Hockey Soapbox - Season 2 Week 8 - Worrying Weekend?

We’ve had a turnaround in results this week, after four wins, we get two losses, and there’s opinions a plenty this week. Here’s our latest Frozen Steel Soapbox where we’ll bring you some views and thoughts from a selection of Sheffield Steelers hockey fans.

Sourced from @snapperjakeo

It’s time to get on your soapboxes people!

We’ve got contributions from:  Mark Duell, Eric Green, Robert Newbolt, Fergus Wright, Nathan Turner and Bethan.

So let’s get straight into it. Was that a worrying weekend, or just a league warm up against good opposition?

• Bethan (Ying) - I think it's a weekend which can be explained away, either as the other teams getting the right 'bounces', or due to it being early in the season and the team's not been together long. If we continue to fall apart during games it'll start to get worrying, but not just yet. 
• Fergus (Yang) - Very worrying and Thomo needs to do some serious a**e-kicking this week in training before the league starts!
• Mark (suffering from splinters) - It was a bit of both if you have to be honest. Worrying that we made ourselves look bad against a less than impressive Panthers roster (Nikoforuk aside), and we switched off in the second against a Devils side that had just as much as depth as us but got the breaks when needed. You can't afford these kind of mistakes and it basically contributed to our own demise over the two nights. That's something that needs nipping in bud early else it will derail the season completely. Back to the drawing board we go.
• Nathan - Well the dust has settled somewhat and although it would be easy to simply slate the team and repeat what was said in anger on Saturday night and again on Sunday, I prefer to take a more pragmatic view and review our zero point weekend with a bit more clarity. Whilst Nottingham and Cardiff deserved their wins, neither really had to work hard for their points, and the only way is up.

What about the away loss against Nottingham specifically?

• Fergus - Nottingham have nothing to be proud of, they struggled to beat us by 1 goal when we were very off form. Fitzy seemed to be afraid to put hits on anybody recently.
• Mark - Thoughts coming out of the NIC on Saturday night can be summed up in one word - Frustrating. Bad decision making, passes which never found recipients, and nervous defensively saw the wheels come off. That is an average, at most, Panthers team, and we made them look good. What happened to the intensity from the get go and 6 days previous? I felt so annoyed, it was a game we should have won, and well too.
• Nathan - Pre game drinks in Bunkers Hill had us full of confidence - 5 minutes into the 2nd period had me wishing we'd stayed in there. The record books will show a close game won by the odd goal but the Steelers fans who were there will remember it for a defensive horror show made to look less catastrophic by what was to follow the following night.
• Eric - Didn't make Nottingham CC game. But from all accounts we had long periods of dominance inter-woven by moments of sloppy play, with everyone from Moose forward not taking responsibility. With respect we should not have lost this game, against a decidedly average Nottingham side that had been dominated at the arena one week previously. 
• Bethan - I didn't see the game, but it seems that we had issues with our defence, and with falling apart in the second period... Sounds familiar!

And the Cardiff loss at home on Sunday?

