GAME THREAD: Steelers v. Storm. Sat, 14th March.

[Mart]

Storm crossing the Pennines.

[JoeySlats#13]

We need to win our 4 games split between Storm and Stars to have any chance of the league on the final day against the Devils - and that's with some HUGE favours from others on Cardiff.

We certainly aren't out of it yet, it's extremely tight at the top of the table and of course the playoff push towards the bottom will make every game a struggle for everyone. We only have Cardiff to play out of the other top 5 teams, whereas the others have 4 games against each other, apart from Blaze who have 3 - makes for a very exciting and tense ending to the league season.

Hopefully we can win out and get some favours from others along the way and win the league however, we will definitely not want to slide far from the top as there are some very difficult playoff quarter finals on the horizon. Flames look to be set in 6th so they would play whoever comes 3rd, wouldn't be the worst but we all know how difficult it is to beat them at home. Then 4th and 5th would face each other which could be any 2 from us, Panthers, Giants & Blaze, this would pose the highest obvious threat to whoever lands in those positions, whilst whoever finishes second will face either the Storm, Stars or Clan, who will all pose their own legitimate threat but are not on the same level as the other potential teams we could face.

Hoping we can keep the momentum and style we showed on Sunday and put a real marker down against a potential playoff quarter final fixture opponent in the Storm, I would expect us to have the same lineup as on Sunday, although it could be an opportunity to maybe get Liwing some game time at D if we have any tiredness or knocks from the weekend. I would certainly expect Sunday's cup final team to be the same on Sunday in Manchester, I think Kolehmainen could be very effective in that rink with his size and physicality.

I think we will have too much for them and get a convincing 6-1 win after the confidence gained from yesterday's game!

[Mart]

Both Manchester and Dundee will be hunting for points in their bid to finish in the top eight for a play-off place. So, none of those games are going to be easy.

Dundee with one game in hand over Manchester, theoretically puts them both on the same points.

Hmmm, anything could happen.

[JoeySlats#13]

Both Manchester and Dundee will be hunting for points in their bid to finish in the top eight for a play-off place. So, none of those games are going to be easy.

Dundee with one game in hand over Manchester, theoretically puts them both on the same points.

Hmmm, anything could happen.

Definitely, the playoff push and we're in the middle of it

[SteelerBlade]

All we can control is winning out, it's still mathematically possible.

I feel the Cardiff game will be dead rubber as the Devils will have lifted the trophy by then.

Think this game depends on if Trončinský is in a fit state to ice

[JoeySlats#13]

All we can control is winning out, it's still mathematically possible.

I feel the Cardiff game will be dead rubber as the Devils will have lifted the trophy by then.

Think this game depends on if Trončinský is in a fit state to ice

every game has a huge impact on who we face in 1/4's of playoffs too, I would want to avoid Flames, Giants, Blaze and Panthers if possible

[NinjaBreadMark]

All we can control is winning out, it's still mathematically possible.

I feel the Cardiff game will be dead rubber as the Devils will have lifted the trophy by then.

Think this game depends on if Trončinský is in a fit state to ice

every game has a huge impact on who we face in 1/4's of playoffs too, I would want to avoid Flames, Giants, Blaze and Panthers if possible

Absolutely, if we hang on to at least 2nd place, there's a good chance it would be Glasgow or Manchester, both we have a good record against... any lower and really could be any of Guildford/Coventry/Giants/Panthers.

One thing in our favour, is that other than the final game of the season when we play Cardiff, we don't play any of the top half of the table, whereas all those in contention still have to play each other and take points away from each other! (hopefully in a favourable way for the Steelers!)

[SteelerBlade]

We're going to have to beat good teams to win the playoffs though. We'll have to beat Cardiff somewhere to lift that.

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

[JoeySlats#13]

We're going to have to beat good teams to win the playoffs though. We'll have to beat Cardiff somewhere to lift that.

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oh absolutely, but I would much rather play others first and hope someone knocks the other 'top' teams out

[Sully]

I don’t like games like this. We’re parading the trophy and Storm will be there to spoil the party. How many times have our opponents ended up ruining the show in a presentation evening?