After a very disappointing weekend just gone, we're back on our soapboxes to discuss things in hockey world. Judging by the replies, it's not a good atmosphere at all.
On this week's edition we have Co-Editor Tony, Seething Sammi D from Block 106, Nathan, Eric (who we wonder will mention Tom Darnell's dog and stick; you'll have to find out below) and myself Mark. Enjoy...
Q1: Five words on Saturday's Game please?
Tony - Went to Leadmill instead. Happy
Sammi - Worst I've seen in ages
Nathan - Saturday Night Double Header Disaster
Eric - No idea. Clueless, Weak, Awful.
Mark - An absolute shambles at home
Q2: Five words on Sunday's encounter as well?
Sammi - No better
Nathan - Sunday Night Double Header Disaster
Eric - Didn't win one period. Abysmal. (Ed's note: we did, the first 2-1, won third period Saturday 1-0)
Mark - Slightly improved not by much
Tony - Mainly poor. OK in patches.
Nathan - Sunday Night Double Header Disaster
Eric - Didn't win one period. Abysmal. (Ed's note: we did, the first 2-1, won third period Saturday 1-0)
Mark - Slightly improved not by much
Tony - Mainly poor. OK in patches.
Q3: Did Thommo sound a beaten man in his post game interview on Saturday or not?
Nathan -'The Best Coach in the League' sounded well and truly beaten. An
absolute shambles from start to finish but according to his interview
any criticism of him or his tactics is utter 'Rubbish' from people who
'Don't know the sport!' If anyone found a discarded dummy in the Arena on Saturday night, Mr Thompson would like it back please.
Eric - I think he was still in shock, he tripped out an unbelievable round of excuses. "We played mid week" yes Thommo?.. And your point? But the gem was "Stressed!" Stressed. I ask you... Dear oh dear. We were owned in our own building.. Was he a beaten man? No! Just a man who doesn't know what to do next.
Mark - He sounded like he had completely lost his marbles. I've never heard so much gibberish, sorry Paul: truth hurts. You were crawling through the excuse barrel there fella. Stress? That's a new one! They are professional sportsmen out there and they didn't f**king show up bar one man - Moose! We lost as a team because we didn't show up in one of the most massive games this season. No communication anywhere, on the ice and on the bench. Admit we were damn f**king dog turd, be honest! You can't polish a turd as shiny as that one. Came out of the Arena, literally with steam out of my ears! As for the lack of a time out...don't get me started on that one!
Tony - Haven't listened to the interview but we're up against one of our key opponents who are nicely in-form, so we should necessarily expect to win. The team has the ability to win in Cardiff and Nottingham, so we have the players, but the tactics, line-changes, and the performance were all lacking. We can't expect this level of players to win games individually, but individual player mistakes can lose them, and that's on them, and not the coach. The coach however is rightly taking heat for tinkering with the lines, and not swapping them back when things went against us, but he's got to try to get those misfiring forwards going again. Tough watching but not season defining.
Sammi - His interview on Saturday was hilarious. Blaming midweek games and stress? I'd rather he'd just come out and admitted we were crap. He has no Plan B. Should be called time out at 0-4 and 3-5 to calm the lads and refocus them, but he didn't bother Saturday and left it too late Sunday.
Eric - I think he was still in shock, he tripped out an unbelievable round of excuses. "We played mid week" yes Thommo?.. And your point? But the gem was "Stressed!" Stressed. I ask you... Dear oh dear. We were owned in our own building.. Was he a beaten man? No! Just a man who doesn't know what to do next.
Mark - He sounded like he had completely lost his marbles. I've never heard so much gibberish, sorry Paul: truth hurts. You were crawling through the excuse barrel there fella. Stress? That's a new one! They are professional sportsmen out there and they didn't f**king show up bar one man - Moose! We lost as a team because we didn't show up in one of the most massive games this season. No communication anywhere, on the ice and on the bench. Admit we were damn f**king dog turd, be honest! You can't polish a turd as shiny as that one. Came out of the Arena, literally with steam out of my ears! As for the lack of a time out...don't get me started on that one!
Tony - Haven't listened to the interview but we're up against one of our key opponents who are nicely in-form, so we should necessarily expect to win. The team has the ability to win in Cardiff and Nottingham, so we have the players, but the tactics, line-changes, and the performance were all lacking. We can't expect this level of players to win games individually, but individual player mistakes can lose them, and that's on them, and not the coach. The coach however is rightly taking heat for tinkering with the lines, and not swapping them back when things went against us, but he's got to try to get those misfiring forwards going again. Tough watching but not season defining.
