Fellow Steelers fans, you are going to really hate me when you finish reading this article.
As you know, I have a tendency to speak my mind when I am really "on one" when it comes to a specific topic. I'm "on one" now, and this is going to possibly split opinion right down the middle for some of you. But it's me, being me, and saying what I think. I now give you five reasons (maybe there are more) why we will NOT win the title this season; thereby not emulating the Coventry Blaze who won the EIHL in two successive seasons (2006-07 and 2007-08) and something nobody has ever repeated since.
Here goes...
1. Stupid points dropped:
We have dropped points daftly this season, and if we hadn't then we would have so much daylight between ourselves and the chasing pack - you could open a window and it would stream through! I'm referring obviously to games against Coventry and Edinburgh. These teams are for god damn's sake 8th and 10th in the table respectively, and we've frittered away points against them. Out of 16 points available against the Blaze, they have picked up 10 out of 12 at the time of writing. Against the Caps, they have taken 6 from 8. That's an extra 12 points (with the extra points added) gone! Such a disappointing stat. Look at the difference it would make to the standings!
2. Injuries and Unsettled Lines:
We seem to have one of them season where we had never had a full bill of health. Everywhere in the roster, there's been a missing player in there. Both import goalies (Plante and Pinc) have had spells on the sidelines but it's the forward lines that have really taken a hit so to speak, Fretter's had a couple of spells (including this one) on the sidelines, so has Dowdy and even Mathieu Roy has had an injury absence. With players playing hurt (Desbiens and his broken hand for example), Thommo has had re-juggle his resources so much on that front. Nobody seems to know what our best line combinations are.
3. Certain players have underperformed:
This is a big one, and a very touchy subject to broach. Yes, we have had a few injury problems as documented above but some players in my eyes haven't done as well as some of would expect. Cullen Eddy I hate to say, has not been as good as he was last season. Granted his partnership with Fitzy is a solid one, but the Eddy I saw last year was much better than this year's. I'm also going to say that defensive newcomers Moyer and Coyle haven't exactly been what I expected either; I was expecting a bit more. Forward-wise, Mike Duco flittered in games and didn't do what most thought he would bring to the table, and Roy has been quiet in a few games too. Perhaps that was a consequence of having a 100 point season the year before, he's a marked man - same thing happened on a lesser scale to Jade Galbraith remember?
4. We struggle for a Plan B when things go awry:
Many times this season, we have gone behind in games and then thought "Um, what do we do next." Yes, in Saturday's game just gone against the Giants we did well to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win 4-2 but that was a Giants team that have underachieved all flaming season! We have dodgy spells and these always seem to occur in the middle portion of the game, which leads me onto...
5. Under performing in big games:
This particularly happens when we go on the road to both the NIC and the BBT! Both are venues where we can win, we have proven it to be so previously but something seems to always go wrong there. We have dodgy second periods in Nottingham and allow the Panthers to get some jump and put us under serious pressure which we find hard to contain. At the BBT; we have never been so toothless. Yes, the surface there plays to the Devils' style of play but it's a place that teams can win, just ask Nottingham and Braehead for Christ's sake. They can win there, we have done so before, why can't we be the same. Just a win or two there could have made all the difference.
There you go, I told you I'd be controversial. You can agree or agree to disagree, and that's your prerogative to be honest. You're a paying punter like me too, whether you hold a season ticket or pay game by game. Not everyone of you all will be nodding your collective heads and say: "Yup, you know something: Mark's got a point here." I don't expect it. But it's just me being me as I said at the start.
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