Dundee Home (10.12) Nottingham Away (11.12)

[IX2T311]

In honesty my hopes are high, all four points are up for grabs in my eyes, not a guarantee but equally not to be written out, just got to hope the right teams turn up.

[chunk]

Really looking forward to this. I think it's been almost a month since I've seen a live game with one thing and another - I'm definitely not making the most of my season ticket this year... Hoping to see defensive improvements compared to the last time I went, along with some chemistry up front. This is potentially a good time to catch Dundee and Nottingham with both of them struggling a little for form, so as you say, 4 points are there for the taking.

[hidehi]

Home Blaze make a game of it at home. Got a couple of Harringay Racers fans coming up to watch their first ever EIHL game.

[takina]

Think Notts away might bee a challenge but given their current stuttering performance it's not out of the question. A decent home performance on Sat and I think we should be looking at a win.

[Stuart Coles]

Nottingham will have had a tough few days as well - they were away last night in Braehead in their cup 1/4 final first leg. They're away Saturday down in Cardiff and then home against us on Sunday. It's always difficult in Nottingham for us, but that extra game and the travel for them is certainly in our favour.

[jen]

This Saturday is the Blaze toy collection drop toys/games off at the game.

[IX2T311]

For the first time in a while Coventry are (marginally) favourites to win, 5/4 for us and 11/8 for Dundee.

[takina]

Well I thought we totally dominated virtually all of P1, came out completely flat at start of p2 and won the second half of the game as Dundee noticeably tired. Although we dominated, I'm not convinced that overall we were really all that good, especially upfront where we had possession galore but not enough net presence to convert multiple gilt edged opportunities.
Thought the D looked much, much tighter than of late and Boutin was (for me anyway) a possible contender for my mom, as was Noble.
Up front, Marquardt couldn't score an eng if he was the only player on the ice and at times his disillusionment shone through. I thought Bergman was inspirational tonight, an absolute joy to watch and deserved more (points wise) than his 0+1

Nottingham will be a tough gig tomorrow, they hammered Cardiff 8-0 and confidence will be sky high, we'll have to be at our very best; cut out the daft diagonal transition passes in our own zone, recognise than in all probability blind passes don't work and sorry top 6 but your points contribution will need to start becoming x+ rather than o+

[villadave]

I think bergman desperately needs a goal. he is trying so hard but its just not happening for him.
was pleased to see everyone getting stuck in last night, as evidenced by the incidents leading to the clements fight where all 5 skaters were involved and sticking up for each other. we may just be coming together.
nottingscum tonight will be totally different though

[bsp]

Sounds like a cracking game, panthers 3 blaze 4 at end of second period. Gonna be a tough last period, the panthers must be bad though as even Marquardt has scored !!

[jen]

Happy with a point in Nottingham.

[pjblaze]

So close. 4-2 and 5-3 up and then a pp in OT. But i would have taken a 3 pt weekend before hand and still more than happy with one now

[takina]

Going into the game I'd have been 100% happy with a point, coming out I'm a little bit disappointed that we couldn't shut the game down with a 2 goal lead but one thing about Corey's teams is that they don't give up and fair play to them scoring twice on 2 PP opportunities in he 3rd to our 0 from 2.

On the positives, great to see Matt get a goal and to also convert on the PS - hopefully that will be the kick start he needs. Also good to see the points shared once again, Ben is proving to be a real asset I think. Overall more to be happy about than not I think and hopefully we have a team with a little more self belief and Danny can build on that during the week

[IX2T311]

Three points is a success as far as I'm concerned, this team is looking far far stronger than it has done all season, makes you wonder how we would've done if the Scottish triple header was the coming weekend instead..

Interesting point raised by the media team (?) being that on the Saturday we had 12 different players getting points from 4 goals, and on the Sunday we had 11 from 5 goals, which seems to me to be exactly what Danny wanted going into the season, having each and every line as a goal scoring threat. Glad to see Marquardt finally contributing again, though I can't help but feel disappointed for Bergman, watching him Saturday and following the game on Sunday he seems to be really in his element right now and he's not getting any statistical credit for it, hopefully that'll change come next few weekends.

All in all, I think we've finally turned this corner, but we'll need to maintain it for quite a while in order to make up for our dreadful start. If Edinburgh and Dundee win their games in hand we're 10th still, with Braehead edging 9th and Manchester a point ahead in 8th. Very tight down in the lower quartile, very tight indeed.

[fleece]

Dec 11, 2016 22:34:00 GMT IX2T311 said:

makes you wonder how we would've done if the Scottish triple header was the coming weekend instead..

I went to the Fife & Caps games , and I'm now going to Braehead this weekend, so I'm praying 'that' weekend was just a blip!

I'm certainly liking December's version of our team more than November's.

[chunk]

First off, great to see a live game again. Noble's goal was brilliantly worked - I don't know if they'd planned that in training or if it was spur of the moment, but the switch in positions with Tait was inspired. I couldn't see how Davies managed to score from the position he was in, it looked like the goalie should have had it covered? Likewise with Venus, but we missed a couple of gilt edged chances, so it balanced out I feel. Godfrey's shot is such a weapon this year - what a shame he couldn't use it last season as it could well be us travelling to Italy instead of the Panthers. Switching the lines to a balanced 4 as opposed to an obvious top line, etc, seems to have worked wonders for us. All the lines are chipping in, rather than relying on one or two for the bulk of the scoring - it's not the way I'd have gone, but fair play to Danny Stewart, as it's working at the mo.

I didn't travel to Nottingham, but getting a point is a great result, although it's not like us to lose on penalty shots. Looks like we outshot the opposition both nights too, so it seems like the confidence issue has been dealt with. 3 from 4 (and 7 from 8) is just what we needed before a tough run of games - let's keep it going now.