Thursday 27 February 2014

Adams Signs On - Will He G Them Up For The Playoffs?

So we all awoke this morning to the news that nobody in the hockey fraternity had any idea about in the slightest...in no way...it was a secret right?

Anyway yes, Gerad Adams is back in Sheffield, signing up as coach until the end of the season. Steven Goertzen will be his assistant, and together their intention is to make a charge for the playoffs.

(Btw, I make no apologies for the headline. Puntastic)

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Steelers Fans Forum Summary And Analysis

Apologies in advance, this isn't being written first-hand. I live in Scarborough, I'm not going to travel down to Sheffield for a Q&A unless they're providing cake and coffee.

But many Steelers fans did attend, and thank you to both Alan, and Samantha Dale on Twitter for keeping us all updated.

3 Months On - A State of Frozen Steel Address

Its a little over 3 months since I decided I'd start to write about my hockey team. I didn't realise what kind of beast I'd create.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think we'd get over 600 Twitter followers, get praise from some of the best hockey writers in the country, and get recognition from players - both new and old. We've had over 13000 pages views - that's mental.

I think with subjective writing, you're going to ruffle a few feathers, and if we've overly upset anybody I apologise, it wasn't the intention. We just say what we see - and sometimes it hurts to see it.

I want to thank everybody who has read the blog, shared what we've written, argued the toss with us, whatever. If you've read what we've done, thank you from the bottom of my heart. The same goes to the players who have been interviewed - they have taken more time to answer than I ever thought, and have all been superb and answered all questions asked of them. I can't thank them enough.

Over the next few weeks, expect some season wrapping up articles from myself, Tom, and Alan. But we'd like more input from you, the fans of the Sheffield Steelers. We're a fansite - not just for us to get on our soapboxes - although admittedly that happens a lot. We want fan input, and would love to hear from you.

Don't forget our planned meet and trip to Hull on March 23rd. There's a thread on the Frozen Steel Forum that can be found HERE. We'll be doing some recording for the first of hopefully many webisodes that I intend to record. If you want to talk about the team, the season or even just the day out, make sure you get in touch and let me know who I'm looking for when I land at the Most Versatile Venue. The show also needs a name - I'm not calling it Frozen Steel TV because it is not going to be a Cats Whiskers ripoff. At all. I promise. Honestly.

I promised everyone a competition when we reached 500 followers - I haven't forgotten. Cross Check Clothing and EIHL Jewellery have offered to donate prizes, anyone else who would like to throw something into the goody bag - DM us on Twitter or email frozen.steel.91@gmail.com and we'll let you know what we're doing with it. The competition will come at the end of the season, so keep an eye out for it.

Tonight's fan forum is expected to welcome a new coach, and another new era to the Sheffield Steelers. Lets hope it's not a false dawn.

Liam
@IAmMcCausland
@TomWalkeden
@AwkwardGinge

Frozen Steel Player Of The Month - February 2014

This month, we had a fair spread of votes. This may be because of the lacklustre performances some of you all suffered through, or maybe the team played about as bad as each other.

Thank you to the 14% of people who voted Andy Jaszcyzk's 1 minute clean sheet as worthy of the Player of the Month title. This is what happens when I let people vote with anonymity.

Anyway, without further ado, your Sheffield Steelers Frozen Steel Player of the Month is.....

Monday 24 February 2014

Panthers Win Final Visit To Sheffield: (EIHL) Match Report

Sunday 23rd February 2013 - Sheffield Steelers (24-14-4) v Nottingham Panthers (21-15-6) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 5pm

Nottingham Panthers final visit to the Motorpoint in the elite league for the season and would leave with both points after an empty net goal would secure the 3-1 win against Sheffield.

