Steelers suffer mixed fortunes over the weekend

SHEFFIELD, U.K. – The Sheffield Steelers hopes of retaining the EIHL title were thwarted on Friday evening when they lost 3-2 in a penalty shootout to fellow title hopefuls the Belfast Giants.

Many fans would say that Sheffield were unlucky to only pick up one point from the game, as they played much better than they have previously against the Giants.
Sheffield where boosted by the return of defensive maestro Rod Sarich, in his first game since November 20^th where he sustained a freak injury after a unsuspicious check from Panthers Jordan Fox.
The result of the hit was four months on the sidelines for Sarich, and he had to have 15% of his kidney removed in an operation.
The first goal of the game went to the visitors, and a familiar face in former Steeler Rob Dowd.
The Billingham-born forward shot the puck from behind the goal line taking a deflection from Colt Kings leg and finding its way into the Sheffield net at 18:37.
Jason Hewitt drew the hosts level at 26:28 on the powerplay, after some good work from Colt King, providing a neat pass for Hewitt, who made no mistake in firing home to make it 1-1.
Jon Pelle demonstrated why he is so highly regarded in the league when he netted a powerplay marker of his own to regain the lead for the visitors at 27:38 making it 2-1.
Sheffield came out stronger in the third period, but Stephen Murphy in the Giants goal did well to keep some of the hosts’ chances at bay.
The game was all but done when the unlikeliest of sources ensured that the game would go into overtime.
Some great work on the puck from Colt King made some space available for Lee Esders, who fired the puck home as he was diving to the ice in a spectacular fashion, to make it 2-2 at 55:36.
The Steelers outshot the Giants 3-1 in overtime, but couldn’t convert their chances, ensuring that the outcome of the game would be settled by the cruel but highly entertaining penalty shootout.
Steven Birnstill and Jeff Legue, both of whom have scored big penalty shot goals for the Steelers, couldn’t convert this time, with only Mike Ramsay netting for the Steelers.
Jeff Mason took his shot well, beating John DeCaro, and then Craig Peacock sealed the extra point for the visitors with his neat effort.
The EIHL title is still to play for but it is fair to say that the Giants have one hand firmly on the trophy already.
The Steelers bounced back 24 hours later when they hosted the Hull Stingrays, beating them 2-1. Sheffield were far from convincing in a display that lacked intensity, passion and commitment. All of which have been typical traits of previous seasons Sheffield teams.
Geoff Woolhouse was given the nod in between the pipes for the hosts, and he stood firm to the test, and was a pivotal part in the win.
The Stingrays were boosted by the return of their top marksman Jereme Tendler, who has missed the last month or so due to a pending drugs test.
Both teams came out firing in the first period, with the hosts edging the visitors on the shot count 12-11, but failing to put away their chances.
The deadlock was broken at 22:23 courtesy of Mike Ramsay on the powerplay, netting his 25^th of the season to make it 1-0.
The Steelers pressed and fired a barrage of shots on Christian Boucher in the Hull goal, out shooting the Stingrays 15-5 in the second stanza.
At 25:59 Nick Duff netted his first goal for the Steelers when he rifled home a shot after a rebound kicked out from Boucher, who made the initial save on former Stingray Lee Esders, to make it 2-0.
The Stingrays picked up the slack in the third period, when Sheffield ran into penalty trouble, gifting the Stingrays four powerplay opportunities.
At 49:29 Dominic Osman took advantage of one of the powerplay opportunities as he netted the Stingrays only goal of the night, to ensure a nervy finish to the game for the remaining ten minutes.
The Stingrays couldn’t convert from their final three powerplay opportunities with Steelers goaltender Geoff Woolhouse giving a good account of himself stopping 36 of the Stingrays 37 shots.
Steelers Player/Coach Ryan Finnerty shared his thoughts after the game, “It’s hard for people not involved in sport to understand that, but we certainly weren’t at our best tonight and that game with Belfast last night played its part. If it wasn’t for Wooly we would have lost that game tonight, he bailed us out. We were second in a lot of areas, at times we were running around and letting Hull take the game to us. Then when we took the penalties in third we could have found ourselves in a lot more trouble but again Wooly was there for us”, Finnerty said.  
The Steelers will travel to Braehead on Thursday evening, before playing host to the same team on Saturday evening, and then playing the Cardiff Devils at the Motorpoint Arena 24 hours later.
Nothing less than three wins will do if Sheffield are to mount a challenge to rivals Belfast Giants for the EIHL league title.
Contact the author at Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com