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Cardiff are the real deal
I like to avoid penning my thoughts too soon after a game as things always seem a little different after the adrenalin levels return to normal, especially after a loss. This Saturday was no different and despite sitting in the local at 11pm on Saturday pondering the negatives I am in a more reflective, perhaps positive mood on this bright Lancashire afternoon.
First things first I was impressed with Cardiff, they are, as Rick Strachan suggested on Saturday, ‘the real deal’. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Cardiff side I felt were equipped to play well on the road as well as in their intimidating home rink but they might just have found the formula for success with this roster.
Great following from the Devils fans as well, that’s exactly what we want to see at the NIC, big away followings and good natured banter. There will always be pockets of people who go too far, on both sides, but on the whole we should see Saturday’s huge attendance of over 5200 as testament to the fans from both sides that continue to support this great sport.
Of course, on Saturday, Voth was a chicken and Finnerty his usual infuriating self but let’s be honest we’d all be lauding their performances if the skates were on the other foot. From time to time I still feel Panthers need to learn more discipline and not get drawn into penalties by the likes of Brad and Ryan, it’s about knowing when to show some restraint.
It was a tightly contested game, one that was immensely more exciting than the 6-4 games our owner cites as being ‘a good, fun product’. Yes, we all like winning games and crashing in the goals but Saturday was an engrossing contest between two evenly matched sides. If you’re asking me what, as a hockey fan, I’d rather see then it’s a game akin to that on Saturday every single time.
Simmsey reckons we need Galbraith to beat the top sides. I don’t think it’s as clear cut as that. It’s a damn site more difficult without him, no doubt, but then surely that goes without saying? I dare say Pittsburgh find it a lot more difficult to win without Crosby, likewise Washington without Ovechkin. Make no mistake, losing Jade for any significant part of the season massively harms our chances of success, he is the most creative player in the league, has that knack of making things happen; not to mention he was sorely missed in the penalty shots that ensued on Saturday evening.
The powerplay still worries me. Corey could do much worse then watch some DVDs of what Ben Simon orchestrates with the man advantage up the road. Crisp passing, move the keeper from post to post, use the space and find the shooting lane. Too often our powerplay looks slow, predictable and lazy – especially without Jade’s puck control to provide that spark to make something out of nothing.
I can’t really conclude talking about Saturday’s game without some reference to Craig Kowalski who made several world class stops to ensure the game remained a contest. When you are missing key guys like Galbraith you need others to step up to the plate and K-Wall did that big time. For my money that was a point gained by our netminder who has looked stronger and stronger in recent weeks. How he didn’t get man of the match I don’t know.
Sunday night saw what has been described as a hard fought victory up in Dundee, Panthers running out 3-2 winners, again with both Steve Lee and Jade missing. Dundee are obviously a better side than the one that got royally hammered at the NIC a few weeks back and I suspect they may spring a few surprises in the coming months. The job for Panthers on Sunday was to avoid being one of them which they did, whilst also converting two of four powerplay opportunities, a much needed improvement on the previous nights one from eight.
Do we miss the recently departed Sproat? Yes, I think so. It’s compounded when you lose guys like Galbraith as well but Sproat did a lot of the hard work that prevented the numerous chances the Devils had on Saturday (Devils outshot Panthers 46-31) and I think we’re now a team under more defensive pressure over the course of sixty minutes than we were with Dustin on the roster. Do we need to replace him sooner rather than later? If we genuinely want to challenge for this title then yes, I believe we do.
Let’s not get carried away though. We dropped one point over the weekend against a very good side and missing two key players including the best player in the country. Coventry were on the wrong end of a 5-1 score-line against Hull in the West Midlands last night which just goes to show that, as much as people talk about a two tier league, if the so called ‘big guns’ don’t focus on every game in the right way they will come unstuck.
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Adam Walker
- Alex Birch
- Andy Pierce
- Chris Gent
- Christopher Beal
- Craig Simpson
- Dave Simms
- Elliott Stanley
- Gareth Chalmers
- James Broughton
- James Gordon
- Katy Madgwick
- Luke Catterson
- Mark Briggs
- Mark Duell
- Mat Young
- Patrick Smyth
- Promotion
- Russ Morrell
- Seanna Murdock
- Stephen Dowson
- Stewart Roberts
- Tom Forster
- Vicki Smart
- William Lyon