Frank Doyle and Craig Kowalski were in goal for their respective teams, Mark Thomas and Steven Goertzen were still out injured but were both on the bench, Tom Darnell was announced as ref with a big cheer by the crowd and the game got underway. The 1st period started pretty even with good opportunities falling to both teams when DiCasmirro would put his effort wide and after some good skating by D man Dustin Kohn he played in Lacroix who saw his shot padded wide by Kowalski, Leigh Salters would receive the puck and break down the left to pass to Lachowicz who shot from just in front of goal to form a fantastic save out of Frank Doyle to keep the scores level. Stefan Meyer would see a golden chance go missing as Tim Spencer would take a shot from the blue only for the puck to drop to the stick of Meyer but couldn't put the puck over the pad of Kowalski for him to only cover up. Doyle would be next to give Nottingham a goal scoring chance as he would give Nottingham an open goal to shoot at only for Baldwin to deny them, Nottingham would get the first power play of the night as Lacroix was called two minutes for hooking and it would be a strong penalty kill. When Sheffield were back to full strength Legue skated coast to coast only to see his back hand effort go wide but on 10:19 Baldwin played to Spencer who fired a snapshot from the blue line for Robert Dowd to tip past Kowalski for the 1st goal of the game. There would be a coming together between Jason Hewitt and Robert Farmer next to the benches after a slash by the Nottingham forward that would see the two drop the gloves with Farmer getting the first set of punches in followed by Hewitt landing some big ones on Farmer on 14:14, Sheffield wouldn't be able to make the power play count and as Nottingham got back to full strength Lynn Loyns would skate into the Sheffield zone firing a wrist shot past Doyle to level the score at 1-1 on 16:18. Both teams would go into the break all square as Lacroix saw the final shot of the period meet the glove of Kowalski.
End of the 1st Period: Sheffield Steelers 1-1 Nottingham Panthers

There would be a delayed start to the second period as we was awaiting the return of the Nottingham Panthers back onto the Ice as they seem to take there time, Once underway Gord Baldwin would have the first shot of the session only to see his attempt covered up by Kowalski but just over two minutes into the period Lynn Loyns would play to Leigh Salters who would skate behind the goal and score on the wrap around to give Nottingham a 2-1 lead. Sheffield would soon be defending again very quickly as Panthers would go for goal again only for Drew Fata to clear the puck off the line. Nottingham would get a power play opportunity with Phil Hill in the box and it would be a very dominate power play with Sheffield struggling to get hold of the puck and clear the zone until eventually Nate DiCasmirro finds himself on the breakaway only to be taken down and awarded a penalty shot, DiCasmirro would be the taker and would see Kowalski save his penalty shot. There would be chances at either end with both goaltenders handling the shots comfortably, Sheffield would have a power play but Kohn would have to defend well to deny a short handed Nottingham but a good opportunity fell to Legue who saw his shot saved and rebound out to Blight who saw his shot covered up.
End of the 2nd Period: Sheffield Steelers 1-2 Nottingham Panthers

Third and final period got underway and Kowalski was almost caught out of his crease when he was too slow returning but Sheffield somehow couldn't get a shot of into the empty net, Fata would shoot from the blue line before Kalus had the opportunity to break only to see his shot go straight into the body of Kowalski. There was a big goal line scramble where Kowalski was beaten with several Sheffield players around the crease the puck somehow didn't cross the line. Petr Kalus would skate himself onto a breakaway but couldn't get past Kalus then again it would be Kalus causing problems when Doyle had to dive out of his crease to poke check to puck away. On 59:10 with Lynn Loyns in the box for tripping and Sheffield on the power play they pulled Doyle on 58:58 so it was 6 on 4 for Sheffield but Kalus would skate down the right beating Legue to play to Farmer who backhanded it into the empty net.

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 1-3 Nottingham Panthers

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Sheffield      - 1-0-0-0-[11]-{0/5}-25
Nottingham - 1-1-1-0-[15]-{0/3}-24

Sheffield Man of the Match: #75 Robert Dowd
Nottingham Man of the Match: #24 Leigh Salters

Referee: #9 Tom Darnell
Referee:
Linesman: #31 Ally Flockhart
Linesman: #23 Lee Young

A hard one to take, a good team performance did everything right but just couldn't get what they deserved and on a rare occasion I saw the disappointment in Goertzen face as he was stood outside the changing rooms after the game and just the look on his face showed how much this means to him and even though its been a tough season it made me even more proud to be a Steeler fan. Next up for the Steelers is the final game with Nottingham at the NIC on Saturday followed by a game live on premier sports at home to Cardiff on the Sunday.

