The Cardiff Devils defeated the Sheffield Steelers 5-2 in the Motorpoint Arena to claim their first EIHL Playoff title since the 2021/22 season.
A double-minor for high-sticking against Mitchell Heard just a minute into the game gave Cardiff an early man-advantage, which Kohen Olischefski converted on at 02:41. Strong passing in the offensive zone saw Brandon Estes find Olischefski at the left circle, where he fired past the blocker of Matt Greenfield to open the scoring.
Sheffield pushed hard to find an equaliser throughout the opening period, forcing Christian Stoever into a number of point-blank saves. However, the Devils’ netminder was sharp, and the score remained 1-0 heading into the first intermission.
The Steelers applied heavy pressure early in the second, including a shot from Evan Jasper that rang off the bar at 22:40. The pressure soon paid off, as Kevin Tansey would pick up a behind-the-net pass from Samuel Tremblay and fire a tight-angle shot past Stoever to level the score at 22:52.
Cardiff restored their one-goal lead late in the period through Nolan Yaremko at 38:32. Gleason Fournier carried the puck over the blue line, creating space for Yaremko to cut past the defense and beat Greenfield with a shot from the high slot.
Just as it looked like the score would remain 2-1 heading into the final period, Yaremko struck again at 39:57. Cole Sanford forced a turnover behind the net of Greenfield and fed a streaking Yaremko, who made no mistake in close for his second of the night.
“The last couple of days I’ve been shooting pucks that just haven’t been going in, but our team is great and we have a lot of skill, so I’m fortunate to play with such a great group of players,” added Yaremko.
Sheffield made it a one-goal game through Ryan Tait, who scored his third of the weekend at 53:25. Samuel Tremblay found Tait in the high slot, where he fired through traffic past Stoever to make it 3-2.
“That’s what Sheffield do — they’re never out of the fight and keep coming back at you. We were telling each other on the bench that we’ve got this, just stick with it and keep it going,” said Brett Ferguson, who spent the previous seven seasons with the Guildford Flames.
“Obviously, I would’ve loved to have won a trophy in Guildford. We played in a couple of finals but just couldn’t get the win. This is amazing — anywhere you can win a trophy is an incredible feeling.”
The Steelers pushed hard for an equaliser, pulling Greenfield in the closing two minutes of play. Despite this, Cardiff held firm, with Josh MacDonald and Kohen Olischefski scoring into the empty net to seal the win and secure the 2025/26 EIHL Playoff Championship.
Photo: James Assinder