• Eric - The CC game against Cardiff I did make. And I had commented on other forums that this fixture would be the fixture of the weekend. Unfortunately the Steelers team never got my memo! You only have to look at the Cardiff roster to realise they have as much, if not more, depth than us. So if any of our players were not playing at full tilt would automatically give the Devils an extra man.
• Fergus - Utterly embarrassing honestly, no physicality at all, moose was shocking and again Fitzy seemed to be afraid of putting hits in.
• Eric (continued) -  And so it proved, after the first 20 minutes, where we did match them, another poor second and third period of missed opportunities with very poor coverage by our D. Proved to me that the Devils are the team to beat this season, if we are to go on for a third championship. 
• Bethan - We seemed pretty dominant in the first period, and I had little doubt we'd win until we came out for the second period! Pucks were bouncing all over the place and we had very little control, and we didn't seem to really have many good chances on net. All in all, one to leave behind us, and hope Franzon is ok!
• Eric (like the Energiser bunny) - They gave us an object lesson in clinical finishing taking advantage of our Defensive and netminder frailties. They gave us an object lesson in changing your game to gain advantage, they gave us a lesson of how to clog up the neutral zone, forecheck and collapse to your own goal line. All of which made them a much better side and us chasing the puck in our own zone. 
• Robert - Didn’t see away game but did visit Arena. It was a game of thirds - like in 2 halves in soccer! In the first period Cardiff could not live with Steelers but then they took their foot off the ice and three Cardiff goals effectively killed the game. There was no hitting of any kind from Sheffield, who were obviously disjointed because of the lack of Nelson. This, however does not make up for defensive frailties and it’s not because they’re bad defenders just maybe incorrect pairings. 
• Nathan - Cardiff rolled into town probably expecting to play a hard road game and to perhaps take us to O/T or maybe edge out a tight win. Instead after a cracking start to the game we simply rolled over and had our pants pulled down. Thing is, it's only the Challenge Cup and as long as these problems are eradicated before the league games start I'll be happy.
• Eric (In conclusion) - But all is not lost, we do have a group of players that can beat these guys or any team in this league, we have to learn lessons, be adaptable to changing circumstances DURING the game be responsible for individual actions. On a final note our face off wins was abysmal which also hurt us.
• Robert (now he’s at it too) - Everyone is having a go at Moose, and he was at fault for at least two of the goals, but he is not helped by a defence who insist on passing across goal instead of clearing the zone: bet he wishes he had the defence of six years ago. He hasn’t seemed tip top for a while, since something happened to make him ditch twitter so quickly. It did make me wonder though, with two losses this week Steelers are still top of the group and do they think ‘job done’. I’m sure Thompson would deny this but what other reason can you give for playing Liam Kirk for one shift a period?
• Mark - Not once did I believe we would repeat the same against Cardiff. Bar the first period and late flurries at the end - we were flatter than a can of Diet Coke that had been open for a couple of weeks. No fizz against a Devils team whose shirts look like a can of that particular refreshment. We went away from the game plan and as a result lost the game. I came away feeling very unhappy again, and rightly so.
• Eric (one final thought) - Even the top NHL teams cannot win every game, but we need to minimise what chances we allow the opposition to have. 

Looking at the positives, who was the best player of the weekend?

• Eric - Best player this weekend, must be Mike Ratchuk, from all accounts he had a blinder in Nottingham and against Cardiff offered some form of potency going forward. One wish I have is to be at the game he finally goes coast to coast, down the middle of the ice and plants the biscuit into the twine. And believe me it's going to happen this season. 
• Nathan - Mike Ratchuck is the weekends MVP by a country mile. I don't think everyone had a stinker but nobody really stood out apart from number 44. He's gonna be a good un.
• Bethan - Valdix has been impressing me lately, seems often to be in good space, and passes the puck between people and through narrow gaps pretty well.
• Robert - Difficult to pick a stand out but Armstrong always looked dangerous.
• Fergus - Ratchuk and Armstrong both played very well, with Ratchuk scoring a stunner.
• Mark - For us - Mosi as he kept battling away from his first shift to his last in both games. Some could look at him, and learn. Opponent - Jake "Alanis" Morissette of Cardiff. Always at heartbeat for the Devils, he seldom has a bad game against us. Isn't it ironic don't ya think? (Editor groans)

How much did Levi’s absence hurt us?

• Bethan - I don't think it's the reason we lost the game, we've got far too much depth to be dependent on one player. I think the loss of any player tends to throw things out of balance, and perhaps having another slightly more physical guy out there would have been useful against the Devils.
• Mark - They say there's no "I" in team (Editor – but there is one in Levi) and nine times out of ten it's true, However we did miss Levi this weekend just gone. The hits, the lack of fear he displays and the chemistry that second line brings to the table. We re-shuffled the second and fourth lines and that contributed to a zero weekend. If anything, we should have had Kirky on 2nd line LW, used him sparingly, and spotted others in. The reshuffled lines were a tactic that backfired on Thomo. Can only hope the spell on the sidelines is short, Dowdy seemed lost without his sidekick.
• Fergus - His constant fight really was missed but it worries me that losing one player maybe cost us two games as the team should be able to play without him. Thomo messed up with his tactics, he shouldn't have interfered with the 4th line and just out Kirk in the 3rd - that way only disturbing one line instead of two.
• Eric - Obviously a player of Nelsons capability will hurt when he's not in the line-up, but quite simply others will need to step up. We will take injuries, imagine Mosienko or Roy getting a knock, because it could happen, what do you do?  The other guys have to play more minutes, they have to play harder, they have to make that difference up. They know that, it's a matter of them applying it.
• Robert - It was definitely a loss because the team was totally disorganised but this cannot be an excuse as throughout the season injuries will happen and it’s up to the ‘ best coach in the land’ to sort it.
• Nathan - The loss of Nelson for the weekend was a blow and who knows, maybe we could have won the game in Nottingham had he been playing, but the fact of the matter is our D is garbage at the moment and I doubt had Nelson been playing it would have made the difference .