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
(Follow me on Twitter for Live Updates on Games)

I'm Bloody Sick Of Writing Steelers Vs Panthers

When I first started writing this blog, I had an idea of making it a big fan hub, full of game information and all sorts of factoids that the club don't provide. However, I have quickly hit a wall.

Quite frankly, there's only so many times you can write game previews when you're playing the same teams over and over and over. Just look at our February fixtures.

Saturday 22 February 2014

Steelers Set Up Crunch Match With A Win v Braehead: Game Recap

Saturday 22nd February 2013 - Braehead Clan (22-15-6) v Sheffield Steelers (23-14-4) @ Braehead Arena. Face off: 7pm

Braehead took the after 49 seconds when Matt Towe scored after an assist from Ash Goldie but on 3:21 things got better for the Glasgow based team when Ed McGrane assisted by Neil Trimm and Scott Aarssen scored to make it 2-0. With Ed McGrane in the box for delay of the game Christ Blight linked up with Jeff Legue and Dustin Kohn to score a power play and bring Sheffield within one goal on 6:36. Sheffield would level the score at 2-2 on 10:18 when Robert Dowd scored after assists from Nate DiCasmirro and D man Drew Fata. It wouldn't last for long though when 11:59 Ed McGrane scored his second of the game assisted by Joel Champagne and Neil Trimm to put Braehead 3-2.
End of the 1st Period: Braehead Clan 3-2 Sheffield Steelers

Going into the second period it didn't take Sheffield to level the score again when on 21:33 Steelers forward Robert Dowd scored his second of the game with assists from Stefan Meyer and Tim Spencer and it was a period going by without incident 36:27 former Devil Chris Blight also scored his second of the game to put the Steelers 4-3 up assisted by Jeff Legue and Danny Meyers and that made it with three different players on a hat trick. McGrane for Clan and Dowd and Blight for Sheffield. Sheffield extended their lead on 38:21 when Jeff Legue who already had two assists to his name scored Sheffield's fifth goal of the game assisted by Chris Blight and Maxime Lacroix.
End of the 2nd Period: Breahead Clan 3-5 Sheffield Steelers

Third Period wasn't as goal filled as the previous two but their was one goal and it came for the Steelers to make it 6-3 on 42:42 when Gord Baldwin scored assisted by Maxime Lacroix, Braehead did get two power play attempts when Drew Fata was called for roughing and then Chad Langlais was called for hooking with 46 seconds left in the game.

FINAL SCORE: Braehead Clan 3-6 Sheffield Steelers

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Braehead   - 3-0-0-0-[6]-{0/3}-38
Sheffield    - 2-3-1-0-[6]-{1/3}-31

Braehead Man of the Match: #74 Matt Towe
Sheffield Man of the Match: #57 Chris Blight

Referee: #13 Scott Dalgleish
Referee:
Linesman: #8 Dave Farren
Linesman: #31 Ally Flockhart

A massive two points for the Steelers to move them two points clear in second place with still two games in hand on the Braehead Clan and next up is the Nottingham Panthers at the Motorpoint arena.

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
(Follow me on Twitter for Live Updates on Games)

Friday 21 February 2014

Jason Hewitt Reaches 100 Goals - A Frozen Steel Tribute

Bulldog. Warrior. Leader.

There have been many words used to describe Jason Hewitt (not all complimentary, myself included). But now you can add 'centurion'.

His goal on Wednesday night's 7-1 demolition of Cardiff saw Hewitt score his 100th goal in the Elite League, which is no mean feat.

Thursday 20 February 2014

Magnificent Seven v Devils: Match Report

Wednesday 19th February 2013 - Sheffield Steelers (22-14-4) v Cardiff Devils (21-20-1) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 7:30pm

Sheffield at home to the Devils with two very important points at stake with second place to play for, Sheffield had to make it up to the fans for their performances in the challenge cup semi-finals and what a performance it was and didn't the players play the Steelers way!

