Sheffield Steelers’ hopes of a Grand Slam in 2023/24 are still very much alive after a convincing Quarter-Final series win over Fife fFyers.
Heading up to Kirkcaldy with a 9-4 aggregate lead, the Steelers were always going to be favourites for the tie. They edged further ahead with goals six minutes apart from Kevin Tansey and Mikko Juusola to end the opening period two up on the night.
Marc-Olivier Vallerand made it three 9:24 into period two as the visitors – icing Anthony Morrone and down three skaters, were in complete control.
Colin Shirley gave the good crowd in Fife something to cheer about with the Flyers’ only goal of the game with 5:33 to go, but Brett Neumann raced through to beat Owen to give the Steelers the last laugh with 48 seconds remaining.
The Steelers advanced 13-5 on aggregate, though Flyers fans left with smiles on their faces after Tom Coolen announced his contract extension on the ice to a raucous reception.
Sheffield Steelers will have a five-goal aggregate lead to play with on Sunday in Kirkcaldy after beating Fife Flyers 9-4 in their 2024 Playoffs Quarter-Final first leg on Friday night.
Vitalijs Pavlovs should have put the Flyers ahead with one of the game’s first attacks, being found in front but unable to slot past Matt Greenfield from close range with only some 30 seconds played. Indeed, the Flyers created the better of the chances in the opening phases before the hosts gradually grew into the game.
Mitchell Balmas’s curl and drag brought Owen into a smart save, with the Flyers’ goalie also making an excellent pad save to keep the game scoreless. The deadlock was broken thanks to an excellent Niklas Nevalainen pass across the Flyers zone to Balmas who one-timed under Owen’s arm with 10:40 played. Fife were unlucky to be behind and after a couple of tip attempts were deservedly level – Troy Lajeunesse’s one-timer from the circle off Kyle Osterberg’s feed tied things up at 17:14.
2:58 into period two, Cole Shudra beat Owen five-hole from an angle to put the hosts back ahead, one the Flyers goalie would certainly want back. On the very next shift, Shudra then rang a shot off the iron, and the home side were rewarded for going up a gear as Balmas slapped home a Daniel Ciampini pass only 80 seconds later. Tom Coolen opted not to call his timeout but his team needed to steady the ship – they did so, and were rewarded with a top-shelf Maz Humitz finish in the slot at 29:33 of an excellent Teemu Pulkinen pass behind the net.
Patient and impressive stick handling from Josh Nicholls behind Owen’s net eventually set up Shudra for his second of the night with Finley Ulrick screening the Flyers’ goalie. Balmas could have made it a hat trick but was denied by Owen on a breakaway. The hosts then moved three ahead when Owen was knocked over by Kevin Wehrs bundling a Steeler into his own goalie, and with the netminder down Sam Jones slotted into the gaping net.
Brandon Whistle took a pass from Mark Simpson that she shot past Owen to put the Steelers four goals ahead inside the opening two minutes of the final period. Nicholls beat out an icing call to set up Mikko Juusola 65 seconds later as the Finn to make it a 7-2 scoreline with more than 17 minutes still left to play. The Flyers needed something and with 11:53 to go they almost got it – but Max Humitz couldn’t beat Greenfield on the breakaway. On the next play, however, Humitz got on a loose puck and went bar down to put a third on the board for Fife.
The Flyers needed to keep themselves no more than four behind until the game was over, but Marc-Olivier Vallerand’s 100th goal for the Yorkshire side at 50:36 re-established the home side’s five-goal advantage. Nicholls saw a shot come back off the inside of Owen’s post with just over six minutes to play as things threatened to get better for the Steelers. Owen stopped Balmas from completing a hat trick for a second time late on, before a scramble in front of Greenfield saw Colin Shirley shovel the puck over the line to make it 8-4 with 2:40 left. Brett Neumann pounced on a bad giveaway in the Flyers end to get the Steelers back five ahead 27 seconds later.
Fife have an uphill task to overturn a four-goal differential against the league and cup champions who have only conceded five in a single game twice this season.
What a night in Belfast as the Steelers came from behind to beat the Belfast Giants in front of a sell out crowd 4-3 after OT
Steelers took an early lead (Mark Simpson) but then trailed to the Giants 2-1 at the end of both the first and second periods.
Kevin Tansey and Mitchell Balmas scored two in four minutes to give the Steelers the advantage before a late equaliser from David Goodwin took the game into overtime
It took the Steelers just 44 seconds to take the extra point with Patrick Watling firing home (assisted Juusola and Saucerman)
Tonight’s Game …
Steelers started with Anthony Morrone in goal, Messrs: Diffley, Whistle and Harper miss out on this one.
A sold-out crowd in Belfast with over 7,000 fans in the building with extra seats housing hundreds of Steelers fans.
A great start for the Steelers with Scott Allen assisting on Mark Simpson’s opener after just 38 seconds.
It was a penalty free period, but no end of hits and altercations, a play off atmosphere and two teams giving their all.
Giants equalised at 7.48, Josh Roach firing the puck past Marrone with Goodwin with the assist.
It remained end to end with Whistle and marine called on to keep the score level.
With just over 5 minutes remaining the Giants broke and Cameron Pound fired low past Tony to give the Giants the 2-1 advantage
End of the first period. Giants 2 – 1 Steelers.
