takina
Top 6 Forward
Posts: 322
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Post by takina on Feb 9, 2017 21:58:54 GMT
Something of a sinking feeling I'm afraid. Would love to be more confident but with our recent game plan of "Emulate a sieve but with bigger holes" I can't see much hope. Home loss to Cardiff, ever the optimist. a point away at Braehead? Please prove me wrong. Please.
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fleece
Third Line Grinder
Posts: 58 
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Post by fleece on Feb 10, 2017 12:22:25 GMT
Honestly can't see where a win would come from, but it would be great to get a point against Cardiff (whilst allowing them to stay ahead of the squeelers), and an away point at Braehead is always welcome, so I'm keeping fingers crossed for a 2 point weekend |
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takina
Top 6 Forward
Posts: 322
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Post by takina on Feb 10, 2017 15:57:10 GMT
Think Cardiff may have 2 imports with DOPS bans this Sat - Hotham and Bordeleau.
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Post by jen on Feb 10, 2017 21:39:08 GMT
If the team from a couple of weeks ago turn up we will be ok but if last weeks (and most of this seasons) team turn up we will be slaughtered. Sadly I fear the latter.
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Post by breezerblaze on Feb 11, 2017 9:52:27 GMT
Maybe Papa Johns should be replace with Dominoes, to be more in line with the teams performances, they both topple over.
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Post by jen on Feb 11, 2017 22:27:45 GMT
Yep, thought it might be them who turned up! (Or not turn up)
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takina
Top 6 Forward
Posts: 322
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Post by takina on Feb 11, 2017 23:08:11 GMT
my god, how embarrassing was that. Totally outplayed for the 1st 55 mins by a squad missing, Morrisette, Bordeleau and Hotham, we looked utterly shambolic. If I had my way, I'd relieve both Pease and Danny Stewart with pretty much immediate effect, I have zero confidence in either of them, I just hope the owners are equally annoyed.
Thought Klotz was worth the extra ice time - about the only physical presence we had all night. He remains one of the few players in this squad that I'd want back.
End of the season can't come quick enough, we're shockingly inept.
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takina
Top 6 Forward
Posts: 322
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Post by takina on Feb 12, 2017 9:06:18 GMT
"Do Braehead do a webcast?"
"No"
"Phew, that's good"
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fanta
Third Line Grinder
Posts: 72
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Post by fanta on Feb 12, 2017 9:48:21 GMT
As has been mentioned there are not many players I would have back. Defensively I would retain Clements and that is it. Stewart is either injured or found out or both. We need physicality and defensive awareness which none of ours do. Forwards wise again is a bit of a mess. Clearly keeping Syner and Almeida is top of the list. Import wise Liam Stewart and that's probably it. Pietrus and Jorgensen are already signed up which is a shame as both have gone off a cliff performance wise, alongside Robinson, in my opinion. Bergman I would possibly retain as it is hardly his fault he has such ineffective line mates. The only other keep for me is Ben Davies who is as underused as Klotz. How Davies gets less ice time than Venus is absolutely beyond me. Venus is, and always has been, the most over rated ice hockey player ive seen. He is woeful. Constantly gives the puck away, easily knocked off the puck and no offensive upside.
The biggest failure of this team though is the coaching set up. Stewart has baffled me season long with line choices, ice time splits and mostly comments in interviews. This isn't helped by having Pease alongside him. He should be no where the bench let alone the club as a whole. Leaving him in charge of recruitment is, as proved, a recipe for disaster. It astounds me how all the other smaller teams in the league consistently put up a good fight against the richer teams yet we roll over and submit every week.
Next season I will not make the mistake I did this time and will not renew my season ticket, a view shared by many I know from conversations. Blaze need to be very concerned about this general developing trend and address where the real issues in this club lie and how they move forward.
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Post by jen on Feb 12, 2017 10:24:46 GMT
I agree about Brian Stewart, last night I couldn't decide if he was carrying an injury or just couldn't be bothered, his body language on the bench was interesting he stood with his back to the rest of the team, although he did look to be stretching quite a lot and moving his back.
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Post by jaffacake on Feb 12, 2017 11:23:38 GMT
I just don't understand why Klotz wasn't used more. We (Devils) were two imports down so fully expected Klotz to come out hitting and generally making a nuisance of himself. I know his hockey skills are not his strongest point but I don't think that's what he was signed for.
I have been to other Blaze games not involving the Devils and wonder , If Danny is not going to use Klotz for he strengths , why have him on the squad ?
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Post by jen on Feb 12, 2017 11:37:55 GMT
I just don't understand why Klotz wasn't used more. We (Devils) were two imports down so fully expected Klotz to come out hitting and generally making a nuisance of himself. I know his hockey skills are not his strongest point but I don't think that's what he was signed for. I have been to other Blaze games not involving the Devils and wonder , If Danny is not going to use Klotz for he strengths , why have him on the squad ? We all totally agree, it's ridiculous to have him bench warming he creates space for other players when he comes out. Ben Davies is another one who is under used, a proven goal scorer so let's sit him on the bench. It's so frustrating being a blaze fan right now. |
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takina
Top 6 Forward
Posts: 322
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Post by takina on Feb 12, 2017 12:06:00 GMT
Next season I will not make the mistake I did this time and will not renew my season ticket, a view shared by many I know from conversations. Blaze need to be very concerned about this general developing trend and address where the real issues in this club lie and how they move forward. I'm undecided yet - clearly we are a shambles and I don't want to waste my money following what is little more that a humourless joke however I really enjoy hockey and can't quite contemplate sitting at home on a Sunday tea time when then a game on. I feel a trumpism coming on. Coventry Blaze, what a shame they have become what they are. BIG WASTE. |
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takina
Top 6 Forward
Posts: 322
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Post by takina on Feb 12, 2017 20:48:14 GMT
Maybe the Blaze could enter the Eurovision, we're getting pretty good at this nil points thing.
