Off Game thread Panthers v Steelers - Sun 31st Oct

[Sussex Panther]

Yes, and for more than two lines of commentary

[heja]

McKenna look preety good, both on D (where he played most of the game because i think Magdosko is injured again) and forward.

he looks very strong. good BIG BIG check to open the game with from McKenna

do you think we could possibly do a trade with Pittsburgh. here is the proposal

Krulis for McKenna?

panthers never looked like losing and cruickshank should of got MOM , but didn't AGAIN ;D

Ivan skated off stright away not looking happy

Also probably one of the best atmosphere the NIC has seen at a hockey game

[masked_man]

Good atmosphere and a good game of hockey, didn't play amazing but was the better team.

Thank you to the one man band in block 12/11 i think for the endless Nottingham song!

[James]

Tim Krulis was (in your words) 'total poo poo' tonight wsn't he

Thought we played well tonight but should have taken some more of our chances, thought Jayme Platt played well tonight.

Well impressed with McKenna, especially after that first hit followed by him laughing at the entire Steelers line.

Cruickshank and Ricci played fantastic. I thought everyone played well TBH.

[KimThePanther]

Reasonable game I felt, we managed to beat them without ever needing to get out of third gear but I thought it was a good all round team performance tonight. Special mentions to Ricci (again) and Cruickshank (again)

I think we should have taken a few more of the chances we were given but beating the Steelers is good by any scoreline. ;D

How tall is McKenna? I'm suprised the Steelers players didn't try to skate under his legs. ;D I think we're onto a winner with him (in the short term anyway).

Good atmosphere tonight too.

Well done Panthers. ;D

[clarky49]

btw there were assists to david clarke and calle carlson on the last panthers goal

[Heanor Lair]

Err....., I thought Panthers were a 'Rudderless Ship' and theres supposed to be 'Trouble t'mill'

If thats the case long may it continue ;D ;D

HL

[Helen]

Wow.

What a game !

It had everything (bar a fight )...speed, skill, grit, good fans, a healthy rivalry, a committed and passionate TEAM, and of coruse a Panthers win

Some random thoughts...

- Cruicks once again made me suspect he may be God in disguise. Pure class, simple as.

- Though I felt Cruicks deserved MoM, Ricci had a very good game at the back.

- Caddy finally showed us why we were so desperate to have him back

- Wojciak did very well with regular shifts - all the Brits played well.

- JC IMHO he did nothing.

- Mad dog got hit by a check which knocked the stuffing out of him ! I assume that's why he left the ice, hope he's OK.

- Ivan seemed quiet tonight...but having said that he was looking for a goal (and a fight!) all night. And what was up at the end ?

[Edit : Now I've had my tea I can add more !!]

- Kimmy looked much sharper than he has done

- Calle had another great game, has the captaincy woken him up or what.

- HOW awful are the Steelers jerseys?!

- Carson reffed well I thought, although all the officials seemed to miss more offsides than I've seen hockey games!

- What can I say about the final piece of the jigsaw? Steve McKenna. Class act or what?! He's just so big ! He skates through the opposition as if they aren't even there, throws massive checks....one of which resulted in comedy moment of the night, all five Steeler players rushing up to complain to him (about a perfectly legal hit : only to skate away meekly after a mere look from McKenna! He did well up front and on defence, and just seems like an all round great guy.



Fair enough to those who think JC did well, not sure I saw it, but maybe it was just where I was sitting giving me a bad view

[Samxpenguin]

Thought it was a good game, Panthers seem in control for most of the game. And personally, i couldn't see Steelers coming back into it and winning (and i usually can). We played well tonight, we wern't amazing but we played as a team. Every player had a decent game, no one was left out of it.

Mr Carson did a nice job tonight, didn't seem to notice him too much. Infact, i think some of the Steelers fans may say he was slightly biased . They looked even more mortified when i told them Carson was ref than Panthers fans did.

I thought Clarke should have got MoM, he was awsome. He never gives up, he's always full on and his talented is shining through. If only it had gone in when he knee'd it then volleyed it-that would have been impressive. And didn't Krulis's goal come off him?

Mckenna seemed very good, quite relaxed though. He didnt half give out soem big hits, and when people tried to hit him back....well he didn't budge. Another thing i noticed, How fast and straight are his passes, a couple of times players couldn't deal with them as they were so fast. You can tell he's played in the NHL, his reactions are so quick, he gets the puck and releases it so quickly into a good position.

