Sheffield v Cardiff Double Header Part 1: Match Report

Saturday 21st December 2013 - Sheffield Steelers (12-9-2) v Cardiff Devils (9-12-1) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 7pm

The Steelers take on Cardiff this weekend home and away and will be looking for four points after a dreadful weekend last week against Belfast and Coventry, Cardiff will also be looking for the points to move them further up the table. Jeff Legue and Robert Dowd return for the Steelers and Dustin Kohn is a match time decision on whether he plays and if he does it will be only the third time all season the Sheffield Steelers have been at full strength. Cardiff's new goaltender Phil Cook will be making his debut tonight after Dan Lacosta had to announce his retirement during the week after medical advice.

Legue, Dowd and Kohn all back in the line-up with Frank Doyle in goal for the Steelers and Phil Cook making his Elite League debut for the Cardiff Devils. Mike Hicks was the man in the middle and the game live on Premier Sports got underway and Frank Doyle would be the first person called upon when he'd make a sprawling save across his goal crease to deny a Devils goal scoring opportunity and just before that Dustin Kohn who was making his return to the team would be putting up a few block shots. Steven Geortzen would be next to try his luck but after skating through the Devils defencive line but it would result in the puck being poked of his stick, Drew Fata would take the first penalty of the game as he was called for tripping on 2:14 which on first sight seemed a harsh call but the Steelers would kill that penalty and not even 20 seconds later Fata would be back in the box as he was called for interference next to the benches. Cardiff would win the draw and 6 seconds in the power play on 4:33 Tomas Kurka would send a slap shot which would defect of Legue's stick and beat Doyle to open the scoring. Sheffield would try and get themselves back on the front foot and Robert Dowd would put some pressure in on goal and Phil Cook would be called upon and make a good puck catch. On 8:30 things would get worse for Sheffield as Frank Doyle would poke the puck away and find himself caught out of goal but would still get a pad onto the shot of Matthew Myers in front of goal but it wouldn't be enough and Cardiff would lead 2-0. Phil Cook would make two fantastic saves just before the Steelers got their first power play chance of the night as Quiney went for tripping and of the draw Baldwin would receive the puck on the boards before sending a big wrist shot and would beat Phil Cook to score a power play goal on 12:08. Sheffield wouldn't stop their and 13:46 Sirianni would link up with DiCasmirro who would send a back hand pass in front of goal and Rob Dowd would connect and beat Cook through the right arm to level the game at 2-2. The momentum had suddenly swung in the way of the home team and would get another to opportunities and Legue and Geortzen would go close and the slightest touch on the puck would have most definitely put Steelers in the lead. Devils would take a 3-2 lead into the break when on 17:44 a bad bounce of the pad of Doyle would hit the skate of Fata and before the Steelers knew Mac Faulkner had stole the puck and easily slotted it into the goal.

Sheffield would start the second period with 1:03 remaining on the power play and two big opportunities would fall for Meyer and Dowd as they was looking for the equaliser but Cook would stand big in his crease and deny both scoring chances. Cardiff were having to work hard on their own blue line when Spencer skated into the Devils zone and attempted to hold the puck up for Geortzen to shoot over the glass. Sheffield would bring themselves back into the game when on 28:14 a pass from Dustin Kohn would find the British Bulldog who would rifle the puck towards goal and would go in of Jonathan Phillips and beat Phil Cook over the left shoulder to level the game at 3-3. The game wouldn't be tied for long as Drew Fata would receive the puck of Geortzen and would skate around the goal all the way round to the blue line before sending a snap shot towards goal and would beat Cook after a deflection of Richardson and the Steelers would lead for the first time of the night at the score at 4-3 on 30:18. Cardiff would then call a time out and it seemed to help the Devils as Doyle had to make a good save as Birbraer took a shot at him as well as Ben Davies forcing a big glove save out of Doyle which then resulted in a bit of pushing and shoving between players but before that the Sheffield fans were treated to the best shift of the night as it looked like the Steelers had iced the puck, Rob Dowd put the accelerator on from his own zone to beat the Devils defender to the puck which was met with a big cheer from the home fans. The game started to heat up as Ben Davies would put on his back by Mark Thomas and it looked like Davies was looking for a fight but Thomas wasn't interested. Doyle would be called upon one last time in the 2nd just as a Steelers power play was killed the Devils broke 3 on 1 but wouldn't be able to beat the always improving Frank Doyle.

The third period was delayed as the officials had to wait for the game to back on the air and when we got going its safe to say that the Steelers comfortably dominated the final sessions as Sirianni was played in by Dowd and would be denied to Cook, it would then be Dowds turn to try his luck but his shot was padded wide by the Devils Goaltender who probably hadn't had the best debut in Sheffield. Cardiff would get a power play attempt and wouldn't get any clear cut goal scoring chances in fact it would be the short handed team that would get the best opportunity as former Devil Phil Hill would steal the puck and would eventually have his shot saved on the breakaway to the left of the goal. On 45:11 Mac Faulkner would be put in the box for 2+2 for accidental high sticks on Nate DiCasmirro but the Steelers would only be on the power play for 3:10 of the four minutes as Kohn was already in the box for tripping a decision which added to the poor ones made by Mike Hicks through out the game and one would soon be added to that with just over 8 minutes remaining in the game Jason Hewitt found himself on a breakaway before being cross checked from behind and instead of giving the obvious choice of a penalty shot Liimatainen received two minutes in the penalty box a decision that baffled all the home fans in attendance at the game and probably all watching on Premier Sports. Cardiff would pull Phil Cook with just over 40 seconds remaining in the game with the hope that the extra skater would help level the game but Frank Doyle, Gord Baldwin and the Sheffield Steelers would see out the game to win their final home game before Christmas.

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 4-3 Cardiff Devils

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Sheffield - 2-2-0-[8]-{1/7}-28
Cardiff   - 3-0-0-[14]-{1/4}-34

Sheffield Man of the Match: #75 Robert Dowd
Cardiff Man of the Match: #11 Mac Faulkner

A big win for the Sheffield Steelers after two defeats last weekend and it also sees them move up to fourth as Nottingham would lose 7-5 in Hull. Sheffield would improve to 13-9-2 and will meet Cardiff on the Sunday evening in the Big Blue Tent in Cardiff before the Christmas Series with Nottingham on Boxing Day and the 28th.

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