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Post by ted on Oct 22, 2006 9:30:16 GMT
Where were you HA? hmm hmm.... part time supporters! Met The Dave. He got the train! And Cathy.... The thing is though, our game plan revolves around physical play, something we didnt seem to use last night, not necessarily fighting, but big hits. The biggest hit I saw all night was a big hip check from one of your guys. We didnt use it in France either. But thats how we have managed to win games this season, we have been a physical team who have the skill to take advantage of the opponents on the back foot. Last night though rings were skated around us
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Post by quoththeraven on Oct 22, 2006 9:42:21 GMT
What worries me about our team is that among the forwards Davie Clarke is the top goalscorer and Matt Myers the top assistant. As far as I'm concerned your Brits should be the icing on the cake not the cake itself. None of Simoes, McAslan, Petricko, Stevens or Shmyr has impressed particularly. Simoes and McAslan crash and bang, but neither has impressed me with their skill level and Shmyr appears to be a role player without a role in this league. At the moment if our opponents shut down Clarkie they shut down the Panthers. Surely it's a testament to how good Clarke is that he's the leading scorer rather than a testament to how bad the imports are? I believe Ellis deserves praise for having the confidence in his British players to give them integral roles in the team, rather than just saying to them "that bit of bench is a bit cold, would you do the honours?". He also seems to have recruited a team, rather than a bunch of individuals or having one superstar who carries the club. I'm sure you can think of your own examples. This team spirit shows - according to the Elite League website and my dodgy mental arithmetic the Panthers average more goals per game than any other team and an average result, as it were, is a 4-3 win. That must make the hockey exciting. Clarke has 11 goals out of 35, which is impressive but means the rest of the team have scored 24 - also impressive from 9 games. Couple that with the prospect of there genuinely being no easy game - Newcastle are the only team with high negative goal difference and they also have two wins - and it makes for a very interesting season. I don't want to sound like Corporal Jones, but there's no need to panic yet. The Panthers are still second in the league and if they take advantage of their three games in hand (against Manchester, Hull and Sheffield), then they could go back to the top. It is only the first loss and we are not even a quarter of the way through the season. No time like the present to get back into winning ways.
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Tambo
Jade Galbraith
Ayr Scottish Eagles gone but not forgotten
Posts: 159
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Post by Tambo on Oct 22, 2006 9:47:19 GMT
To be honest, your result last night was the last thing I wanted to see. If your team has anything to them they will come out absoutely raging against Phoenix. They have not become a bad team overnight and it won't take much to return to the form they had. Just wish you had got some sort of result, as I reckon there is going to be some sort of backlash.
To those that are coming up to our "home" in Sheffield, have a safe journey and I will see you there
Tambo
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Post by smart6 on Oct 22, 2006 9:50:33 GMT
To be honest, your result last night was the last thing I wanted to see. If your team has anything to them they will come out absoutely raging against Phoenix. They have not become a bad team overnight and it won't take much to return to the form they had. Just wish you had got some sort of result, as I reckon there is going to be some sort of backlash. To those that are coming up to our "home" in Sheffield, have a safe journey and I will see you there Tambo Bring on the Backlash
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Post by belak on Oct 22, 2006 10:11:41 GMT
I bet you are also a fan of WWE too Pretty poor reaction to be honest 5 pages almost exclusively moaning about YOUR team under performing, and making excuses, with very few recognizing that you were defeated by a better team on the night who had a game plan your team could not adapt to. It may not always be exciting to watch but at the end of the day the records will show a WIN in the Capitals column not a poor performance by the supposedly title favorites. Apologies to those posters who did acknowledge the Capitals played their own game and that was what defeated the Panthers not the Panthers own lackluster performance. To be fair, this is a fan sight primarily for Panthers' fans, so a you have to expect home bias <right or wrong>
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BIG-BAD-TONE
Ashley Tait
...win or lose have a booze
Posts: 1,893
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Post by BIG-BAD-TONE on Oct 22, 2006 10:11:51 GMT
I don't think it was a case of panthers playing badly last night I think it was more a case of Caps dominating the tempo of the game. They had a plan to close us down and stop us getting any momentum going and it worked. When we play our fast passing game there is not a team in this league that can live with us but by slowing the game down it caused our guys to make the odd mistake and give the puck away which suited the Caps counter attack game
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Smudge
Jade Galbraith
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Post by Smudge on Oct 22, 2006 10:24:37 GMT
I was slightly bemused when I read in the Evening Post on Friday that Ellis was going to change the lines around and put Clarke, Stevens and McAslan on one line and Shmyr and Simoes on another. Why change the lines that had got us to the top of the league? Surely, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I know one or two injuries messed things up a bit last night but our lines so far this season (before last night) all appeared to have that mix of skill, speed and grit which is usually the recipe for success. It seems rather odd to change that when it has served us so well so far this season. One thing that stood out for me was the lack of space Clarke got last night compared to previous games. Whether this is a reflection of the line changes or Edinburgh's play, I'm not entirely sure.
Hats off to the Caps though, especially Murphy who had a great game. Good to see from a British netminder.
