GDT: POFW (2nd & 3rd April)

[Yotes]

Saturday April 2nd
Semi-Finals



Game Notes 0-4, 0-1, 2-1. Fournier and Haddad for Cardiff. Bruton (3), Robinson, Tanaka and Godfrey for Coventry. Game Sheet.



Game Notes 0-0, 2-0, 2-1. Clarke, MacMillan, Moran and Mosey for Nottingham. Dingle for Fife. Panthers missing Dimmen. Madolora the healthy scratch. Game Sheet.

---

Sunday April 3rd
3 v 4



Game Notes 3-0, 2-0, 1-0. Piggott (2), Russell, Jones (2) and Morissette with the unanswered goals for Cardiff. Game Sheet.

Final



Game Notes 1-0, 0-0, 1-0. Schultz and Quick for Panthers. Panthers missing Dimmen. Madolora the healthy scratch. Game Sheet.

Nottingham Panthers win the 2015/16 Elite League Play Offs.

[kievthegreat]

Is this included in the Broadmarsh parking offer?

[BigLad]

FAO Mods:

@nphockeylive coverage for the weekend will be as follows:

SATURDAY
Cardiff v Coventry - @nphockeylive2
Nottingham v Fife - @nphockeylive

SUNDAY
Game involving Panthers - @nphockeylive
Game not involving Panthers - @nphockeylive2

[Yotes]

Cheers BigLad , URL changed in the header.

[John Casey]

Well we made it, Cardiff VS Coventry should be very interesting. Cardiff must be cursing their luck as they probably think they have the harder game even though Coventry are the lowest seeds. Lets hope for Overtime and Penalty Shots.

Before The Play Off Quarter Finals line-up was made official, there were posts stating that we would we would have wanted Fife instead of Belfast. Now we've got them so hopefully no slip ups there. Can not believe that we will be the designated home team for this one. Like the Sheffield VS Hull Semi-Final from last year, Only The Panther fans will want The Panthers to win but I'm guessing that Panther fans will certainly be in fine voice.

Should The Panthers win, I honestly do not know who I would want to face, Cardiff certainly aren't the team they were whereas Coventry are very likely to pull off a performance like they did against Sheffield in the Grand Final last year especially Brian Stewart, who would likely love to get one over The Panther fans for all the "It's all your fault" chants.

I also think that The Panther fans will more than likely congratulate The Steelers for their most recent achievement, being the 1st team not to qualify for Play-Off Week-End as Champions.

[PantherG]

I don't think the Fife game will be easy at all and is by no means the easiest of the draws. The Flyers played outstanding hockey at the weekend to oust Braehead and gained begrudging respect from the coach and the fans alike. I think both semi's will go down to the wire and I have no idea who will face off at 4pm on Sunday.

Hope Corey has the guys well drilled and gets rid of any potential complacency, in the last three matches, two of them have gone into overtime, one home and one away and they also smashed us in December up in Fife. I also understand that Fife have the second best PP unit in the league, so this will be one hell of a game! They've beaten all the big teams this year and will have massive support inside the NIC, especially if they get ahead...

[kezypanther]

I'll be honest, when we drew Giants I was expecting to make it to the finals so anything else is a bonus.

Think both games will be exciting though so should make a great weekend regardless of results.

[titch]

Easy win for the Panthers in the semi final - Fife had to play the game of their lifes JUST to beat Braehead who had a shockingly bad performance in both legs. I would rather face Devils in the final than Coventry, that's for sure. Saying that, Coventry are similar to Panthers in that they are inconsistent, they can pull off an amazing performance one week and be terrible the next.

I'm going for a Panthers vs Devils final. If the GOOD Panthers turn up, we will most probably walk away with the trophy too.

[block9]

Got to say this is a bonus in my mind but by heck I

[block9]

I shall continue.. I aim to enjoy this weekend more so we have made it and not them up the M1..i think the chorus to this song sums it up...

[harlan]

Mar 29, 2016 6:37:04 GMT titch said:

Easy win for the Panthers in the semi final - Fife had to play the game of their lifes JUST to beat Braehead who had a shockingly bad performance in both legs. I would rather face Devils in the final than Coventry, that's for sure. Saying that, Coventry are similar to Panthers in that they are inconsistent, they can pull off an amazing performance one week and be terrible the next.

I'm going for a Panthers vs Devils final. If the GOOD Panthers turn up, we will most probably walk away with the trophy too.

And of course you were at both Fife/Braehead games to see if Clan played badly or not? FYI they did not and there was absolutely nothing between Flyers and Clan, the team that wanted it more won out and both games were absolutely fantastic edge of the seat, nerve wracking play off hockey. If Clan had gone through they would have had to play the game of their lives to beat us, they didn't. Flyers didn't have to play the game of our lives for the 7 times we beat Clan this season so it wasn't really a surprise that we have got to the POFW.
The Flyers/Clan games was play off hockey at it's best

Panthers in the semi final is the game Flyers wanted too, we haven't played at all well against Giants this season, but against Panthers we have matched up really well with one game won each in regulation and Panthers taking the two OT games although I thought Flyers should have won the OT game in Nottingham.

This is probably the first POFW where their isn't an out an out favourite IMO as any of the four teams can win it, they have all beaten each other, so all will go into the weekend with confidence which should make it a good weekend of hockey

[randomfifer29]

Mar 29, 2016 6:37:04 GMT titch said:

Easy win for the Panthers in the semi final - Fife had to play the game of their lifes JUST to beat Braehead who had a shockingly bad performance in both legs. I would rather face Devils in the final than Coventry, that's for sure. Saying that, Coventry are similar to Panthers in that they are inconsistent, they can pull off an amazing performance one week and be terrible the next.

