2010/11 Season Review

Great start, poor middle, incredible end. That was the story of Panthers this season. The stats were as follows:

Games Played: 67
Wins: 34
Losses: 18
Draws: 3
OT Win: 6
OT Losses: 6
Goals For: 300
Goals Against: 210
Goal Difference: +90
PIMs: 1,607
Win %: 59.7%
Elite League: 4th
Play-offs: Winners
Challenge Cup: Winners

Panthers fans and TCW contributors Paul Balm, Jono Bullard, Iain Dilley & Greg Mitchell review the Nottingham Panthers 2010/11 season and also each of the players. Their thoughts are below

Paul – Two trophies in a season! I’m saying that again, two trophies in a season. The one we want got away again but two trophies! It’s ironic really that the team that couldn’t hold on to a two goal lead a few short months ago for love nor money managed to overcome the same deficit twice in two days.
A team that could be great and a team that could be absolutely woeful all rolled in to one. Great as winning the play-offs was, and it was, it also served to highlight and heighten the frustrations we’ve all been feeling

Jono – The season followed the usual pattern, great start, poor middle, strong finish, only this season’s finish was stronger than most. Winning two trophies is fantastic, but the season will always be soured slightly by not challenging for the league title and the fact that Brad Cruikshank didn’t get any retribution for the bench clearance in Coventry. However the highs of retaining the Challenge Cup and a superb Play-Off victory cannot be underestimated.
The addition of Rick Strachan proved a huge turning point, allowing Coach Neilson to concentrate on playing more and introducing previously unused defensive systems. This was the key to our success this season and I strongly believe that if Strachan sticks around with Neilson we can launch a major challenge for that elusive League Championship next term.

Iain – So as the season draws to a close I get the time to draw a breath and look back over the past 7 months, it all seems a bit surreal. Back in September I was more apprehensive than normal as a lot of the guys coming in were unknown quantities and I hadn’t a clue what to expect. I was instantly impressed with Kowalski. As a fully paid up, card carrying member of the Goalies union, I think he took some unnecessary criticism, as most Panthers goalies do ( I STILL think Parley was a scapegoat and no where near as bad as he is remembered as).
Penner was brilliant to watch and although I am not one of the “Fighting is all, heavyweight, light heavy , middle weight” touters, I was looking forward to seeing each team carrying a brawler. I think the experiment has failed though and we have been shown that not every team is willing or able to carry an out and out fighter as the roster space is just too valuable when the going gets tough. McMorrow being the case in point. I also felt that the fights were manufactured and for no reason. A fight in hockey should be for a reason, not as part of an under card to the game. As teams cut their luxury fighter, Penner was left out in the cold which was a huge shame.

Greg – I should be deliriously happy. Two trophies in the season for the first time should have me shouting from the rooftops and I want to I really do but there’s part of me that just wants to scream. We showed over the play-off weekend what we can do which makes what happened at the start of the year even more frustrating. Where was that spirit in the Belfast double header? We’re told this team doesn’t know when to give up and at times it didn’t but there were also times that it didn’t know or want to get started and those two trophies can’t or shouldn’t mask that. We have to look at those frailties and ask questions of those who made the decisions and the decisions they made.
There have been highlights – Lepine, Kowalski, Lachowicz, Beauregard but for everyone of those there’s a player who wasn’t good enough or looked as though they weren’t bothered. Time is a great healer and trophies more so but they shouldn’t be used to mask those the inconsistencies that have dogged this team (as a bunch of players and a “franchise”) and have stopped us seriously challenging for the league yet again. The problem is I’ve got a terrible feeling that it might.

Paul, Jono, Iain & Greg reviewed each player and gave them a mark out of 10. Each players review is linked below.

Netminders: Craig Kowalski; Dan Green.
Defence: Tom Norton; Jonathan Zion; Jeremy Van Hoof; Danny Meyers; Angel Nikolov; Guillaume Lepine; Stephen Lee; Corey Neilson.
Forwards: David Clarke; Robert Lachowicz; Matt Myers; David Beauregard; Jade Galbraith; Billy Ryan; Marc Levers; Ian McDonald; Jeff Heerema; Daniel Tkaczuk; Dustin Sproat; Rob Bellamy; Alex Penner.