Saturday 25th January 2014 - Sheffield Steelers (18-11-3) v Nottingham Panthers (18-10-4) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 7pm
So it was another Saturday hockey night in Sheffield and it was a big crunch match between the Sheffield Steelers and the Nottingham Panthers and it would be Sheffield that would come out 5-2 winners against the old enemy going into the business end of the season.
Frank Doyle was in goal for the home side and Craig Kowalski was back in goal for the Nottingham Panthers after missing the Christmas series through injury. Dean Smith and the game got underway with a large crowd inside the Motorpoint and it would Sheffield's Rob Dowd who would test Kowalski early but would see his shot comfortably saved, it would be a physical start to the game as Lacroix would flatten Clarke with a big hit as Steelers would skate hard towards the net. Nottingham would get the first power play of the night on 1:46 as Jonathan Phillips was called for charging which seemed harsh, Doyle would save early on and then with the clock ticking down on the penalty kill Nottingham would get a 5 on 3 opportunity as Drew Fata was sent to sit down with Phillips for hooking. On 3:28 and with Nottingham on a 5 on 3 power play it would be Leigh Salters who would open the scoring the panthers from close range after a pass from David Clarke. Sheffield would be back to four skaters and it would be a strong penalty kill and would eventually find themselves on the power play after Kalus was thrown into the box for cross checking but Sheffield wouldn't be able to find away past Kowalski and would also get another two chances with the man advantage but wouldn't be able to find the right bounce to beat Kowalski and would allow Nottingham to go 3/3 on the penalty kill but on 15:22 Brent Henley skated off the ice leaving Hewitt to play in the unmarked Tiim Spencer who skates into the Nottingham zone before trying the wrap around which rebounded of Kowalski for Jonathan Phillips to shoot into the empty net to level the score at 1-1. Dean Smith then give Nottingham a power play after Jason Hewitt was deemed guilty of interference which actually looked like a collision that couldn't be avoided. The best chance in the man advantage fell to Nottingham's Lynn Loyns who saw his shot caught by Frank Doyle, David Clarke would put wide of Doyle's goal just as Sheffield was back to full strength and both teams would go into the intermission level at 1-1.
Sheffield would make a strong start the second period with Maxime Lacroix who was playing his first home game since September would try his luck against Kowalski but would see his shot padded out to Legue who couldn't slip the puck into the goal that was followed by Kowalski catching a slap shot of Sirianni. Then on 21:49 the Sheffield captain Steven Goertzen would play a neat 1-2 with DiCasmirro to slow the puck past Kowalski at the near post to give the Steelers a 2-1 lead. Lacroix and Phil Oreskovic would both be called for slashing and we would see some 4 on 4 hockey before Sheffield would go on a 4 on 3 power play after Dowd would put a big hit on Brent Henley before he was hooked by Greg Jacina. Sheffield would finally make the man advantage count and take a 3-1 lead when on 24:01 Drew Fata would receive the puck on the blue line from Goertzen and would fire a wrist shot past Kowalski which was tipped in by Goertzen in front of goal on the delayed penalty. That would be followed by a crazy couple of minutes of penalties as Sheffield would have a 5 on 3 power play for two minutes after Matt Francis and Phil Oreskovic were in the box and then Lacroix would very quickly follow for slashing a decision that Maxime wasn't impressed with and would also receive a 10 minute misconduct penalty for abuse to an official. There would then be a bench minor penalty which would eventually see Nottingham on the 5 on 3 penalty but was successfully killed by the Steelers and we would finally be back to 5 on 5 hockey after Legue was denied by Kowalski. Full Strength hockey wouldn't last long though after we would soon be back to 4 on 4 hockey and just after Dowd put a back hand into the side netting it would be Dowd that would receive the puck of DiCasmirro in between the face off circles and would send a snap shot past Kowalski on 30:49 to give Sheffield a three goal lead midway through the second period. Drew Fata would be skating through the neutral zone and David Clarke seemed to dive of Goertzen and Nottingham would go on the power play as the Steelers captain was put into the box for interference. David Clarke would put wide a golden opportunity when Doyle was beaten but would pick up the puck and skate to the blue line before fire a shot towards goal and it was then tipped by Matt Ryan past Doyle to pull the Panthers within two goals on 36:43. The remainder of the period would fizzle out with the only thing really happening was as big hit by Gord Baldwin on Jonathan Boxill.
