Welcome to the first of two articles this week. Due to technical issues, basically my laptop is broken, I wasn't able to publish this piece earlier in the week like I normally do so. However I've got a laptop on loan from a kind hearted friend, yes I do have friends, so I can continue with the blog.
This first article is about the crowning of the new Elite League Champions, Andrew Lord's Cardiff Devils, and what we the Steelers have learned from this season going forward. Some of it will be self explanatory, some of it I might go into a bit of depth. Read onward then.
1. Different Styles: This season saw Steelers appoint Jerry Andersson as Paul Thompson's assistant; thereby ending Darrell Hay's sojourn with the Club. It also marked a change of playing style as Thompson refined his team's game to a more European style particularly favoured in Scandinavia. It was a break from the norm, and whilst it helped the team compete more at CHL level, it didn't really work out in my eyes back home.
Cardiff play a typical North American style under Lord, and that's what has helped them win the title. It's what we are used to on these shores, but when things went pear-shaped with this tactic failure: there was no Plan B. That's why I think Paul got away from the tried and trusted methodology and attempted something new which we have not been accustomed to. It didn't work. That and not calling time outs to stop the bleeding at certain times when it was needed. Belfast home (1st game) was a prime example.
2. Too much chopping and changing: Another contributory factor to why we fell short was there was too much changing when it came to the lines. Granted injuries can force changes to be made but I think we changed the lines too much in game time when trying to force the issue. Mathieu Roy probably had numerous players on the top line with him which doesn't bode well for developing chemistry. Bar the second line which has pretty much not changed all season - injuries and suspension aside - we've seen a lot of offensive changes. As soon as you thought certain players look a good line; it got changed. Confusing, eh?
Lord has had few problems with his roster. Granted they've had a few knocks as well but obviously not as many as us. He's obviously told players: "This is the role I want you to play" and they bought into it so he doesn't have the need to tweak. That's chemistry building. We could look at this as well.
3. Discipline: You look at the Cardiff roster and with players such as Mark Louis and to a greater extent, Patrick Bordeleau, and you would have expect them to accumulate lots of penalty minutes. However, at the time of me penning this, they've got 60 less PiMs in conference games than us. It might not sound a lot but it can make a difference. We've picked up a few daft penalties this season, so have Cardiff you say, but when you see what some of them have been for then you get to see the bigger picture. It's cost us points.
4. Consistency: The big reason why we have failed to make it a three-peat. All teams have dry spells but there's been games which we should have won and we haven't done so. The Christmas games against the average Bears from down the road, the January home double header against the Giants, Fife away when we lost 5-2. That's just five games and five games we should have won. Yeah it's wonderful in hindsight to say it now, but when we've been cold than a home game at Ice Station Murrayfield, we have failed to build on things. Cardiff to their credit have been consistent, they've not let a defeat get to them and dampen the locker room atmosphere (ours feel like it has): they've bounced back almost immediately.
So there's four, in my eyes, reasonable pointers to why we haven't ensured "Monty" stays where he is. There could be more, but I don't want to waffle on much longer. You might agree, you might not but hey these are just my own thoughts. Hopefully, we will unlock the key to success but the blue print set out by the Devils is something we should be seriously looking at. It's got a lot of potential that's for sure.
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