Another point I want to raise is touch icing. Obviously last night we saw Myers get an injury after chasing the puck in a 'touch icing' situation. I recall on two or three occasions against Belfast players collided heavily with the boards chasing iced pucks. It seems that it's only a matter of time before a player suffers a really serious injury chasing an iced puck.
The bizarre thing for me is that, on one hand, the league are trying to discourage icing of the puck by not allowing teams to change lines when it happens yet, on the other hand, they are encouraging icing by having a touch icing rule. Hardly smacks of joined up thinking, does it.
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Post by capsbob on Oct 22, 2006 10:32:41 GMT
I have to admit the Panthers did look a bit flat last night, but it was exacerbated by the Caps gameplan and great defensive play. And it was our defense that won it for us. Both teams traded a couple of squandered PPs, but you should really be scoring on 5-on-3 situations!
I was sorry to see Myers leave the ice because it was exactly the type of injury that automatic icing was designed to prevent.
As always I choose a to get a good view of the game despite it meaning I don't get to sit with my fellow Caps fans in the away block. Anway I appreciate the friendliness of the folks I was sitting in the middle of and for putting up with my shouting!
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Post by heja on Oct 22, 2006 10:33:47 GMT
Me and Rich garunteed that this would come up, theres nothing wrong with touch icing, Myers fell over, thats all, he falls over a hell of a lot, usally into the netminder and alot of times into the boards like last night. no player touched him.
its no different to dumping the puck from the red line and two players going charging into the corner.
you want to get rid of mid ice hits too? as they are more dangerous than skating into a corner as the player usally getting mid iced never sees it coming
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Matt
Simon Hunt
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Post by Matt on Oct 22, 2006 10:47:50 GMT
if you go out and hit edinburgh and intimidate them then edinburgh will do nothing, they will not win, but last night was just like watching a bunch of euros with out and ounce of skill between them. yeah i understand why they mightof stopped hitting later on in the game eg short bench, but there were no hits all night. go out there put them off there game, run the goalie for goodness sake, do anything to make sure they get put off the game and get intimited and if they want to go after a puck they have to go in where it hurts I tend to agree with this tactic as it goes.We are a big tough,strong team.Why not play to our strengths? We had it done to our "smaller,faster"team last year and it sure as hell worked then! Pawel Kowalczyk should have been put in his place last night by Shmyr.Why didn`t he do anything? Did M.E tell our lot to not take pens against these and to try and play it like they do? A good idea maybe,but we don`t seem to have the credentials to do that,it`s not our game is it? Like someone else said,perhaps we need to stick to what we are good at? Hitting and lots of it. Drive the net Intimidation,Shmyr offered out Skiear endless times against Giants as if to say "this is my house,don`t mess".That`s his job,to protect and intimidate! Why didn`t we use his skills last night?
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Post by hitman69 on Oct 22, 2006 11:00:04 GMT
quite a flat performance all round really, no cohesion, no game plan, too many players found wanting, not enough performers, a few nerves too and the atmosphere was poor too, a big bad hangover from last weekend me thinks
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Post by Rossaldo on Oct 22, 2006 11:37:47 GMT
Caps dont have any poles Martinski...
2 Lithuanians 4 Slovaks 1 Czech - Pavel Kowalczyk 1 Slovenian 2 Canadian
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PeteW
Greg Hadden
Ageing anorak
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Post by PeteW on Oct 22, 2006 12:09:54 GMT
To be honest, your result last night was the last thing I wanted to see. If your team has anything to them they will come out absoutely raging against Phoenix. They have not become a bad team overnight and it won't take much to return to the form they had. Just wish you had got some sort of result, as I reckon there is going to be some sort of backlash. Tambo If Myers and Petricko are both missing again and Panthers are only able to ice six experienced forwards I expect a similar result as this Caps game. Too much rests on the shoulders of Clarke & McAslan. No team in our league has the depth to play short strength.
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PeteW
Greg Hadden
Ageing anorak
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Post by PeteW on Oct 22, 2006 12:23:41 GMT
I have to admit the Panthers did look a bit flat last night, but it was exacerbated by the Caps gameplan and great defensive play. And it was our defense that won it for us. Both teams traded a couple of squandered PPs, but you should really be scoring on 5-on-3 situations! Panthers 5 on 3 lasted 57 seconds from when Craig went off at 50.53 until Silverthorn returned at 51.50, but in almost a minute of 5 on 3 they should have done better. Caps 5 on 3 lasted 2 minutes and 29 seconds from when Clarke went off at 37.53 until the Caps scored at 40.22. 3 minutes of 5 on 3 should almost guarantee you a goal as the Caps showed last night.
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jazza
Pat Casey
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Post by jazza on Oct 22, 2006 12:30:00 GMT
I like some think that this is by far their worst performance of the season. I came away scratching my head, why? Corey Nielson was on a different planet, the line changes were done with no speed, as they ambled onto the ice, apathetic and with no grit. I noticed a lot of dumping the puck last night I really hope that this is not the start of that again. The guys have had a couple of days break so there is no excuse for the trash the played last night. All in all a lacklustre performance and fingers crossed for a revival tonight.