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chunk
Third Line Grinder
Posts: 178
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Post by chunk on Feb 14, 2017 10:35:12 GMT
Although not necessarily unexpected, as taking on the league leaders before travelling up to Glasgow was always going to be tough, the losses have left us in quite a precarious position. We need absolutely every point we can get from the next ten games.
Defensively we have the same issues we've had all season, so I won't go on about it too much. Against the lower end teams we can get away with it, because they tend to make as many mistakes as we do. Put us up against a structured, disciplined team though and it's a different story.
Following the Nottingham double header this weekend, we have 4 home games against Edinburgh, Manchester, Fife and Braehead interspersed with away games against the top 3. We've got to win those home games or else I don't see us making the playoffs.
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Post by villadave on Feb 15, 2017 11:44:23 GMT
not making the play-offs is probably the best thing that could happen in terms of giving the owners a shock. the last 2 post seasons have masked some serious issues. Even with a coach of chuck's calibre we have been woeful in league and cup form. a shock play-off win and a losing final make us look more competitive than we are. the D is shocking and has been awful since a certain person took responsibility for it back when thommo was still here. and the problems over-all do go back that far.
whilst crowds are doing well and off-ice the club is blooming, the pretence that we are competitive will not be addressed. Hard to ignore when you finish almost bottom of the league, are one of only 2 teams to go out of the cup in the first phase and don't even qualify for the final tournament of the season. So much harder to keep selling it to all these newbies when we are getting humped every week and the die-hards are asking serious questions.
Danny I'm not sure about. we have sucked massive balls in the last years under thommo, under 2 rookie coaches and also under the very highly rated chuck. I'm not sure the problem lies with the head coach position...we seem to maintain our slide whoever has that role. Pease has to go. I cannot see what he brings to the club other than contributing to the bloated off-ice costs we have. He is responsible for running the D and they have been consistently awful ever since he took charge with Brian making them look better than they are. Stewy is a known entity to the opposition now. they know how to beat him. Love the guy as he is a fantastic keeper but I genuinely think we need new blood now.
I would be looking to retain Almeida, Syner and Bergman along with Liam Stewart. Brits I would keep davies and clements. the rest we should be trying to upgrade on though I fear we are stuck with what we have. I want to see 3 or 4 big nasty sods at the back next year. I want any opposition forward to be on his arse the moment he crosses the blue line. I am sick and tired of us allowing teams to skate around with the freedom of the city. Why do we never put pressure on the net either? we never go to the net, screen the netty, hardly ever seem to have someone there to pick up rebounds. All things the arena teams do to us regularly as they hump us yet again...
big overhaul needed more especially behind the scenes and for the first time in many years as an ST holder, I'm really considering not renewing.
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chunk
Third Line Grinder
Posts: 178
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Post by chunk on Feb 15, 2017 13:16:48 GMT
a shock play-off win and a losing final make us look more competitive than we are. the D is shocking and has been awful since a certain person took responsibility for it back when thommo was still here. and the problems over-all do go back that far. I've read this a lot, but is Peasey definitely in charge of the defence?! If this is the case then with the D being as shocking as it is, surely any head coach would've told Peasey to switch duties, taken over, offered more guidance or done something rather than just leave it alone to destroy our season? I'm not saying that we should definitely keep Peasey, just that I've no idea what he does; but either way he shouldn't be the scapegoat for the head coach. Peasey said Danny was the man for now and for the future, so he put his head on the block when he said that. If Danny's not the man any more then how can Peasey stay in a position that allows him to make those statements on behalf of the club? It's worth noting the D was never this big an issue under Chuck - it was more that we were struggling with scoring goals. I'm not sure the playoff win was that big a shock either - we'd won 12 out of 16 league games going into the Quarter finals and the four we had lost were by no more than 2 goals. We hit on some great form at the right time. Last season was more surprising that we made the final, but we were still 6 from 9 going into the QF and we'd won 6 from 10 games against Sheffield, so we always had a good chance of making the semis. This year, I don't see us making it to Nottingham purely based on our record against the top 3 - we've won 2 against Cardiff and Belfast, whilst we've lost the lot against Sheffield in all competitions. Basically we need something miraculous to happen. |
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chunk
Third Line Grinder
Posts: 178
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Post by chunk on Feb 15, 2017 13:40:59 GMT
I'm going on a bit now, which I don't like, especially when it sounds like I'm leading a witch hunt against Danny Stewart, but when you look back at Lefebvre's record from when he was in charge, which was before we had all the off-ice changes brought in as part of Chuck's regime, before the crowd numbers and sponsorship went up, and following a trophy drought, it's not good reading for Danny. Marc averaged about 43% wins, which is not far off Chuck's, or Thommo's last season (approx. 46%), where as Danny's almost 10% below that. I understand that Danny is a cheaper option than a Chuck, so we can spend more on the players - but does it add up, are we spending the budget in the right areas?
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