I'm going for a Panthers vs Devils final. If the GOOD Panthers turn up, we will most probably walk away with the trophy too.

Did you actually watch both games? I'd love to see any other team put more than 4 past an on fire Chris Holt. Braehead weren't terrible, it was a hard fought pair of games and the first game really came down to discipline and hard work. I guess you haven't seen your results against us this season, two wins for you in OT/SO, and we've both won in regulation 5-2, sounds like an easy tie then. Flyers aren't a pushover and complacency like that will lose you the tie. If it does go to a Devils v Panthers final, that trophy will have 'Cardiff Devils' written on it, they're bound to be favourites. Of course you actually need to get to the final first...

[Bagheera]

There is a huge similarity between the patern of Coventrys season last year and this year. Started poorly in both and peaking at the right time. A coach that has worked out that they may struggle to compete for the league so sets up for play offs. I predicted Coventry for Playoffs just after we won the CC. I still think they will find a way to the final but now hope my prediction is wrong. To be fair even if we are not in the final im sure we'll all be routing for Fife also.

Our game with Fife will be tough. They only missed out on the Gardener because Clan got to play a Caps team that were a joke at the end of the season. Aswell as a Manchester team the week before whos form fell of a cliff pretty much as they lost Didi.
I still think that if Panthers turn up and play at the peak of their powers it will be a comfortable 2 or 3 goal win but Fife won't make it easy. If we have 10mins off we could find ourselves in trouble.

Panthers v Blaze final.

Panthers to win it.

Lacho to score the winner

[Deleted]

Recommend to the Fife fans that they ignore Titch's posts..... Better for your sanity.

We have a real tough semi against Fife, anyone thinking otherwise hasn't the foggiest about the sport imo.

[Pies]

With my mod hat on, I would say all posters have a right to an opinion.

Personally, anyone who writes the flyers off does so at their peril. They'll be up for this no doubt about it. We need to play at our best. It's a one off game and anything can happen.

[Nemesis]

Well done on making the weekend. I'm sure the league was pooing bricks at the possibility of you and us not being there. Has that ever happened?
It's going to be tight, I think you and Devils make the final.
Remember to come see me and my sellers, get your 50/50 tickets and see if we can break last years record prizes. Would be nice to go home with a trophy and 5K in your pocket wouldn't it?

[shmyrohdear]

Mar 29, 2016 9:41:54 GMT Nemesis said:

Well done on making the weekend. I'm sure the league was pooing bricks at the possibility of you and us not being there. Has that ever happened?
It's going to be tight, I think you and Devils make the final.
Remember to come see me and my sellers, get your 50/50 tickets and see if we can break last years record prizes. Would be nice to go home with a trophy and 5K in your pocket wouldn't it?

Has GM hacked your account Nem? That last line was uncanny

[The Flying Shirt]

POFW if both the Steelers and the Panthers didn't qualify...

[EMB]

I wouldnt write Fife off soo easily, they almost got through to the final last year. If we take them lightly we will lose.

[thebestpanthers]

Mar 29, 2016 9:56:19 GMT shmyrohdear said:

Mar 29, 2016 9:41:54 GMT Nemesis said:

Well done on making the weekend. I'm sure the league was pooing bricks at the possibility of you and us not being there. Has that ever happened?
It's going to be tight, I think you and Devils make the final.
Remember to come see me and my sellers, get your 50/50 tickets and see if we can break last years record prizes. Would be nice to go home with a trophy and 5K in your pocket wouldn't it?

Has GM hacked your account Nem? That last line was uncanny

Good seats still availlllllllllllable - in Steelers block anyway

[Nemesis]

Mar 29, 2016 10:31:44 GMT thebestpanthers said:

Mar 29, 2016 9:56:19 GMT shmyrohdear said:

Has GM hacked your account Nem? That last line was uncanny

Good seats still availlllllllllllable - in Steelers block anyway

Sold out mate.
There are few people selling, but not many yet.

[Yotes]

Mar 29, 2016 10:30:19 GMT EMB said:

I wouldnt write Fife off soo easily, they almost got through to the final last year. If we take them lightly we will lose.

Was 'Ull who almost made it last year wasn't it?

I'd expect us to get the better of Fife, but if we drop off we'll lose. They should've beaten us at the NIC earlier in the year, that game where we were 0-2, got a PS (luckily on Bohmbach), and Brown ended up helping the equalizer in at his near post. Won on shots in the end. But we were terrible in that game, I wouldn't expect us to be that bad in a PO semi final.

The other one could go either way, but I think Coventry will win.

[EMB]

Good old Blaze, what a dark horse they are, built for the playoffs, watch Stewy stand on his head. If they get through they are going to be a hard one to beat.

[Nemesis]

While Valabik is playing there's always plenty of man advantage opportunities.
I just hope to god the meatball doesn't give us a repeat of the Sjogren incident, he tried more than once at our place Sunday.

[PantherB]

Expecting the Blaze-Devils game to be physical, Blaze would be doing a good thing if they scratch Valabik, if Quesnele is healthy and able to return. I'd expect Stewart to get a lot of abuse from every other team's fans, could take him off his game. It'll certainly be a great game to watch, see if Cardiff can get a bit of consistency and settle themselves down after nearly being upset by Dundee, and throwing the league away.

As for Panthers-Fife, can't see anything but a very close, tough game there, Fife have been one of those teams who can beat anyone and make teams pay for their mistakes. Panthers' defence needs to be on form for this and minimise the number of turnovers and allow Wiikman to see the shots coming at him.

Looking forward to what should be a great weekend of hockey, it's brilliant to have Panthers back in the Finals Weekend!