Jazza
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ScottishLeaf
Jade Galbraith
The Future's Bright, The Future's Capital
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Post by ScottishLeaf on Oct 22, 2006 12:40:22 GMT
Three points:- The Capitals are usually at our best when teams try to bully us. We simply punish the goon when he's the box by scoring goals. Then the goon will find himself benched, so all credit to Nottingham for NOT resorting to Vipers tactics.
Secondly, we don't have any Polish players. There are Scots, Lithuanians, Czechs and Slovaks but no Poles.
Lastly, if the "Brits are just the icing and not the cake itself" how do you explain Stephen Murphy and Neil Hay's contribution to the Capitals this season?? Both have been outstanding.
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Post by heja on Oct 22, 2006 12:44:46 GMT
yeah i didn't get that, get the puck under control and pass it to some one like blaz or clarke and let them get up to full speed and go stright though the middle of the caps.
it will work more times than not against the caps as they havn't go a hit between them. blaz showed that if they did it it worked more often than not.
there was no need to dump the puck in just get a head of steam up and go stright through the middle of them, yeah you might get put on your arse, but its unlikely against that team
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Post by martinski83 on Oct 22, 2006 13:03:34 GMT
Apologies on the Kowalczyk mistake.
Polish forname, Polish surname, Czech national.
Apologies.
Martin
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Higgy
Les Strongman
Posts: 5,293
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Post by Higgy on Oct 22, 2006 13:10:37 GMT
Another Continental Cup hangover? Personally, I would rather have a shot at winning our league comapred to going into a competition that we never qulaified for in the first place! I wondered how long it would take for people to start moaning about the continental cup after we lose ONE GAME!!!, we were crap tonight no doubt about it but at the end of the day its over and we move on!
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kip
Jade Galbraith
20%
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Post by kip on Oct 22, 2006 13:11:57 GMT
Bad luck to you guys but well done Caps. If your honest Caps were unlucky in their last meetings. A couple of points though. By having a Brit netminder as good as Murphy it has allowed the Caps to ice 10 import skaters. This I think is beginning to show against teams who are dependent on their Brits too much. There are very few Brits of the same standard as the imports and it also means that when they need to the Caps can ice 2 full import lines. Its ok everyone saying play the physical game against the Europeans but you got to remember that some of the Caps have been playing extraliga hockey which is of a much higher standard than our EIHL. They are fast, very skillful and very experienced players and are becoming well suited to ZT. All playing physical against these guys does is draw you a lot of penalties. This is what happened with the Vipers who spent most of their time in the box. Nope you need to think of something better than trying to bully this team into submission.
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Higgy
Les Strongman
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Post by Higgy on Oct 22, 2006 13:19:23 GMT
In all fairness i didnt think the Caps played that well...we let the play a bit and they took full advantage which is all you can ask for! Man for man i still think panthers have the better players than the Caps but we just didnt turn up, still well done to the Edinburgh you deserved to win!
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Post by heja on Oct 22, 2006 13:57:28 GMT
Bad luck to you guys but well done Caps. If your honest Caps were unlucky in their last meetings. A couple of points though. By having a Brit netminder as good as Murphy it has allowed the Caps to ice 10 import skaters. This I think is beginning to show against teams who are dependent on their Brits too much. There are very few Brits of the same standard as the imports and it also means that when they need to the Caps can ice 2 full import lines. Its ok everyone saying play the physical game against the Europeans but you got to remember that some of the Caps have been playing extraliga hockey which is of a much higher standard than our EIHL. They are fast, very skillful and very experienced players and are becoming well suited to ZT. All playing physical against these guys does is draw you a lot of penalties. This is what happened with the Vipers who spent most of their time in the box. Nope you need to think of something better than trying to bully this team into submission. you canplay physical with out puching the other player, eg finish hits etc and fore check hard all night long, if you do that you will make it extremly hard for the other team to win, even simoes wasn't hitting last night
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Post by ted on Oct 22, 2006 14:02:17 GMT
damn right, physical game isnt gooning it up.... Its hitting, hitting hard and following through on your hits. Its not some little tap against the plexi. Its not bullying.
I said in France, why should we have to resport to playing their game, we should have used the fact that in this country you can land massive hits without getting penalised (in theory) against them.
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Shaggy
Forum Moderator
Am I a cynical idealist or an idealistic cynic?
Posts: 10,995
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Post by Shaggy on Oct 22, 2006 14:12:26 GMT
damn right, physical game isnt gooning it up.... Its hitting, hitting hard and following through on your hits. Its not some little tap against the plexi. Its not bullying. I said in France, why should we have to resport to playing their game, we should have used the fact that in this country you can land massive hits without getting penalised (in theory) against them. Absolutely. I'm at a total loss as to why the Panthers hardly seemed to throw a check last night.... because so far it's looked like we've got everything that I love to see in a team - high-speed skating, goalscoring ability all over the shop .... and hard, hard (but legal) hitting. Hopefully we'll see that back again tonight at Ice Sheffield....
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kip
Jade Galbraith
20%
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Post by kip on Oct 22, 2006 14:39:23 GMT
How did the Caps brits do last night did they get on much
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