Steelers v Flyers :GAME THREAD : Sat 16th Dec

[Brian]

Well I enjoyed it and if we all don't go because of the quality of the opposition , there is no team .

[Nathan]

Well it is a win, made hard work of it though, credit to a short benched fife, would like us to get back to the early few games of the season type hockey where we had that physical edge

Just looked at the player stats, Fife only had one less player than us so not that short benched I guess?

I do think losing Petgrave then Jones has unbalanced our defence even if we do have the numbers overall. I'd much rather have Shudra up front with the form he was in.

Our D is better without Petgrave imo.

[Doom]

I guess if your definition of a barnstormer is lot's of goals then this qualifies, but for me it wasn't a barnstormer, although I did enjoy the game more than I thought I would.

We'll certainly need to step things up defensively during the Christmas period, because if we play like we did against Fife our lead at the top will soon disappear.

I don't think we'll see Petgrave again, but if we do for me he walks into our team as our number one defenceman. He was comfortably top of our +/- last season and I think he was top again before the horrible incident with Johnson.

Is there a case for Simpson moving up the lines? He's strong at faceoffs and keeps picking up goals here and there despite limited ice time on the 4th line. Perhaps try him between Dowd and Balmas and drop Vally down on to the 4th?

Regards

Doom

[paul johnston]

Mm hard to know what to make of it. The intensity and physicality has gradually gone out of our game, and our d 6 balance is way out currently with the loss of petgrave and Jones. I'm not sure Vinnell coming into the line up at the expense of Neva(for me the only import d to consider benching) or one of the forwards will help on that score, but some rotstion will help with the crazily busy schedule we have over the next couple of weeks.
The middle 6 continues to struggle and whilst both Whistle and Simpson contunue to outshine them Fox doesn't look like he will try them with a regular linemate or move them up the lines.
We do need to be much more solid and play with a higher intensity.
Greenfield's levels have dropped off a bit too over the last few weeks letting in a few he would want back. Hopefully very temporary.

[Brian]

I think Fife deserve credit for a good road game strategy and they certainly knew how to convert their chances. Their coach knows the game inside out having spent time in the NHL .

[Doom]

Fife play Cardiff tonight, so maybe that will give us a better indication as to whether we've made hard work of a poor team or Fife are better than some of us give them credit for.

Hopefully the latter.

Regards

Doom

[smbmetal]

Well I enjoyed it and if we all don't go because of the quality of the opposition , there is no team .

Very true, but not everyone can afford to go to every game. So choosing between Fife or the Cardiff game on the 23rd of December for example, there’s only one winner for me and it isn’t a game against bottom of the league.

[19Steelers]

Was expecting a walk over but it was entertaining if not high quality. Niggle from me - Cormier has been with us for a number of weeks but apparently we have not been able to take a photo of him for the opening sequence when players come onto the ice or when he earns a point/goal. Maybe it isn’t worth it because he is not staying long. Hope that is not the case. I have been impressed. Come on Steelers let’s get a bit more professional and build his image into the video. Not that hard is it and it shows a lack of respect.

[Jayboy]

I've been banging on about teams in the EIHL this season to anyone who will listen... I really do think some fans expect to much... as a example my lad brought along his mate to this game and I overheard him telling him we would demolish Fife, I had to put him right and explain a few things! for a start the bottom five teams have just 4/5 points between them a couple of wins and losses puts any one of them mid pack! Then you look at the top 5 and it's a similar story they have 6/7 points from top down to 5th.. over Christmas you could lose a couple and your fighting team that were bottom a few week back.. this top versus bottom is utter nonsense to me, every team can win or lose on any given night especially if one has an off night or has injury problems and the other is on a good run of form....

[mark]

I've been banging on about teams in the EIHL this season to anyone who will listen...

Me too Jay, if you are just a little off your game you are likely to lose. Although there was a Fife fan on Facebook claiming the only reason they were bottom is because of poor refereeing, probably that part where they point at the Fife net and signal another goal against them....