GAME THREAD: Steelers v. Panthers. Sat, 1st February.

[jg1867]

Sadly tonight was one of them nights where you have to hold your hand up and admit that the better team won, Nottingham played a perfect game and would have beat anyone with that performance.

We just have to take it on the chin, dust ourselves down and move on.
If a team has to play that well to get a result against us then we've come a long way from what we've been watching the last few years.

If this is where Fox has got us in a few months then I can't wait for next season

[Jayboy]

And what is a ‘lurker’?

What is a lurker.?

See page 5 on this thread.. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14&start=40

Lurker
/ˈləːkə/

A person who lurks, in particular a user of an Internet message board or chat room who does not participate.

[Loopsteel]

I tire of hearing about an “off night” or “things just not going our way” (Fearnley on the webcast). Our flaws were the same as they’ve always been, and Panthers exploited them while totally neutralising our offence, who had no creative ideas beyond the usual set plays. Other teams will be paying attention to our performance tonight.

Defence has been our problem all year and if we win the league; it’ll be with the worst championship D in EIHL history. Liwing is simply not a good hockey player and every. single. team has had at least three gilt-edge chances, alone, in front of our net and we just haven’t addressed it.

It isn’t a coincidence that our two most embarrassing “off nights” at home have been our two biggest games of the year so far - losing 7-3 in front of a full house to Cardiff, after a successful month, then 1-5 against Panthers after another winning streak.

These aren’t grinding, defensive losses. When we don’t turn up to score, we still concede the same amount, and that makes it a rout.

And, in league action, our wins against Nottingham have either been in OT (having from two down) or a single goal. We’ve been getting away with it on the fumes of “character” for too long and will see more of these turnovers the longer we stake everything on being able to score six goals a game. Panthers are a good team but as we are, we aren’t difficult to work out at all. Crowd our star forwards out and do what you want going forward, you can win without much trouble.

A dreadful night that requires more than closing the book on. We got exposed and there’s blood in the water:

Reared your head again. Nothing to say the past couple months.

One bad awful game in a long run. We went to Cardiff and out played them and took the win.

See you the next time we lose

More that I haven’t been bothered to verify myself/make a profile since the forum went down, generally prefer Twitter and have had a family issue that’s occupied a lot of my time since before Christmas.

Anyway, beyond the strangely personal stuff, I do think we’ve been running on empty and outscoring our problems, which isn’t a method that’s always built to last when you’re carrying crucial injuries and have a very poor D, in terms of both systems and personnel. Our losses have also come in key games, at home, against rivals. Something I think is fair to say requires examination - not to doubt our mental fortitude.

I actually commented the other day on the Steeltalk-being-unfairly-tarnished thread, about how I felt I could speak for nearly everyone when I say we’re happier than we have been in years, love our style and have rediscovered a pretty magic connection with the team as a unit. I can’t remember feeling this fond of a squad, or as in touch with the Steelers ethos, in a very long time.

Either way, I never suggested I was giving up on the team nor was I waiting for them to fail (obviously an insane implication). I’m simply upset by what tonight’s failure revealed.

[tepster]

Worst performance of the season,we know there are going to be off days but these should be away games not in front of 8600 home fans.Also as we’ve seen before ramping the volume control up to deafening levels doesn’t help and I think Simms clone is actually getting worse than him,he gabbles on too fast and you can’t tell a word he says.

[Chris]

I don’t attend that many games, think it was my 3rd this year and I’ve seen us hammered twice (the Cardiff home game too).

Sure there’s been far better performances that last night. I was struggling to explain to a friend that we are top of the league.

5-1 flattered us. It should have been 3-0 at the end of the first.

[paul johnston]

Well it's the morning after the night before. Was a truly terrible day at the office. Was a game where injuries and illness caught up with us. I think it will be a long time before we play that bad for a whole 60 minutes again.

[Doom]

I'm not liking my new user name, but for some reason the old one wasn't allowing me in.

This will be a tough game, I was really impressed by the Panthers when we played them in the New Year. Until last weekend I thought they were looking a greater threat than Cardiff, but with the two losses they have to win tonight or they're virtually out of it.

It could well be a full house tonight.....how times have changed since Norton nearly destroyed us.

Well you must have picked your new name lol

What was your old name.. I can sort for you :ugeek:

I've always posted as Doom, but when I registered and set my password I've not been able to get in.

I decided to try something different and having just watched a bit of Bond Octopussy was the only thing I could think of

As for the game last night, Panthers played very well, but that wasn't the Sheffield Steelers I've been watching this season.

A bad day at the office or illness?

[Clowne57]

And what is a ‘lurker’?

What is a lurker.?

See page 5 on this thread.. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14&start=40

Lurker
/ˈləːkə/

A person who lurks, in particular a user of an Internet message board or chat room who does not participate.

Can I post the same thing 15 times to become a ‘Rookie’

[Jarv]

Not read all 8 pages.

Just one of those nights last night. It happens and they need to go again tonight.

[Doom]

I've just listened to Fox post game and it sounds like Duba and Vally were both suffering illness during the game.

The break coming up is very timely for us. I think we'll struggle in Guildford tonight, but hopefully with 2 weeks rest we can get any sickness out of the camp and get Hrabal and DeLuca back in.