GAME THREAD: Steelers v Belfast Giants: LEAGUE: 18th November

[Woodsy]

For me that was an impressive performance against the reigning champions.

Dominated the first period and 3.0 was quite deserved.

Second period was an expected backs to the wall period with a 5 minute major and 5 on 3 towards the end, to come out of that 0.1 was very impressive.

Third period I thought was quite even but Belfast having to push we really capitalised and 5.1 was a fair result.

I was hoping to see Petr Cech play after an uninspired performance from Besko.

Thank you Steelers, I can't remember the last game I saw that gave me this much hope for the season ahead!

[smbmetal]

Sounds like a great game. I’ve not been able to see this one due to other commitments.

I must admit I was very pleasantly surprised to see a 5-1 scoreline as I honestly thought it would be closer than that.

Huge credit to the whole team who appear completely galvanised with the recent events.

Guess Tansey will miss Sunday’s game with the fight less than 5 minutes remaining?

Already looking forward to the highlights!

How did the new signing play?

[Bryan]

58 played OK for me. He didn’t seem to get a lot of time but he got an assist and looked comfortable

[greeny]

Enjoyed the game, greenfield really is so consistent, one of those game winning goalies and the new player did well especially for first game, seems to be a decent skater. Really like this squad of players

[paul johnston]

First period was one of the best Steelers performances in recent memory.
Allen with a dreadfully stupid major penalty when we were already on the back foot at the start of the second period was terrible from a guy with and A on his shirt.
Tansey was great, and a shout out to two unsung heroes in Diffley and Whistle.
We were far from perfect but shows the potential of this team when we win 5-1.
Outshone at home is quote unusual for us this year so far.

[DimTim]

Diffley has impressed myself.
Goes unnoticed - always a good sign for a defence man.
Rarely in the Penalty Box.
Whilst not putting up many points his +/- are positive.

[Bryan]

Reading through the posts here, I don’t think Giants were as bad as some would have it. They got off a an excellent start and were a bit deflated by our goals. Not sure Beskorawany was particularly at fault for well taken goals. Belfast were fast and looked threatening when in our zone. Greenfield was actually the busier goalkeeper at times and he played wonderfully well. Never dramatic or eye catching just solid and reliable. Going into the third with a two goal lead I didn’t feel the game was won. We had done superbly well to defend the 5 min penalty which was just clumsy from Allen. With the 5 on 3 at the end we were solid. They only managed the one gaol through that whole section of play. On balance I think it was our play that perhaps made them look poor. I thought they were always in the game.

[Doom]

The Giants actually out shot us, although I thought we did a good job of keeping the majority to the outside, whereas I thought our shots/chances were in better areas.

Looking at the stats on the Elite website we were at 1.58 expected goals based on shooting locations, whereas Belfast were at 1.36......so not much in it.

Pre game my mate brought out his usual stats and he made the point that Besko might be the Giants problem at the moment, because the actual goals conceded is a lot more than the predicted based on where shots have been taken against him.....is he carrying an injury?

I think the other possible problem with the Giants is they might not have the players to carry out Keefe's style of play. They like to play a high press and pin teams in their own zone, but that also leaves them vulnerable to the counter.

Last season they had Conway winning the faceoffs, so they immediately had the possession to carry out their tactics. Last night they only won 35% of faceoffs, so we gained possession and by good play and a slower Belfast team, we were able to break the high press time and time again.

It will be interesting to see what Belfast do next, because their defence looks weaker than last season, they need to be stronger at faceoffs and clearly Besko is struggling. ....I predict 3 or 4 changes.

Regards

Doom

[steeler pete]

The last 2 post summed Belfast up for me.

I think the difference in us is that we stayed calm, defended well and didn’t push too hard. We had an early lead and we made sure we held on to it.

A slightly weaker Belfast and a more solid Steelers made the difference.

I would’ve like to see Cech get a few minutes and tried to goad Keefe into putting him on.

[Sully]

I thought we looked really solid.

I feel Belfast came out and threw the body a fair but, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sato gets looked at for his hit on Neuvalienen. That felt reckless.

We didn’t retaliate with petulance, we didn’t go into our shell like we have in past seasons. We took the game to Belfast and really could and should have had more. I feel we had an extra gear but didn’t need to use it.

Let’s not forget, last season, we lost twice to a short benched Belfast Team.

I feel Diffley and Tansey are the players we’ve been screaming for. Diffley is such a clever DMan, very calm and thinks so far ahead.