Cruishanks as always, brilliant....one of those saves he made when the Steelers player came round the net was amazing. Also thought Ricci, Alrhoos, Ivan played very well.

First time i've seen Steelers this season and they looked a long way off any team of past. Not as quick, they didn't seem to work as a team as they used too, but all this insulting of Platt i've heard-I thought he played fairly well.

Have to say it did lack something....and good old fashion fisticuffs, wanted Mckenna to deal out a beating. Although it looked more likely to be Ivan, he was wound up.

[Heanor Lair]

Helen said:

- JC IMHO he did nothing.

Beg to differ with you Helen

He put an incredible effort in tonight, the Steelers D were chasing shadows when he was on the ice. The amount of space he created was fantastic, and some of the little flicks and 1 touch puck movements were worth the entrance money alone.

This is the Craighead I like.

When was the last time Craighead took 0 Pims in a Panthers v Steelers game??

Regards

Paul

[Admin]

THAT's the team I've invested all this time and money in ... THAT's the kind of hockey I enjoy watching ... well done TEAM.

Okay, still a little rough around the edges, but a strong spirited team performance .... and we were the better team on the night. (Which, incidentally is why we won, nothing to do with Carson - that comment for the Sheffield muppets, you know who you are )

Cruickshank - amazing as ever ... some class saves.

McKenna - You gotta love him, a real work horse and play maker. Great communication from thee back getting people into place up front ...

Wojciak - Best game so far for him - he was working his butt off and had some great moments, shame he didn't score - despite McKenna setting him up when he could have taken the shot himself.

Everyone else - Great stuff, a cohesive team unit on the whole.

Lets keep it up!

One last comment - Andy Carson - His first time at our barn since THAT Coventry game last season ... I must say I thought he played fair and kept the game flowing well.

After the nightmare of Friday it's nice to end the weekend on a high. There's still a long way to go, but tonight .... I'm a happy Panther

[Samxpenguin]

Helen said:

Wow.

- Caddy finally showed us why we were so desperate to have him back

- Wojciak did very well with regular shifts

- JC IMHO he did nothing.

- Mad dog got hit by a check which knocked the stuffing out of him ! I assume that's why he left the ice, hope he's OK.

- Ivan seemed quiet tonight...but having said that he was looking for a goal (and a fight!) all night. And what was up at the end?

Agree with you on Caddote, he seemed to want it mroe than he has so far this season and thing were working for him (same applys to Alrhoos)

I think JC played well, nothing exeptional but he seemed to be chasing quite alot. He put in effort and we really would miss him if he wasn't there. And also he was playing ona line with Wojack and Myers, who may be good players but there not the skillful creative types which are more likely to make JC look good.

Kalmikov....i see so much potential in him, but it just doesnt always come off

[girdeaux]

Heanor said:

Beg to differ with you Helen

He put an incredible effort in tonight, the Steelers D were chasing shadows when he was on the ice. The amount of space he created was fantastic, and some of the little flicks and 1 touch puck movements were worth the entrance money alone.

This is the Craighead I like.

When was the last time Craighead took 0 Pims in a Panthers v Steelers game??

Regards

Paul

That's good to hear Paul, hopefully he's on a return to the form he showed last season

[clarky49]

agree with you hl craigers did a lot better tonight lets hope he keeps it

[Alf Garnett]

I think a mention for Andy Carson is merited.He called a near faultless game IMO,letting the game flow where possible and calling enough penalties to keep a lid on things.AC has previously been much maligned on here(and to be fair a lot of it was justifyable).

Now to the business end of things.

Cracking game,best game I've seen for a long while.As Helen said it had almost everything.

McKenna - What can you say,just oozed class.

Curtis - Solid and dependable again with a couple of top-drawer saves.

Clarke - Must have been a close runner up for MoM. 1+2 in a game where his team only scored 3.Quality.

Ricci - Good game.

Carlsson - As above.

Most of all the whole side looked like they wanted to play as a team,and worked their socks off.

Sheffield huffed and puffed but rarely threatened Curtis' goal.They certainly don't look much better than average on that showing.

Just a final word on Steelers jerseys,

AWFUL ;D

[James]

Heanor said:

Beg to differ with you Helen

He put an incredible effort in tonight, the Steelers D were chasing shadows when he was on the ice. The amount of space he created was fantastic, and some of the little flicks and 1 touch puck movements were worth the entrance money alone.