The third got underway and the physicality of the first two periods continued through Gord Baldwin finishing a hit of Kalus, and a coming together of Tim Spencer and Brent Henley turned out to be nothing when they both offered each other out but neither actually dropped the gloves all night. Some great passing play between Sirianni and Goertzen would set up DiCasmirro who would just shoot over the goal of Kowalski. With Brent Henley and Phil Oreskovic in the penalty box for the Panthers, Sheffield would called a time-out on 45:18 with a 5 on 3 man advantage for over a minute but would see their best opportunity by Drew Fata brilliantly saved by the Nottingham goaltender. Hill would be hit hard into the benches by David Clarke but Nottingham's newest signing Phil Oreskovic didn't seem to be very impressive after all the big hype during the week. Robert Dowd would be played in on the right hand side and would fire a fierce shot at Kowalski but the loose puck wouldn't be picked up by Lacroix or Langlais in front of goal. Another power play for Nottingham as it was Robert Dowd this time put in the box but Nottingham wouldn't be able to get set up as Baldwin and Spencer would both clear consecutive attacks before a 5 on 3 chance for 22 seconds as Jeff Legue was deemed to have been delaying the game while clearing a puck from his own zone. Sheffield would successfully kill the penalties and Mark Thomas would get involved physically putting Matt Ryan into the boards as well as Jonathan Boxill straight after, DiCasmirro would find himself 1 on 1 going into the final four minutes but his slap shot was saved by Kowalski. Into the final two minutes of the game Steven Goertzen who had been fantastic all night on his 100th Elite League appearance passed to Jeff Legue who shot a slap shot towards goal which would take a wicked deflection to beat Kowalski at 58:35 to give Sheffield a 5-2 lead. Sheffield would see out the remainder of the game shorthanded but would go on to beat the old enemy 5-2.
FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 5-2 Nottingham Panthers
Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Sheffield - 1-3-1-0-[32]-{1/8}-28
So it was another Saturday hockey night in Sheffield and it was a big crunch match between the Sheffield Steelers and the Nottingham Panthers and it would be Sheffield that would come out 5-2 winners against the old enemy going into the business end of the season.
Frank Doyle was in goal for the home side and Craig Kowalski was back in goal for the Nottingham Panthers after missing the Christmas series through injury. Dean Smith and the game got underway with a large crowd inside the Motorpoint and it would Sheffield's Rob Dowd who would test Kowalski early but would see his shot comfortably saved, it would be a physical start to the game as Lacroix would flatten Clarke with a big hit as Steelers would skate hard towards the net. Nottingham would get the first power play of the night on 1:46 as Jonathan Phillips was called for charging which seemed harsh, Doyle would save early on and then with the clock ticking down on the penalty kill Nottingham would get a 5 on 3 opportunity as Drew Fata was sent to sit down with Phillips for hooking. On 3:28 and with Nottingham on a 5 on 3 power play it would be Leigh Salters who would open the scoring the panthers from close range after a pass from David Clarke. Sheffield would be back to four skaters and it would be a strong penalty kill and would eventually find themselves on the power play after Kalus was thrown into the box for cross checking but Sheffield wouldn't be able to find away past Kowalski and would also get another two chances with the man advantage but wouldn't be able to find the right bounce to beat Kowalski and would allow Nottingham to go 3/3 on the penalty kill but on 15:22 Brent Henley skated off the ice leaving Hewitt to play in the unmarked Tiim Spencer who skates into the Nottingham zone before trying the wrap around which rebounded of Kowalski for Jonathan Phillips to shoot into the empty net to level the score at 1-1. Dean Smith then give Nottingham a power play after Jason Hewitt was deemed guilty of interference which actually looked like a collision that couldn't be avoided. The best chance in the man advantage fell to Nottingham's Lynn Loyns who saw his shot caught by Frank Doyle, David Clarke would put wide of Doyle's goal just as Sheffield was back to full strength and both teams would go into the intermission level at 1-1.