Sammi - His interview on Saturday was hilarious. Blaming midweek games and stress? I'd rather he'd just come out and admitted we were crap. He has no Plan B. Should be called time out at 0-4 and 3-5 to calm the lads and refocus them, but he didn't bother Saturday and left it too late Sunday.
Q4: Talking about Saturday, is that the worst performance you've ever seen?
Eric - Actually no!! 4 or 5 seasons ago we sat in the arena debating how many
we were going to loose by. May have been the last Matsos season. I think
he got the sack soon after, but I maybe wrong.
Mark - Seen some shockers in my time, and that goes back to year one when I first started. Nearly as bad as that 7-1 home loss in midweek to Cardiff at the Arena in 2011 under Ben Simon. We stunk the building out that night, quite easily almost matched. Moose was involved that night too. Saturday night, we made David Rutherford look like Sidney f**king Crosby! I bet Walser was laughing his head off, and with every reason too.
Tony - I loved Saturday's performance, and thought the Rival Sons were on absolute fire.... but I feel for you guys who had to watch the hockey.
Sammi - It had been in a while, yes. Although Sunday wasn't much better. We had 1 good period out of 6. Worst weekend I've seen in a while. I can take losing, but not when the team don't bother turning up and putting effort in. Half the team were unnoticeable for 6 periods. It's alright Thommo saying the fans don't have a clue, but these fans have been going for a long time generally and part with hard earned cash to watch his team. If he can't accept fans criticising the team he's at the wrong club.
Nathan - I'm sure some people of a certain vintage will have seen far worse but for a fan of only 3 years or so that for me was up there. The CC game against the Nottingham Bears was bad but I'm not particularly bothered about that as I'm not particularly bothered about the Pointless Cup, but Saturday was on a par with monkey tennis.
Mark - Seen some shockers in my time, and that goes back to year one when I first started. Nearly as bad as that 7-1 home loss in midweek to Cardiff at the Arena in 2011 under Ben Simon. We stunk the building out that night, quite easily almost matched. Moose was involved that night too. Saturday night, we made David Rutherford look like Sidney f**king Crosby! I bet Walser was laughing his head off, and with every reason too.
Tony - I loved Saturday's performance, and thought the Rival Sons were on absolute fire.... but I feel for you guys who had to watch the hockey.
Sammi - It had been in a while, yes. Although Sunday wasn't much better. We had 1 good period out of 6. Worst weekend I've seen in a while. I can take losing, but not when the team don't bother turning up and putting effort in. Half the team were unnoticeable for 6 periods. It's alright Thommo saying the fans don't have a clue, but these fans have been going for a long time generally and part with hard earned cash to watch his team. If he can't accept fans criticising the team he's at the wrong club.
Nathan - I'm sure some people of a certain vintage will have seen far worse but for a fan of only 3 years or so that for me was up there. The CC game against the Nottingham Bears was bad but I'm not particularly bothered about that as I'm not particularly bothered about the Pointless Cup, but Saturday was on a par with monkey tennis.
Q5: What was Belfast's key to success this weekend?
Mark - High forecheck and forcing us into error after error. It's what Cardiff do again, other teams have too. We're panic merchants when things start to go wrong and nobody can find a solution. Defensively they were as they say in Belfast: "Dead on." and for anyone who breeds teal and white - that's perfect. Passion and desire, something we lacked in spades.
Tony - From the game I saw Belfast played with an aggressive forecheck and then collapsed to protect the lanes in front of their nettie. Our defense played poorly and they took advantage of the mistakes we made. If we had held on at 2-0 on Sunday until the break I think we would have gone on and played with some more confidence.
Sammi - They seemed to want it more, I don't know what was wrong with our team but most of them looked like they couldn't be bothered to be here. Jackson Whistle is a solid netminder for them, but then even the way they played in front of Murphy Sunday was protective. We didn't, and don't, seem to protect Moose the same way. They came out in the 2nd one Sunday how we should've during the 2nd on Saturday.
Nathan - The key to the Giants success was basically turn up. When the opposition team is beating itself then just give them a hand.Their D was exceptional though. Nothing fancy, clear the zone, protect the keeper, basic stuff. BASIC STUFF THOMPSON!!!!!!
Eric - Belfast key was the same as Cardiff's, play up high, forecheck in our defensive zone, wait for the inevitable D man to panic and make the error, put a man on the back post and when playing the Steelers, the rest is easy. We have been found out, it doesn't take an experienced coach to break the code. Any team forechecking against this Steelers side will be in with a chance of beating us.
