SHEFFIELD, U.K.- After a disappointing mid-week 3-0 against the Manchester Phoenix, the Steeldogs bounced back to record a superb 4 point weekend.
On Saturday 28th January, travelling Steeldogs’ supporters saw a tightly contested away match against the Swindon Wildcats, in which the Sheffield side heroically pulled back from a 2-0 deficit to win 4-3 after OT and penalties. The Steeldogs returned home on the 29th to face the Wildcats once again. It was a feisty contest, with fights and goal chances galore for both sides, although the Steeldogs managed to claim a 4-2 victory over their opponents.
Wednesday 26th January saw the Steeldogs travel to the home of the Manchester Phoenix. It promised to be a close game with both teams striving to climb up the table to reach the top spot.
Both teams raced out of the starting blocks and piled on the pressure throughout the first and second periods. However, the score-line remained goal-less until the third.
At 43:11, Tom Duggan gave the Phoenix the lead. Despite conceding, the Steeldogs pressure continued and the Sheffield side kept creating chances; however the Manchester netminder, Steve Fone, stood his ground.
A quick fire double, from Ciaran Long at 49:55 and Slava Koulikov at 51:01, sealed the victory for the Manchester side. The game ended 3-0 to the Phoenix.
Despite the disappointing score-line, the Steeldogs would have been pleased with the MOTM performance from new import, Raivis Kurnigins. The Latvian forward put in an impressive shift on his debut and would have been on the score-sheet was it not for Fone, who denied Kurnigins on the breakaway.
The Steeldogs went into the weekend on the back of two consecutive away defeats and were looking for a successful weekend against the Swindon Wildcats to put them back on form. They did just that.
On Saturday, the Steeldogs travelled to the home of the Swindon Wildcats and things did not start well for the Sheffield side. The Steeldogs found themselves 3-1 down, but a superb performance and hat-trick from top point and goal scorer, Janis Ozolins, brought them back level and into overtime.
The Steeldogs secured their 4-3 (OT PENS) victory through a penalty shoot-out with the help of netminder, Ben Bowns, and forward, Greg Wood who scored the winning penalty.
The following day, the Steeldogs played host to the Wildcats in what was a feisty, heated bout.
At 6:53, the home crowd saw their first fight of the evening when Steeldog, Craig Elliot, collided with Swindon netminder, Thomas Murdy. Wildcat, Joe Baird objected and dived in, fists first. The fight between Elliot and Baird instigated a series of other scuffles and fights on the ice. Along with Elliot and Baird, Steeldog, Steve Duncombe and Wildcat, Sam Bullas, were also sent to the penalty box.
The first period was evenly contested with both teams producing good spells of offensive possession and goal scoring chances. However, it was the Steeldogs who broke the deadlock on the powerplay at 10:41. Ashley Calvert converted from the slot to put the Steeldogs up 1-0.
Just before the break at 18:30, the Steeldogs went 2 up through an effective counter attack and a nice passing play between Ozolins and born-and-bred Sheffield forward, Chris Sykes. Ozolins converted the chance to make the score 2-0 heading into the second period.
The Steeldogs went into the second period on the powerplay once more; however, it was the Wildcats who managed to convert shorthanded. After a turnover in the offensive zone, Swindon was on the breakaway. At 21:08, Aaron Nell slotted the puck home for the Wildcats, making the score 2-1 and bringing Swindon back into contention.
Just 7 seconds later, the Steeldogs replied straight from the face-off, with Chris Sykes converting, making it 3-1 to the home team.
Midway through the second period, the Wildcats were thrown a life-line and awarded a penalty shot. Swindon’s top sniper, Jaroslav Cesky, made no mistake in converting the chance and brought Swindon back to within one goal once more.
The Steeldogs replied again with another powerplay goal from the slot. Andrew Hirst put the puck past Murdy at 32:02 to put the Steeldogs up 4-2.
Steeldogs celebrate 4 point weekend (Picture courtesy of the Sheffield Steeldogs)
Wildcats netminder, Murdy, was in the thick of the action again after a goal-line scramble and collision with Steeldog, Sykes. The game was stopped for a lengthy amount of time whilst Murdy was attended to by the Steeldogs’ physio. Murdy recovered and was able to carry on.
The third period saw lots of goal scoring chances for both sides, yet both netminders remained focussed. The home fans did see some more action however when another series of fights broke out.
Punches were exchanged between Sheffield’s Lewis Bell and Swindon’s Sam Bullas. This then resulted in a series of scuffles and further fights between the players on ice. Steeldog, Craig Elliot, found himself in his second fight of the night after squaring up to Swindon’s Loris Taylor. Taylor managed to knock down Elliot in what was a one-sided fight.
Janis Ozolins almost put the Steeldogs up 5-2 midway through the third but failed to capitalise on the shorthanded breakaway opportunity. Moments later, the Wildcats had a goal disallowed after a sustained amount of pressure upon the Steeldogs netminder, Ben Bowns.
With four minutes left on the clock, the crowd saw their final fight of the night when Swindon’s Shane Moore made a bad open ice hit on Ozolins. Forward partner, Sykes, then jumped in to defend Ozolins. Both Moore and Sykes exchanged a number of punches before they were separated and sent to the penalty box.
The game ended 4-2 to the Sheffield Steeldogs.
Although Player/Coach, Andre Payette did not feature for the Steeldogs, he will be pleased at his team’s performance and especially pleased with the hard-working MOTM shift shown by defenceman, Ben Morgan.
The Sheffield Steeldogs only have one game this coming weekend at home to the Peterborough Phantoms, who currently occupy 9th in the league table. The Steeldogs will hope for an easy win against the Phantoms, a team to which they have not lost to at home this season.
Contact the writer at ryan.laycock@prohockeynews.com
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