The Sheffield Steelers Merry-go-round - An "Awkward" Analysis

Hello folks! It's been a while!

I think we're all pretty aware of the crazy events of the last week or so but I've waited a short while before blogging again to see how things have panned out in the wake of some big changes.

I'll start with Marc LeFebvre leaving the club, followed by Doug Christiansen's sacking, then go onto last nights performance (if you can even call it that...) and then finish with how things turned out tonight.

It's gonna be a long one, so make sure the kettle is boiled and prop your feet up with a nice cuppa.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Panthers Cruise Past Steelers Into The Final (Cup 2nd Leg): Match Report

Tuesday 18th February 2013 - Nottingham Panthers (10-1-0) v Sheffield Steelers (7-4-0) @ National Ice Center. Face off: 7.30pm

Biggest game of the season, biggest performance of the season so far with a two goal deficit to turnover in Nottingham. Was it too much to ask?

The View From On High - @Panthers (18/2/14)

Liam McCausland looks back on the second leg of the Challenge Cup Semi.

This could so easily have been called "What Went Wrong Last Night" but I went for a bit of continuity.

I'm ashamed to say that last night was my first in the flesh game since Boxing Day, and I had high hopes of, if not winning the tie, certainly winning the game last night. Erm....yeah...


Game Preview: vs Cardiff (EIHL 19/2/14)

Can we just forget last night ever happened? Yes? Brilliant, thank you.
I'll get to the capitulation later on tonight, but for now we welcome the Devils and their new permanent coach Dave Whistle to the Motorpoint.

Tuesday 18 February 2014

GAME PREVIEW: @Panthers (18/2/14) CC Semi Final 2nd Leg

We come to you live from the mean streets of Nottingham, England...ok I'm in a KFC but still. Your intrepid reporter has journeyed south for the second leg of the Challenge Cup semi final. The playing field has somewhat changed since last week, with the first leg defeat being the final act of the Doug Christiansen era.

Sunday 16 February 2014

Devils Penalty Shots Crown Giants Champions v Steelers: Game Recap

Sunday 16th February 2013 - Cardiff Devils (20-20-1) v Sheffield Steelers (22-14-3) @ Cardiff Bay Ice Rink. Face off: 6pm

A win of any kind for Cardiff and a defeat for Dundee Stars in regulation would crown Belfast Giants champions with still over a month to play of league matches.

Cardiff would score the first goal of the night on the delayed penalty after Jake Morrisette would open the scoring after assists from the captain Mac Faulkner and Matthew Myers at 8:41 in the game. and Sheffield would have the only power play of the first period as Tyson Marsh was called for charging on 12:55 but Steelers wouldn't be able to make it count and would go into the 1st Interval 1-0 down in Cardiff.

Sheffield came out for the second period on the front foot and with Chris Jones in the penalty box for slashing allowed Chad Langlais to pop up at 23:10 to score the equalising goal on the power play after assists from Jeff Legue and Maxime Lacroix and then not long after that Sheffield would get another power play attempt with Tyson Marsh in the box for a high stick but they wouldn't be able to score in the man advantage but unfortunately for the Sheffield Steelers player/coach and captain Steven Goertzen goes down injured after a collision with a Cardiff player and eventually left the ice with assistant and went straight to the medical room. Devils would have two power play attempts as Danny Meyers and Lacroix were both called for slashing and on the second man advantage Mac Faulkner put the Devils back ahead with assists being credited to Ziga Svete and Andrew Lord and then just two minutes later on 37:47 Tim Spencer were level the score assisted by Langlais and Phillips. There would be a "fight" between Baldwin and Myers where both would receive five minute penalties and as well as some 4 on 4 hockey as Lacroix and Plumpton were deemed to be roughing followed by Dustin Kohn which left Cardiff to finish the period on the power play but it would still be level at 2-2.