Tony - From the game I saw Belfast played with an aggressive forecheck and then collapsed to protect the lanes in front of their nettie. Our defense played poorly and they took advantage of the mistakes we made. If we had held on at 2-0 on Sunday until the break I think we would have gone on and played with some more confidence.
Sammi - They seemed to want it more, I don't know what was wrong with our team but most of them looked like they couldn't be bothered to be here. Jackson Whistle is a solid netminder for them, but then even the way they played in front of Murphy Sunday was protective. We didn't, and don't, seem to protect Moose the same way. They came out in the 2nd one Sunday how we should've during the 2nd on Saturday.
Nathan - The key to the Giants success was basically turn up. When the opposition team is beating itself then just give them a hand.Their D was exceptional though. Nothing fancy, clear the zone, protect the keeper, basic stuff. BASIC STUFF THOMPSON!!!!!!
Eric - Belfast key was the same as Cardiff's, play up high, forecheck in our defensive zone, wait for the inevitable D man to panic and make the error, put a man on the back post and when playing the Steelers, the rest is easy. We have been found out, it doesn't take an experienced coach to break the code. Any team forechecking against this Steelers side will be in with a chance of beating us.
And finally...Is the title beyond us now? If so, who do you want to win it?
Tony - No
the title race is still open enough as there are lots of games between
the top three still to be played. I think Belfast have become title
favourites and the mini-series they have with the Devils will probably
define the outcome, but I like our run-in best. Gotta keep the faith!
Eric - Is the title beyond us? "Oh absolutely!" There is no way back from here. Stick your head in the sand if you wish! Put on the orange sunglasses if you wish. But in reality, our only chance of silverware this season is to win the egg cup (Challenge Cup). Or hope that Cardiff, Belfast or Nottingham don't show up at the play offs. Who will win the league? Well I said it when all the coaches had recruited, and nothing, nothing has changed my mind since last August. Cardiff.... they will be the champions of the 2016/17 Elite League...
Nathan -The title is beyond us and judging by the weekends debacle so is 2nd place. I hope to be proven wrong but can't see it myself. But wait! What's this on the horizon? A new signing you say? A masterstroke of scouting savy and a touch of coaching genius to save our season and finally shut up all those gullible fools who pay their hard earned money week in week out for the privalage of watching 'Steelers hockey at its best!' Yes us, the ones who don't know what we're talking about.
Mark - I'd love to be optimistic and see us create history but it's gonna take the biggest damn comeback since Lazarus to make it happen. Sure those two above could collapse like we did this weekend, but way they are playing I honestly doubt. Another zero point weekend would just kill any faint hopes off I tell you. Prediction for league, I'm going for Belfast after thinking Cardiff before start of season. Their team ethic will see them home.
Eric - Is the title beyond us? "Oh absolutely!" There is no way back from here. Stick your head in the sand if you wish! Put on the orange sunglasses if you wish. But in reality, our only chance of silverware this season is to win the egg cup (Challenge Cup). Or hope that Cardiff, Belfast or Nottingham don't show up at the play offs. Who will win the league? Well I said it when all the coaches had recruited, and nothing, nothing has changed my mind since last August. Cardiff.... they will be the champions of the 2016/17 Elite League...
Nathan -The title is beyond us and judging by the weekends debacle so is 2nd place. I hope to be proven wrong but can't see it myself. But wait! What's this on the horizon? A new signing you say? A masterstroke of scouting savy and a touch of coaching genius to save our season and finally shut up all those gullible fools who pay their hard earned money week in week out for the privalage of watching 'Steelers hockey at its best!' Yes us, the ones who don't know what we're talking about.
Fat chance. The
only thing that springs to mind is an image of Messrs, Thompson, Smith,
Simms and the other bloke frantically trying to close the barn door
while the EIHL title dissappears into the sunset on horseback, meanwhile
back at Ice Sheffield our entire D is practicing swinging hopelessly at
misplaced pucks on what can only be described as a reinactment of a
Marx Brothers film. But hey! Good 50/50 ticket sales though!
Sammi - I think it's between Cardiff and Belfast, we're too inconsistent. Hoping Belfast win it if we don't. Mark - I'd love to be optimistic and see us create history but it's gonna take the biggest damn comeback since Lazarus to make it happen. Sure those two above could collapse like we did this weekend, but way they are playing I honestly doubt. Another zero point weekend would just kill any faint hopes off I tell you. Prediction for league, I'm going for Belfast after thinking Cardiff before start of season. Their team ethic will see them home.
More opinions to come next week.
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