Steelers have mixed start to season

SHEFFIELD,U.K- Only four games into the new 2008-09 Elite League season and we’ve had goals, surprise upsets, fights and bans. and that’s just from the Sheffield Steelers. The Steelers opened their league campaign at home to the under-strength Edinburgh Capitals, losing 3-1. The Capitals were hit badly by the collapse of Zoom Airlines, with several of their players arriving just days before the

face- off. The star of the show was emergency goaltender and ex-Steeler Pasi Raitanen, who saved 50 of 51 shots in a stellar performance. Steelers were poor on the powerplay, failing to capitalise in six attempts. Jeff Legue grabbed a late consolation goal for the Steelers, Head-coach Dave Matsos summed up the game, “I thought we were ready on Saturday but came out flat, I have to take my share of the blame for that,” Matsos said. Twenty-four hours later the Sheffield Steelers faced Cardiff Devils in an action packed 60 minutes. The Steelers were victors, winning 2-0 with both goals coming from Joey Talbot. The game turned sour with less than 30 seconds remaining, with Devils captain Brad Voth receiving 40 penalty minutes, including a slashing incident with Steelers defenceman Randy Dagenais. Voth received a 12 game ban from the Elite league disciplinary committee, which the Cardiff Devils are appealing against. The Steelers then faced Coventry Blaze at home on September 13, It didn’t turn out to be an unlucky night for the Steelers as they came away victors with a 5-1 surprise win. The star of the show was ex-Blaze captain Ashley Tait, who netted a fine hat trick including a powerplay goal. Randy Dagenais and Doug Sheppard grabbed the other goals. Coventry scored a late consolation with Dan Carlson netting on the powerplay. The Steelers then travelled to Murrayfield 24 hours later to face the Edinburgh Capitals, wanting to gain revenge after the opening game of the season’s shock defeat. The Steelers did this in emphatic style coming away with a 6-3 victory in the Challenge Cup.There were six different goal scorers for the Steelers including, Joey Talbot, Jason Hewitt, Jonathan Phillips, defenseman Randy Dagenais and Rod Sarich.The home team took the lead through Martin Cingel, but after then they didn’t look a threat until five minutes before the end with goals from Andrej Rajcak and Mark Hurtubise. Steeler’s head coach Dave Matsos reflected on the weekend games. “Edinburgh was important as it was the first game in the Challenge Cup and we had to get off to a good start, I feel that our form and performances this weekend have certainly settled the ship after last weekend,” Matsos said 
“I’m confident that everyone in Sheffield has now seen the real Steelers and we can now concentrate on next Saturdays (Sept 20) game in Nottingham.” Contact the author at  Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com