The goals against keep stacking up – any observations?

• Mark – Yes we are conceding a few but that's the problem when you do not "talk". We end up making elementary errors, such as leaving the back door open (something which has definitely haunted us for at least the last three seasons), or committing too far forward and expecting the nettie to bail us out. We need to tighten this up; especially with the league campaign about to start. Basic and responsible defence skills, even a newbie could spot that one. Of the four new blueliners, Scooby Doo (Davey) is being targeted as being weak; they might be right.
• Bethan - They do seem to be mounting up don't they! The D don't seem to be working quite right - obviously Franzon was hurt tonight, but we didn't see a lot of Davey Phillips out there either. We were all excited to have Moose back, but maybe we've pinned a few too many hopes on him as the league’s moved on?
• Fergus - Just think how you all treated Pinc last season ... now tell me moose is better? 5 goals per game he is conceding, that's disgusting and he needs telling big time. He's loved for his past, so he gets away with everything, he makes a few really good saves yeah but that doesn't make up for the countless mistakes he makes and for his non-existent cover of the back door - he might have a quick glove, but his pads and movement on the ice is bloody slow! (And leave big holes top glove side!)
• Eric - Shipping goals is nothing new, we did last season. It's left to the coaching staff to instill the systems into the players, to be 6 D, with the forwards tracking back. They need to be smart, pick up the player lurking at the back stick, because we all know that's a real weakness at the moment, and to win those one to one battles. Surely it's not rocket science, you pick your man, you beat him one to one, you minimise his capability of a scoring chance. As someone said "you win games from the back, everything starts from the back" and it's true...
• Robert - Defence must be a massive headache for the coaching staff. They need to tinker around with pairings and see who is best suited to play together as they are all good players.
• Nathan - We attack as a team, and we defend as a team, and whilst I'm by no way singling out our current custodian as the solitary reason for our defence having more holes in it than an East-Enders storyline Mr Moose is starting to frighten the bloody life out of me! He looks indecisive, erratic and at times disinterested. His body language at times is of a man whose mind is elsewhere. I hope I'm wrong and reading far too much into these 2 games and that it's simply a brief sticky patch but I am far from convinced by his performances. Pinc got hounded for far less.

 

That’s all folks. Hope you enjoyed reading our thoughts, and we’d love you to get involved too.

Help set the agenda for next week with your questions, or even better get involved and give your views as one of the panel. We would love different views and different participants each week. Please contact Mark @frozensteelblog or Tony @Disgu15ed, or find us at the game.

Brief Bios of those panellists you’ve just been listening to in the series so far :

• Alan is @frozensteelmnl for match night updates and @AwkwardGinge for everything else. Has been watching Hockey for many years, and given half a chance will regale you with tales of the London Knights. Catch him on the Breaking the Ice podcast too.
• Andy is the big man with the big horn (or VuVuzela if you prefer) who can be found at most home and away games, and propping the bar up afterwards. Andy is @ic3creamman.
• Bethan represents the younger end of the fan base, and has loved the team ever since being dragged along to her first Steelers game in 2007. Follow her on Twitter at @bethan_4
• Eric is a season ticket holder and can be found shouting encouragement to our players and scorn at the zebras alongside three generations of his family in block 115. Views can be found @greenbunch257
• Glynn can be found @glynnm76 has been watching the Steelers on and off since ‘91. Massive Ron Shudra fan and owner of an EIHL League Championship medal.
• Kevin and Fergus are a Father-Son duo that grew up watching and playing ice hockey in Europe (mainly Germany) who are both very opinionated and can be heard from block 115. Twitters are @SedgyFergus and @KevWright65
• Mark is one of the main men behind the Frozen Steel blog, being the Editor and Podcast pundit, and has watched the club since its inception. Find him at @hockeybhoy
• Nathan and his Mrs have been going to games since Feb 2014 after getting fed up with football. Another season ticket holder in 115 who tries to get to away games and refuses steadfastly to join in with Sweet Caroline. He’s @NJT75Owl
• Robert is chief architect of http://steelers-stats.com/ the go-to guy for Steelers history from days gone by, and the man behind one of the big White House spotlights! Robert is @steelersstats.
• Tony has been watching the Steelers on and off since Tony Hand arrived, and has been a regular for the last eight years or so. Enjoys contributing to the blog with his weekly five things and can be found @Disgu15ed