SHEFFIELD, U.K. – The Sheffield Steelers rounded off a great festive period with two fine wins over arch rivals the Nottingham Panthers. The two wins came in the same week that it was announced that Paul Ragan would be the clubs new owner and highly regarded Player/Coach Ben Simon had agreed to come back next season.
Valuable four points for the Steelers
Sheffield first played host to the Panthers on Boxing Day, which has become a tradition for the two teams. Sheffield were soon on the back foot after former-Steeler Jon Zion opened the visitors account with a powerplay marker at 3:17. Sheffield were soon back on level terms after Jeff Legue netted a powerplay goal of his own two minutes later to make it 1-1.
Nottingham dominated the remainder of the period as Sheffield ran into penalty trouble. Jade Galbraith was on hand to score his fourteenth goal of the season and to give the visitors the lead for the second time in the game at 16:46. The Panthers added further misery just 90 seconds later to the home team when David Clarke netted a powerplay goal to give his team a 3-1 lead going into the second period.
The second period was a different story, as Steelers dominated the period mainly due to the Panthers indiscipline, with the Steelers registering a 4-0 period. Local lad Tom Squires netted a close range effort after a Jeff Legue shot fell to him at 29:30, with Squires scoring his fifth of the season.
Joey Talbot restored parity for the hosts at 33:09 on the powerplay after some good work from Player/Coach Ben Simon who crafted Talbot’s game tying effort. Billingham-born Rob Dowd was on hand to score his teams’ go-ahead goal less than a minute later to give the hosts a 4-3 lead.
Jeff Legue rounded off the periods scoring with a trademark bullet from the blueline on the powerplay with only two seconds remaining in the period to make it 5-3. The period drew to a close with both teams’ respective agitators Jason Hewitt and Jade Galbraith exchanging words, earning them both a ten-minute misconduct.
The third period started with both teams exchanging efforts, with both netminders Ervins Mustukovs and Kevin St. Pierre of Sheffield and Nottingham respectively, coming up big.
The near 6,000 fans in attendance were soon on their feet after Neil Clark and Guy Lepine dropped the gloves, after Lepine targeted the much smaller Dowd, Clark felt the need to step in and protect his teammate. Lepine claimed honours in the fight but it was his sparring partner Clark who had the last laugh by scoring the Steelers final goal ten minutes later to give his team a 6-3 victory.
Joey Talbots hat trick secures Steelers victory (photo courtesy of Sheffield Steelers)
Both teams battled it out 24 hours later in Nottingham with Sheffield once again collecting the 2 points after a 5-3 win in front of 7028 spectators.
Much like the previous nights game, both teams ran into penalty trouble with Neil Clark dropping the gloves with the Panthers Steve Lee during a line brawl just under 6 minutes into the game. Rod Sarich opened the scoring at 15:12 with a powerplay marker to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Nottingham replied just over four minutes later to tie the game up, with Billy Ryan firing home after great work from Jade Galbraith on the play.
Joey Talbot got the second period underway with his first of three goals for the visitors at 23:52 giving his team a 2-1 lead. Matt Myers made amends for his earlier lack of indiscipline by putting the hosts back on level terms at 29:52.
Joey Talbot fired the Steelers into the lead once again with his second of the night on the powerplay at 34:01. There were only 46 seconds of the second period remaining when Billy Ryan netted his second of the game for the Panthers to restore parity at the National Ice Centre.
Sheffield dominated the third period out shooting the hosts 14-5 but only found the back of the net in the final 3 minutes of the game. Joey Talbot completed his hat trick marker at 57:47 on the powerplay to give the Steelers a 4-3 lead.
Jeff Legue sealed the win with 49 seconds remaining as he calmly scored an empty net goal ensuring Sheffield returned to South Yorkshire with a great win and a further two points in the bag.
Sheffield Steelers Player/Coach Ben Simon spoke after the game, “I’m very proud of how the team played tonight. A little like last night we were patient and we didn’t explode and panic when things didn’t go our way. I thought for the large part we kept our discipline and took our chances when they came. We believed in our game plan and stuck to it, every play did their job and we executed well tonight,” Simon said.
“Joey Talbot was outstanding, to score 3 goals in a game of this magnitude is an excellent achievement. He finds holes and the puck finds him. I also thought that Moose (goaltender Ervins Mustukovs) had another fine night making a string of big saves at crucial times, especially when Nottingham had their five powerplays” Simon added.
Sheffield round of 2010 with a home game against the Coventry Blaze on the 3oth of December. Coventry have just suffered back-to-back defeats against the impressive Cardiff Devils and have key players missing from their line up due to injury and suspensions.
Contact the author at Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.