Sheffield Steelers made light work of Guildford Flames to book their place at Playoff Finals Weekend, winning 5-1 on the night after the first leg had ended tied at one each.
The Steelers struck first just under two minutes into the game, with Mikko Juusola finding Dominic Cormier at the back post for a tap-in. With 6:41 remaining in the opening period, the Steelers doubled their advantage as a smart, sharp pass from Brett Ritchie found Sam Tremblay in stride. Tremblay cut across Justin Fazio and chipped the puck over the Flames netminder.
Just over halfway through the game, Sheffield added a third. Jordon Southorn found a pocket of space and fired over the shoulder of Fazio to put the Steelers three ahead on the night and on aggregate. The hosts then made it four, with Tremblay snapping home top corner past Fazio to extend their lead in the tie.
“It felt great. Yesterday was a battle, that’s what playoff hockey is,” began Steelers’ Evan Jasper. “We came out of there one each, which was good after a long day, and we knew coming home that the crowd would be awesome. We took it to them, and I don’t think they stood a chance from the moment the puck dropped.”
Robert Dowd’s backhanded effort 2:45 into the third period put the Steelers five up, and while they could have added more, the final goal of the series went to Cole Ully, whose shot eventually beat Matt Greenfield with 4:16 remaining.
“We had a good feeling coming home tonight, brought the momentum and got the job done here tonight,” concluded Jasper.
Guildford, despite the scoreline, remained competitive and created chances of their own, with Greenfield producing a number of solid saves.
“One thing you can never question is our work ethic, but they capitalised on all of our mistakes tonight,” said Flames’ Travis Brown. “We gave it our all, created chances, and Greenfield played well too.”
“We’re walking out of here with our heads held high,” added Brown. “We knew it would be a tough game here. We gave it everything and left our cards on the table.”
Sheffield ended the tie as comfortable 6-2 aggregate winners, securing their place at Playoff Finals Weekend.
With EIHL match report