Sheffield would make a strong start the second period with Maxime Lacroix who was playing his first home game since September would try his luck against Kowalski but would see his shot padded out to Legue who couldn't slip the puck into the goal that was followed by Kowalski catching a slap shot of Sirianni. Then on 21:49 the Sheffield captain Steven Goertzen would play a neat 1-2 with DiCasmirro to slow the puck past Kowalski at the near post to give the Steelers a 2-1 lead. Lacroix and Phil Oreskovic would both be called for slashing and we would see some 4 on 4 hockey before Sheffield would go on a 4 on 3 power play after Dowd would put a big hit on Brent Henley before he was hooked by Greg Jacina. Sheffield would finally make the man advantage count and take a 3-1 lead when on 24:01 Drew Fata would receive the puck on the blue line from Goertzen and would fire a wrist shot past Kowalski which was tipped in by Goertzen in front of goal on the delayed penalty. That would be followed by a crazy couple of minutes of penalties as Sheffield would have a 5 on 3 power play for two minutes after Matt Francis and Phil Oreskovic were in the box and then Lacroix would very quickly follow for slashing a decision that Maxime wasn't impressed with and would also receive a 10 minute misconduct penalty for abuse to an official. There would then be a bench minor penalty which would eventually see Nottingham on the 5 on 3 penalty but was successfully killed by the Steelers and we would finally be back to 5 on 5 hockey after Legue was denied by Kowalski. Full Strength hockey wouldn't last long though after we would soon be back to 4 on 4 hockey and just after Dowd put a back hand into the side netting it would be Dowd that would receive the puck of DiCasmirro in between the face off circles and would send a snap shot past Kowalski on 30:49 to give Sheffield a three goal lead midway through the second period. Drew Fata would be skating through the neutral zone and David Clarke seemed to dive of Goertzen and Nottingham would go on the power play as the Steelers captain was put into the box for interference. David Clarke would put wide a golden opportunity when Doyle was beaten but would pick up the puck and skate to the blue line before fire a shot towards goal and it was then tipped by Matt Ryan past Doyle to pull the Panthers within two goals on 36:43. The remainder of the period would fizzle out with the only thing really happening was as big hit by Gord Baldwin on Jonathan Boxill.
The third got underway and the physicality of the first two periods continued through Gord Baldwin finishing a hit of Kalus, and a coming together of Tim Spencer and Brent Henley turned out to be nothing when they both offered each other out but neither actually dropped the gloves all night. Some great passing play between Sirianni and Goertzen would set up DiCasmirro who would just shoot over the goal of Kowalski. With Brent Henley and Phil Oreskovic in the penalty box for the Panthers, Sheffield would called a time-out on 45:18 with a 5 on 3 man advantage for over a minute but would see their best opportunity by Drew Fata brilliantly saved by the Nottingham goaltender. Hill would be hit hard into the benches by David Clarke but Nottingham's newest signing Phil Oreskovic didn't seem to be very impressive after all the big hype during the week. Robert Dowd would be played in on the right hand side and would fire a fierce shot at Kowalski but the loose puck wouldn't be picked up by Lacroix or Langlais in front of goal. Another power play for Nottingham as it was Robert Dowd this time put in the box but Nottingham wouldn't be able to get set up as Baldwin and Spencer would both clear consecutive attacks before a 5 on 3 chance for 22 seconds as Jeff Legue was deemed to have been delaying the game while clearing a puck from his own zone. Sheffield would successfully kill the penalties and Mark Thomas would get involved physically putting Matt Ryan into the boards as well as Jonathan Boxill straight after, DiCasmirro would find himself 1 on 1 going into the final four minutes but his slap shot was saved by Kowalski. Into the final two minutes of the game Steven Goertzen who had been fantastic all night on his 100th Elite League appearance passed to Jeff Legue who shot a slap shot towards goal which would take a wicked deflection to beat Kowalski at 58:35 to give Sheffield a 5-2 lead. Sheffield would see out the remainder of the game shorthanded but would go on to beat the old enemy 5-2.
FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 5-2 Nottingham Panthers
Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Sheffield - 1-3-1-0-[32]-{1/8}-28
Nottingham - 1-1-0-0-[20]-{2/9}-23
Sheffield Man of the Match: #18 Steven Goertzen
Nottingham Man of the Match: #26 Brandon Benedict
Sheffield would improve to 19-11-3 and move above Nottingham in the standings and could move up to second if they would beat Coventry on Sunday in another elite league fixture.
Thanks for reading guys. Any questions or comments please get in contact with the Frozen Steel Team on this article or via Twitter:-
@IAmMcCausland
@TomWalkeden
@AwkwardGinge
@FrozenSteelBlog
or Email the team at frozen.steel.91@Gmail.com
Keep Supporting The Boys!!
Tom
@TomWalkeden
Sheffield would improve to 19-11-3 and move above Nottingham in the standings and could move up to second if they would beat Coventry on Sunday in another elite league fixture.
Thanks for reading guys. Any questions or comments please get in contact with the Frozen Steel Team on this article or via Twitter:-
@IAmMcCausland
@TomWalkeden
@AwkwardGinge
@FrozenSteelBlog
or Email the team at frozen.steel.91@Gmail.com
Keep Supporting The Boys!!
Tom
@TomWalkeden
No comments:
Post a Comment