There’s no end in sight for the Dundee Stars.
Marc LeFebvre’s side suffered their seventh defeat in eight Elite League games on Sunday [21 December], falling 7-1 against the Belfast Giants in Northern Ireland.
Belfast found twine six times before Keanu Yamamoto punched back for the Stars in minute-39, with Dundee six points outside the playoffs at Christmas.
“The last three weeks have been horrendous for us,” said LeFebvre.
“Any time we go down by a goal or two, our heads go down, and it snowballs into three, four, or even more in our net. In the short-term, it’s been horrendous for us.”
Welcome to Around the Rinks: our daily summary of every team’s post-game media remarks.
Around the Rinks: Sunday, 21 December
Nottingham Panthers 2-6 Guildford Flames
Kevin Carr, Nottingham Panthers (Image: Panthers Images)
Danny Stewart, Nottingham Panthers:
Well, it obviously wasn’t very good. Brains weren’t switched on and a minute in we put the puck right on their tape to give them a breakaway before our goalie has even seen a puck. It’s one-nothing quick, we switch off on the rush, they score a second, and it’s an uphill battle from there.
We made too many individual errors. We were sloppy with the puck: I can’t remember another game where we turned the puck over that many times.
That tells me that minds weren’t switched on. I don’t want to take anything away from Guildford: they came in here and skated well. They executed their plan and capitalised on our mistakes. They were worthy winners.
Paul Dixon, Guildford Flames:
You look at Nottingham’s record coming into this game and they’d only lost one game in regulation all year. They’re top of the league for a reason: they’re a very good team. I’m really happy with our performance tonight. We were ready right from the start, our first period was the best we’ve played all season long and the momentum carried from there.
Through all three zones, we managed it really well tonight. We deserve a lot of credit for how we came into this building tonight and I think every single guy was massive in securing that win.
Belfast Giants 7-1 Dundee Stars
Scott Conway, Belfast Giants (Image: William Cherry)
Adam Keefe, Belfast Giants:
It was a team effort: everyone was good tonight. I’m happy for [Scott Conway], scoring four tonight. He’s had his head down and was a bit snake-bitten earlier in the season. For him to break out with four goals was really well deserved.
Across the board, everybody had a good game. We had a couple of blocked shots while up 7-1 and that’s something that we’ve been working on.
We’ve been trying to build that belief in the group that we are title contenders. You can say it at the start of the year, but it doesn’t become reality until you earn one-another’s trust. It doesn’t matter who or what line is scoring, it’s all about getting the points and I thought the guys were good tonight.
Marc LeFebvre, Dundee Stars:
We were okay in the first period: we had some chances, but gave up a timely goal at the end of the period. That rolled into the second period…
The last three weeks have been horrendous for us. Any time we go down by a goal or two, our heads go down, and it snowballs into three, four, or even more in our net. In the short-term, it’s been horrendous for us.
If you look at the bigger picture, 11 of our first 16 games of the season have been against the big four clubs. If you look at the other five games, we’re 2-2-1 and there are some positives there. Right now, we’re basically playing with four defencemen and that can’t carry on.
We’ve got some bodies coming in, we’re waiting on some visas before those guys can come in and help our group. It’s my job now to pick these guys up because they’re really down. I have to find a way to do that, morale-wise.
Especially against a team like this in their building, we’ve got to find a way to combat that. There’s still a long way to go, there are some positives, but the last three weeks have been horrendous.
Coventry Blaze 2-3 Sheffield Steelers
Mitchell Balmas, Sheffield Steelers (Image: Scott Wiggins)
Kevin Moore, Coventry Blaze:
It was a hard-working game out of our group: our team really committed to doing a lot of the invisible stats, things like blocking shots, and we were able to get our transition game going because of that. I felt like we carried the play offensively at times, but Sheffield obviously pushed back.
I’m proud of our effort in the sense that a lot of things that we’ve been working on over the last month are really starting to show. We were much better in the face-off circle and the powerplay is starting to get going a little bit.
I’m unhappy about the loss, but there were lots of positives to take.
Aaron Fox, Sheffield Steelers:
I’m sure the fans loved that one it was very entertaining both ways and I’m very happy that we were able to get both points. I thought Coventry played hard tonight: they made us earn everything and we got some great goaltending. Scoring two powerplays was critical for us. It was a good hockey game and I’m happy that we were able to come away with it.
Manchester Storm 1-3 Cardiff Devils
Kohen Olischefski, Cardiff Devils (Image: All Sports Photography)
Cam Critchlow, Manchester Storm:
I thought it was a good hockey game. We’ve got to give Cardiff credit: they played well and did the things they always do. I thought [Ben Bowns] was solid in net and made some good stops.
I liked our effort, there was nothing wrong with how we competed. I thought the powerplay could’ve won us the game, but in lots of ways, they lost it for us. We’ve got a busy schedule now: it’s a crucial time to be getting points and it sucks to lose this one.
Paul Thompson, Cardiff Devils:
I think we’ve got to thank [Ben Bowns]. For the first thirty minutes, the Storm were the better team and they had the legs. You could tell that we’d played last night and that they were fresh. Bownsy came out and he was strong: he made four or five big saves in that first period and we only grew into the game later on. It could’ve gone either way: it’s a tough place to play.
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