SHEFFIELD, U.K. – The Sheffield Steelers carried on their fine league form with two impressive wins over the Newcastle Vipers. The teams firstly took to the ice on the Saturday in Sheffield. It was the home team that romped to victory with an emphatic 8-0 annihilation of Danny Stewart’s men.
It was Jeff Legue who opened the scoring for the South Yorkshire side with little over two minutes played in the game on the powerplay. That seemed to be the theme of the game with Vipers running into penalty trouble and Sheffield taking advantage of the fact by scoring 5 of the 8 goals with the extra man advantage.
Steelers dominated the first period and they netted the second of the night on the powerplay again, this time through Steve Munn.
Jason Hewitt got on the score sheet six minutes into the second period after he rocketed a fine slapshot home to beat the helpless Charlie Effinger in the Vipers goal. Legue added further misery to the Vipers as he netted on the powerplay after a fine breakout pass from Steve Munn. Legue’s sublime deke and finish on Effinger really fired the Sheffield bench up, and got the warm approval from the home faithful in the stands.
Sheffield’s latest addition Rob Globke bagged his first goal in Steelers colours in the thirty-seventh minute after good work by Rob Dowd down low on the powerplay once again. Legue completed his hat trick two minutes later to make it 6-0 to a hard working Sheffield outfit who never took their foot off the gas as they have done in previous seasons.
Sheffield started the third period all guns blazing again and Steelers Player/Coach Ben Simon deservedly grabbed a goal after playing great all game, putting Sheffield 7-0 up with just under ten minutes remaining in the game. Sheffield completed the rout in the fifty-second minute after a scramble in front of goal, on a shift where Munn and Mark Thomas played on the wings rather than their usual spots in defence. The melee around Effinger’s net resulted in a penalty shot being awarded to the Steelers.
Up stepped the least likely candidate in Mark Thomas who finished calmly past Effinger, to leave a bitter taste in the Vipers mouths.
Legue in fine form
With little over three minutes remaining in the game Steeler Dowd finished a late hit from behind on a Viper player returning to his bench.
Vipers tough defenceman John Schwarz took exception to this and jumped the bench to confront Dowd. Great Britain international Dowd saw what was coming and after taking a few punches he took Schwarz down with a fine tackle that any rugby player would have been envious of.
Latvian netminder Ervins Mustukovs earned his third successive shutout in the league with a fine display between the pipes for his Sheffield side.
Sheffield travelled up to Whitley Bay for the return leg 24 hours later. It was never going to be the same result in Whitley Bay, which has often become a fortress for travelling teams over the years. Sheffield claimed honours with a 5-3 win, but were made to work hard for it by a battling, physical Vipers outfit.
It was Great Britain international Ashley Tait who opened the scoring in the fourth minute assisted by former Viper fan favourite Jerramie Domish.
Sheffield Steelers Captain Jonathan Phillips then netted an unassisted powerplay marker to make it 2-0 to the visitors with only eleven minutes played. Jeff Legue then netted his seventh of the season on the powerplay in the twenty-fourth minute to pile the pressure on the Vipers. Joey Talbot scored Sheffield’s fourth goal in the twenty-sixth minute after a stroke of luck, a pass aimed across the crease hit a Viper players skate and went in the net past a helpless Effinger.
Toms Hartmanis scored the Vipers first goal of the season on a shorthanded breakaway in the thirty-fourth minute to restore some confidence and give the Vipers a glimmer of hope.
Then came the goal of the night from ex-NHL’er Rob Globke. Globke’s initial shot was saved and he fell to the ice after, whilst he was on his knees he placed an accurate wrist shot over Charlie Effinger’s shoulder. The goal would have made an NHL highlight reel and Alexander Ovechkin would have been proud of it.
Kyle Sibley scored a shorthanded goal for the Vipers after another stroke of luck, as Jeff Legue’s stick broke on a shot, he then went back to the bench and Sibley pounced on the loose puck and beat Ervins Mustukovs to make it 2-5 to the Steelers with thirteen minutes of the game remaining.
Vipers’ third goal came on the powerplay with little over a minute remaining in the game when Jaroslaw Rzeszutko slotted home calmly.
Sheffield rewarded their temporary netminder Richard Adams, who had been called up from a recreational team, Sheffield Ice Tigers, the remaining seven seconds of the game. No more scoring followed, ensuring Sheffield completed the weekend with two wins over the Vipers and four valuable points in the league.
Contact the author at Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com
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