SHEFFIELD, U.K. – The Sheffield Steelers proved many doubters wrong when challenged with a schedule that consisted of six games in eight days. Sheffield claimed four victories, with losses coming against Cardiff and Nottingham. To make matters worse, Sheffield have been majorly depleted through injuries to Mark Thomas (broken foot), Geoff Woolhouse (knee injury), Jonathan Phillips (knee injury), and Jerramie Domish and Rob Globke just recently returning from injury.
(Image courtesy of Sheffield Steelers)
Sheffield faced local foes, the Nottingham Panthers in Challenge Cup action at the Motorpoint Arena on Friday. It was Nottingham who secured the two points avenging their previous 3-1 defeat to Sheffield in Nottingham 48 hours earlier. Sheffield came out of the gates flying, and some fans said it was one of Steelers best period performances of the season. Sheffield opened their account from Rob Dowd in the fifth minute, to grab a quick 1-0 lead.
Nottingham were on level terms four minutes later thanks to a fine Billy Ryan effort, after good work from former league MVP David-Alexandre Beauregard to set him up. Steelers fan favourite Jeff Legue restored the one goal cushion in the thirteenth minute much to the delight of the 4700 on hand to watch the greatest rivalry in British ice hockey. The second period started and it seemed as though the Sheffield team that dominated the first period had been replaced by impostors, with woeful hockey being played by the South Yorkshire side. Corey Neilson’s men took advantage of this and bagged three unanswered goals in the second session courtesy of David Clarke, David Beauregard and Billy Ryan again.
The third period was a similar story, but not quite the barrage of goals that the second period witnessed. A single shorthanded goal from Matt Myers was the final nail in the coffin for Sheffield, as Nottingham went on to claim a 5-2 win and two important Challenge Cup points!
Sheffield then travelled to Scotland 24 hours later, to face the Edinburgh Capitals in a double-header fixture. Sheffield triumphed in both games but were made to work hard for their 4-3 and 4-1 wins. Sheffield soon kicked off their Edinburgh weekend in good fashion after Kevin Bolibruck netted after 32 seconds for the visitors, to leave the home support I a stunned silence. Adam Taylor restored parity for the home side in the ninth minute, to make it 1-1. Robert Dowd soon restored Sheffield’s one goal lead 38 seconds later, much to the delight of the two hundred or so travelling Sheffield fans.
The second period started and both teams pressed, but no one could find the back of the net. Sheffield out shot Edinburgh in the second period by 15 shots to 4, but some fine goaltending from Scott Reid kept Edinburgh’s hopes of a comeback alive.
The Caps’ started the stronger of the two teams in the third period, and were soon back on level terms thanks to a Jeff Hutchins powerplay effort at 45:41. Edinburgh took the lead for the first time in the game at 48:57 through their top scorer Adam Taylor, on the powerplay. Sheffield were level pegging three minutes later after a Neil Clark effort found the back of the net, to send the game into overtime.
The Capitals dominated in overtime out shooting Sheffield 5-1 and even had a powerplay opportunity while Jeff legue sat out a high sticking minor, but neither team could convert ensuring the game was concluded with penalty shots. Domish, Globke and Tait all missed their shots for Sheffield. Edinburgh suffered a similar fate with Taylor, Cingel and Hutchins not being able to convert. The second round started, and Jerramie Domish bagged the winner for Sheffield, much to the delight of the great Steelers’ travelling support.
Jerramie Domish scored the winning penalty shot for Sheffield (Photo courtesy of Sheffield Steelers)
The two teams met once again at Murrayfield Ice Rink 24 hours later, but this time with a different outcome. Sheffield claimed the honours with a 4-1 win and securing four valuable points, in their quest for Elite League glory.
Like yesterdays encounter, Sheffield started off well once again. Neil Clark opened the scoring with his ninth of the season on the powerplay at 4:28.
Clark’s effort was the only goal of the period, and Sheffield were the happier of the two teams with a 1-0 lead after twenty minutes of play.
Sheffield came out all guns blazing in the second period with a trio of goals all within the first three minutes. Jeff Legue was first to score in the period which was only fourteen seconds old before his fine effort hit the back of the net. Jason Hewitt then netted his seventh of his season to make it 3-0 after good work from fellow Great Britain international Ashley Tait. Rob Globke signalled his return from injury with a neat goal at 22:40 to give Steelers a dominant 4-0 lead. Edinburgh weren’t going to go down without a fight, and homegrown talent Iain Bowie netted the Caps’ first of the night at 26:26. Bowie’s effort wasn’t enough as Sheffield killed off the game to take a vital four points from the Caps’.
All in all Sheffield can pat themselves on the back with their recent performances, which were under extremely difficult circumstances with the array of injuries to key players.
Contact the author at Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com
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