With over 6,000 fans in the building this exhibition game didn’t have an exhibition feel.
As well as being played with pace and intensity the game also had aggression and some questionable hits that Steelers head coach Paul Thompson was very unhappy with.
Steelers came out on top with a 2-1 victory after goals from Levi Nelson and Tim Wallace.
Injuries to Mathieu Roy and Zack Fitzgerald though put a dampener on the night. Steelers were lucky not to lose more players after nasty late hits to Liam Kirk and two hits from behind on Colton Fretter
“How those guys weren’t tossed from the game I don’t know” said Thompson “By doing that it would have sent a message to both sides”
Steelers had to wait until the 48th minute to score their first goal – before that though there was plenty of action.
Half way through the first period an incident occurred between Zack Fitzgerald and Dinick Paquette – it had the crowd on it’s feet especially with Fitzgerald unleashing some huge blows.
The incident came at a price though with Fitzgerald injured in the original play – Steelers medical staff will assess the injury over the next few days.
Liam Kirk then took a hit to the head from Ross Venus, Davey Phillips stepped in as the Steelers youngster was helped off the ice.
Steelers controlled the game for large parts even without Roy and Fitzgerald and it was only a matter of time before the goals came.
Levi Nelson backhand found the top corner at 47.14 with Cole Shudra and Andreas Valdix assisting.
Steelers doubled their advantage on the power-play 3 minutes later when Tim Wallace one-timed a pass from Ben O’Connor to make it 2-0.
The Blaze did get on the scoreboard with just over 2 minutes remaining, a shorthanded goal well executed by Brett Robinson.
Steelers travel to Coventry on Sunday for their 8th and final exhibition game.
Final score: Sheffield Steelers 2-1 Coventry Blaze.
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