SHEFFIELD, U.K. – The Sheffield Steelers 2011/12 campaign was officially over last night at the hands of local rivals the Hull Stingrays.
Sheffield who were rocked by the announcement on Wednesday that fan favourite Colt King had been sacked by the club tried to regroup and focus on the playoff showdown that awaited them.
Steelers Playoff hopes over at the hands of a hardworking Hull side.
Some say that the sacking was due to a personality clash between King and Player/Coach Ryan Finnerty. Many were hoping that the departure of King would ignite some passion within the team, which has been lacking in recent months.
Sheffield firstly travelled to nearby Hull for the first leg of their Playoff Quarter Final on Saturday, hoping to take a lead into Sheffield the following night.
An evenly contested first period saw both sides go close, with the Stingrays hitting the crossbar from a James Pease wristshot, and the Steelers’ Jeff Legue, coming close with an effort of his won.
The visitors edged the Rays’ 13-12 on the shot count in the first period, but it was to be a different story in the second stanza.
The Stingrays came out strong in the second period, with Sheffield having their usual second period slump.
The hosts were unfortunate to not take the lead after Dominic Osman was denied on a good opportunity by Steelers goaltender John DeCaro.
Sheffield took the lead against the run of play when Stingrays Captain Kurtis Dulle’s breakout pass was intercepted by Jeff Legue, who then passed to an unmarked Jonathan Phillips who fired low past Boucher in the Rays’ goal to make it 1-0 at 29:25.
The hosts battled back and tied the game up in the closing stages of the period, when Dominic Osman redirected a Martin Ondrej shot from the point at 38:35 to make it 1-1.
Sheffield came close early in the third period with Jonathan Phillips bearing down on a breakaway only to be denied by Christian Boucher in the Rays’ goal.
The Steelers soon got the eagerly awaited go-ahead-goal when Neil Clark fired low past Boucher after a neat Legue Pass across the goalmouth on the powerplay at 50:53.
Kurtis Dulle made amends for his costly mistake earlier by restoring parity for the hosts on the powerplay at 52:37 with his snapshot from the point beating DeCaro making it 2-2.
The game turned feisty in the latter stages of the final period between the two teams, but the scoreline stayed the same, much to the delight of the home side, and to the anguish of the visitors.
Even Jeff Legue couldnt carry Steelers this weekend like he has done for much of the season (picture courtesy of Sheffield Steelers)
The same two teams battled it out 24 hours later in front of a capacity crowd at Ice Sheffield, with the final score being 5-2 in favour of the visitors, ensuring their place in the final four at the Playoff weekend in Nottingham later this week.
Even a visit on the night from former Steelers legend ‘Magic’ Mark Mackie wasn’t enough to inspire his former team, who had no tricks up their sleeves, and were outworked by a resilient and hungry Hull side.
Sheffield took the lead early on the powerplay courtesy of a Jeff Legue blast from the blueline to give the hosts a 1-0 lead at 3:15 with Luke Fulghum providing Legue with the ammo.
Both teams ran into a host of penalty trouble in the third period with referee Tom Darnell keen to stamp his authority on the game.
The Stingrays battled back and tied the game up just over halfway through the first period, Jereme Tendler made a nice play to find Jason Silverthorn in space who fired high past DeCaro to make it 1-1 at 10:27.
The Stingrays pressed and former Steeler Derek Campbell proved to be a thorn in his former employers side when he gave the Rays’ the lead for the first time in the game at 19:54 with Tendler setting up the goal once again.
Sheffield came out strong in the second period and almost took the lead early on when a Jeff Legue shot was saved by Boucher who luckily managed to redirect the puck onto the top of his net, denying Legue of a equaliser at 23:01.
The hosts were soon on level terms when Jason Hewitt backhanded low past Boucher after a goalmouth scramble tying the game up at 25:36 making it 2-2.
The visitors never gave up throughout the game and took the lead once again after an initial Jereme Tendler shot was saved, Derek Campbell was on hand to fire home the rebound at 36:01, giving the visitors a 3-2 lead.
Steelers Player/Coach Ryan Finnerty came close to equalising when his effort beat everyone but the goal frame with just 17 seconds remaining in the period.
No further scoring was to follow in the middle session, one in which Sheffield out shot Hull by 17-5.
Both teams traded early efforts in the third period, but it was the hosts who would strike first in a somewhat fortuitous fashion. Matty Davies of the Rays’ fired across a goalmouth pass, which was redirected between DeCaro’s legs by Steelers forward Jason Hewitt to extend the visitors lead to two.
With just six minutes of the game remaining Derek Campbell delivered the final blow to his former team when he netted his hattrick marker after a goalmouth scramble, giving the Rays’ a 5-2 lead which proved insurmountable for the Steelers, as the seconds ticked down leading to pandemonium for the Stingrays players and fans.
Hull thoroughly deserved their win and their place in the Semi Final’s, but a tough contest awaits them in the form of the Nottingham Panthers who have won all seven of their encounters with the Stingrays this season.
Steelers Player/Coach Ryan Finnerty shared his thoughts after the game, “The dressing room was a pretty awful place to be after the game. I think you can imagine there were a few tears and it was a very quiet place for a long while. For a team that overachieved during the season we underachieved come the post season, there is a huge feeling we let everyone down, including ourselves”, Finnerty admitted.
“We have already started the rebuilding process, guys will make decisions and we will make decisions. The team that lines up next season will be very different in many ways to this one. Colin Shields shows the message I want to send, more quality, more experience, more depth and more mental strength,” Finnerty added.
Contact the author at Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com
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