A tight and hard fought middle session with the Steelers killing 6 minutes of Belfast power-play
21.30 – Robert Dowd 2 x slashing
32.18 – Patrick Watling 2 x hooking
37.07 – Marco Vallerand 2 x Roughing
Head coach Aaron Fox remunerating with the officials at the end of the period.
Robert Dowd has also left the game before the end of the period
End of the middles session Giants 2-1 Steelers
What a third period ….
Giants and Steelers both had power-play chances without success
It was end to end but slowly the Steelers turned the game around and equalised (2-2) at 53.03 as Kevin Tansey scored assisted Patrick Watling.
Cullen off for tripping at 55.36 and power-play time for the Steelers
Sheffield take the lead with Mitchell Balmas scoring off a Colton Saucerman assist for a 3-2 lead at 57.19
The lead didn’t last for long with David Goodwin firing home with just 1.48 remaining in the game
Overtime for these two teams …
It took the Steelers just 44 seconds with Saucerman setting up Patrick Watling firing home to send the army of Steelers fan crazy
Tony Marrone backstopped the Steelers to a 4-2 road victory in Fife, his 14th straight between the pipes.
Goals from Robert Dowd, Cole Shudra, Scott Allen and Patrick Harper secured the points with the Steelers now heading to Belfast tomorrow ahead of Friday and Saturday’s games against the Giants.
The story of this one …
A delayed face off in Fife with the Steelers arriving late following a bus breakdown as we headed to Scotland.
An 8pm face off and the delay doesn’t seem to have effected the men in Orange as they lead 3-2 after the second period.
Both Marco Vallerand and Kevin Tansey returned to the line up with Colton Saucerman, Josh Nicholls and Brandon Whistle rested. Finlay Ulrik has also been called up and plays tonight.
09.15 and Steelers led with Dowdy finding the back of the net assisted by the returning Marco Vallerand and Mikko Juusola
11.05 and the Flyers levelled through Kyle Osterberg
19.15 with just 45 seconds on the period a scramble in front of Owen’s goal and Cole Shudra got the last touch to put the Steelers ahead at the break
End of the first period. Fife Flyers 1-2 Steelers
A great start to the middle session with Steelers doubling their advantage
22..49 Scott Allen unassisted (1-3)
Sam Jones to the box for slashing but the Flyers fail to impress on the power-play and Jones returns.
36.50 and Pilon collects the rebound from the Lajeunesse shot to bring it back t 2-3
End of the second period. Fife Flyers 2-3 Steelers
Manchester Storm came back from two down to earn themselves a point against the league champions, but the Steelers struck just over three minutes into overtime to take the bonus point in front of 2,450 fans in Altrincham.
Manchester started well and were deservedly ahead off a Matt Murphy powerplay goal through traffic just 3:57 into the game. The hosts were rushing forward at speed, but gut caught on the rush the other way as Mitchel Balmas fed Patrick Watling for the back-post finish at 12:05.
In period two, it was again the home side that struck early – Johnny Corneil took the puck towards the boards and headed towards the net, beating Anthony Morrone with a file-hole finish just shy of the 25-minute mark. Storm were in the ascendency and should have gone further ahead – only a fantastic sprawling save from Morrone stopped Stephen Johnson adding the hosts’ third. That save was key to the visitors turning the game on its head in quick succession. Patrick Harper’s shot rolled across the crease and deflected in off CJ Garcia’s skate to level the game at 30:48, while just over two minutes later Mark Simpson shot neatly through a screen to make it 3-2.
Storm killed a two-minute 5-on-3 to start period three, giving them some momentum after falling behind. After a series of chances, and excellent stops by Morrone including a poke check on a Mitchell Martan breakaway, the home side’s pressure eventually told with Callum Fryer following up a rebound from a Corneil effort to make it a one-goal game with 9:29 to play. The noise levels in the Shelter went up a notch and their team responded – on the powerplay, Joe Morrow crashed a shot home through traffic to tie the game with 2:58 to play.
Both teams taking a point after regulation felt a fair reflection on the game, while in overtime both Weninger and Morrone came up big to keep the game alive. Niklas Nevalainen won it for the Steelers 3:04 into bonus hockey with a shot into the very top corner of Weninger’s net.
Despite already having the league title in the bag, Sheffield Steelers extended the lead at the top to 14 points with a comfortable win against Cardiff Devils in front of 9,266 fans at the Utilita Arena.
Anthony Morrone got his first start in two months and went on to record his first shutout for the Steelers, although the Devils’ attack offered little with only 15 shots over 60 minutes.
There were no goals in a very quick opening period. In fact, the period was the fest recorded this season, logging in at just 24 minutes and 38 seconds Brett Neumann had one of the Steelers’ best chances shorthanded, but the period ended scoreless and without any high-danger scoring chances.
The Steelers outshot their opponents 15-3 in period two and ended it with a three-goal lead to show for their efforts. Daniel Ciampini’s shot 18 seconds into the period hit the post but bounced over the line after hitting Bowns, whose back-reaching glove then knocked the floating puck over the line. Some six minutes later, Bowns thought he’d held a Robert Dowd shot only for it to have rolled loose where Josh Nicholls pushed it over the line. The home side’s excellent period continued when Patrick Harper found a passing lane for Dowd to slot home at the far post on the powerplay at 33:58 as the Devils offered very little going forward.
Mark Simpson finished off Brett Neumann’s feed to score shorthanded at 48:10 for the game’s final goal.
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