This is the Craighead I like.

When was the last time Craighead took 0 Pims in a Panthers v Steelers game??

Regards

Paul

Agreed

[girdeaux]

Andyblath said:

Just a final word on Steelers jerseys,

AWFUL ;D

Can anyone provide a photo of it, as I've heard lots of comments about it...

[Higgy]

Great game i thought, Panthers never really looked like losing but should have been more i think, Curtis didnt have much to do really, but when he did, bloody hell he did it well.
Atmosphere well i thought it was pretty quiet from the panthers fans, i was in block 17 and could hardly hear our chants down there, sheffield were much louder for most of game i thought, but anyway we won!

[James]

Andyblath said:

Just a final word on Steelers jerseys,

AWFUL ;D

That reminds me, why did Steelers play the enitre match in their warm up jerseys? ;D

[grayhead]

Much better performance from the Panthers tonight. Although got a little concern by the way we sat back in the 3rd and let Steelers come at us. Exactly what we did last year and lost a 5 goal lead.
McKenna - had a very good solid home debut. As said before, he made some excellent checks. Several things impressed me about him:
1. His positional play. Always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
2. Superb passing, both long passes and deft touches via skate or stick
3, Attitude was excellent. Played hard and was constantly encouraging players around him. He also played the whole game with a smile on his face - he was loving every minite of it.
Did anyone else notice during face-offs, he was 'bopping' to the arena music - he was almost headbanging to 'Rocking all over the world' ;D

[Cookies]

Grayhead said:

Much better performance from the Panthers tonight. Although got a little concern by the way we sat back in the 3rd and let Steelers come at us. Exactly what we did last year and lost a 5 goal lead.
McKenna - had a very good solid home debut. As said before, he made some excellent checks. Several things impressed me about him:
1. His positional play. Always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
2. Superb passing, both long passes and deft touches via skate or stick
3, Attitude was excellent. Played hard and was constantly encouraging players around him. He also played the whole game with a smile on his face - he was loving every minute of it.
Did anyone else notice during face-offs, he was 'bopping' to the arena music - he was almost headbanging to 'Rocking all over the world' ;D

I agree, he seemed to be really enjoying himself, I saw him bopping too ;D

McKenna did all the little things well, seemed a natural on defence and looked what he is: a very, very good player at this level...

No questions about his attitude after that first check, does anyone know who the unfortunate steeler was?

Nice to see him organising the other players out on the ice.

If only we could keep him....

Oh..., and Craighead played much better

And very glad to see Scott Ricci finally getting the recognition he should have had a fair few games ago..

Mckenna & Ricci... What a defensive Partnership ;D

[Helen B]

1. we were rubbish

2. carson was even worse

3. you beat us up in the 1st

4. we did not turn up after that

5. mckenna is nothing special

[DoUrden]

Gazzamundo said:

I'll sit on the fence & go for a draw tonight, 2-2 or 3-3. I REALLY hope the Panthers that played Cardiff turn up & not the excuse for a team that played Belfast on Tuesday. Don't expect too much from McKenna. Ask yourself,
Is he here temporarily - YES
Is he coming back from injury - YES
Is he playing for peanuts - YES
Is he looking to avoid further injury - YES
I know, I know he's 6 miles high & built like a brick h41te house, but I have my doubts about the commitment of the NHLers coming over here to see Europe & play a bit of hockey at the same time. Having said that, I'd love it if he proved me wrong, especially tonight.

Yes all that lot could be true but it's also worth considering that to these NHL players this may well be 'less important' for them as in the NHL but that just means they have less pressure on them to perform and can just go out there and ENJOY playing their hockey, which in turn can often lead to them playing better if they are enjoying it and don't have the pressure on their shoulders.

[Admin]

Helen said:

1. we were rubbish

2. carson was even worse

3. you beat us up in the 1st

4. we did not turn up after that

5. mckenna is nothing special

[DoUrden]

Helen said:

1. we were rubbish

2. carson was even worse

3. you beat us up in the 1st

4. we did not turn up after that

5. mckenna is nothing special

1) True

2) Just because he didn't hand you the game like normal and played fair doesn't mean he was rubbish.

3) How did we beat you up? There was only about 2 roughing calls in the whole game and I believe they were both for you!

4) you didn't really turn up in the first period either let alone the other two.

5) I won't reply to #5 cause everyone can see the jealously ooozing out of your post.