthers v. Steelers. Mon, 27th December.

[Keith Sheppard]

Great 2 days for us. I think we'll take some catching this season.

NOOOOOO! Don’t say that!

[Clowne57]

A good win tonight, a good 4 points in the bag. All in all the team deserved it. Well played.

[smbmetal]

Well played Steelers. Rok was excellent, better than last night.

Panther’s aren’t a great side, but it does look we are creating some natural player rivalry for once.

Our PP is quite a concern though now. 10 for no goals. Our PK is good though and we always look dangerous short handed.

Let’s hope covid doesn’t sneak further into our camp so we get the new year games on.

[kgw]

Great 2 days for us. I think we'll take some catching this season.

Need more games against Belfast to have a proper idea.

[Nathan]

Great 2 days for us. I think we'll take some catching this season.

I'm starting to think the same.

[SteelerBlade]

Still plenty of hockey to be played, Belfast aren’t the same side we pumped 7-1 and Cardiff will 100% be sniffing around come the end of the season.

[raetiamann]

I agree the Panthers aren't a great side, but they did post just shy of 50 shots on us. Rok certainly gave us the opportunity to win this one. A good weekend points wise plus the fight wins too.

[ekt]

Still plenty of hockey to be played, Belfast aren’t the same side we pumped 7-1 and Cardiff will 100% be sniffing around come the end of the season.

The advantage we have right now is ours to lose, we have a point recovery rate of 82.5%.

I see Belfast as the main threat and Cardiff as the secondary threat
Maybe with a few banana skins thrown in from any of the 3 Scottish teams and Guidlford.

Oh and probably Covid will stuff us at some time.
I can see a fixture backlog looming, it would be good if the league extended the season rather than try and cram all the games into the normal season length.

[Doom]

I think it's far too early to be talking of titles, we're not even half way through the season.

At the start of the season I think only one of the arena teams was likely to win the title, because that's where the big player budgets are.

Nottingham are probably out of it now. They're a long way behind and have a horrible schedule coming up where they're likely to drop more points.

Cardiff have put themselves in a difficult position and now can't afford too many slip ups. I wouldn't count them out of it, but they're certainly outsiders.

In all probability I think it's between us and Belfast. I went for Belfast at the start and I'm sticking with them. Win their games in hand and they're only 3 points behind us, with a very good squad of players.

We've put ourselves in good position with points on the board, but lots of hockey still to be played including 5 games against Belfast.

As for last night, it was a fairly even game but in the end I thought we were more clinical where it mattered.

Much better at faceoffs last night and better netminding played a big part in the win.

I hope Panthers are going to do a proper tribute to Gary Moran, as it all felt a bit rushed last night, which is to be expected with the news only breaking yesterday.

A good Christmas for us, next up Manchester (Covid allowing).

Regards

Doom

[House_of_Steel]

Proud of the work rate of our players this year second to none as others have mentioned I think it will be a 2 horse race between us and Belfast. Cardiff are carrying 3 or 4 passengers that are very hit and miss and letting the likes of Brodie Reid and Carruth down. I will say I’d like to see more from Hodgman he’s starting to become complacent and the motivation he had a month ago seems to have dissipated, whether that’s a change up in the lines or something on a personal level i don’t know but he is one of our best signings and for me at the minute it isn’t clicking he needs his mojo back. On the whole very happy with our team and a few players I thought would be mediocre at best have turned out to be real gems (testament to the Thomson years) I sometimes forget we have fantastic mr Fox at the helm.