Going into the third period there was no goals added to the score line only there power play chances one for the Steelers as Brad Plumton went for cross checking and then it was two chances for Cardiff as Drew Fata was called for hooking and Nate DiCasmirro was called for tripping but still no goals were added and the game would go to overtime where still there was no goals and it only needed a Cardiff win to secure Belfast Giants the league title.

So the game went to penalty shots and for the Steelers Chris Blight and Jeff Legue would not be able to beat Kosowski but both Morrisette and Birbraer would score to secure Devils the second point and hand the Elite League championship to Belfast.

FINAL SCORE: Cardiff Devils 3-2 Sheffield Steelers (PS)

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Cardiff     - 1-1-0-0-[15]-{1/5}-35
Sheffield   - 0-2-0-0-[17]-{1/4}-30

Cardiff Man of the Match: #8 Matthew Myers
Sheffield Man of the Match: #2 Chad Langlais

Referee: #26 Dean Smith
Referee:
Linesman: #15 Sam Motton
Linesman: #14 James Kavanagh

Sheffield go down on the penalty shots in Cardiff and not for the first time this season and it was a defeat that officially crowned the Belfast Giants as the champions of the 2013/2014 Elite League where they have been the most consistent team all season only losing a total of 7 games in the league to date.

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

Friday 14 February 2014

Big Doug Christiansen Sacked!!

So at 4:30pm the news that shocked everyone involved with the Sheffield Steelers was announced and that was that Doug Christiansen had been released by the club.

I think its safe to say that its been a very inconsistent season and even though Doug wasn't expected to win anything this year but Tony Smith just wasn't happy with the team performances for week and lets be honest guys all season we have been miles away from where we should be despite the dominance of Belfast. Take the Belfast weekend for example and actually many other games there has been games where we have been so dominate and just haven't been able to find a way to score enough goals to win games and there is a lot of games that we've lost that we should have win, Maybe its his tactics? Maybe its his man management? but at the end of the day its a result driven business and when it matter we just haven't been getting the results. Yes were third in the league, Yes were in a challenge cup semi-final, Yes were in for a shout for the playoffs! But like I've already said so many times this season we haven't performed when it really matters and Tony Smith has had to make a decision that is best for the club to try and get them results and keep the fans happy! For example at the final buzzer last night I saw a fan go down near the bench to say something to Doug and all I caught of what he said is that it isn't good enough. Does this gentleman have a point? Tony Smith seems to think he does.

In an Interview on BBC Sheffield at 5:20pm Tony said that the decision wasn't taken after later nights result and that he hasn't been happy with the team performances for weeks and then he spoke about how its a result driven business and he has to keep the fans happy because just like in any sport the fans come first, He said he didn't have anyone in mind as an immediate replacement but there had been several applicants within the hour of the news being released. Tony Smith said that when he appointed Doug back in April he thought he was the right man to take us forward and now were in February he believes that he made the wrong decision and admits that and he also said that him and Doug sat down during the afternoon and spoke about the decision and Tony said he is doing what he thinks is best for the Steelers. Tony also spoke about how he wants to get fans back in the building and at the moment the teams just are not playing the type of hockey that will attract fans to games to get attendances back up.

There has been mixed reactions on this decision today especially on social media like twitter for example and I've got a few peoples opinions on the decision as well a tweet by Shaun Smith that I'm going to quote which was very interesting:-

Shaun Smith @Smith_S08 wrote:

Interesting responses to release of Doug. Deep down this should have come sooner. Nice guy but not for Steelers #truth

Andrew Gibson @Steelergibbo wrote:

Doug was just the wrong man for the job. Tony has admitted he made a mistake. right decision for me. now it's time to move on

Diane Sockeet @Bigd173 wrote:

Why did smith not sack him sooner if he was not happy. At least we may have had a chance of CC. Now what!!

Dorian Franklin @dozfranklin wrote:

Timing is right if you think of saving PlayOff's after losing CC Semi Final like we did #DifferentView

Kirky Steeler @KirkyS12 wrote:

Things were not right, better to make a decision now than carry on when you know what the problem is Shaun Smiths tweets are revealing.

Tom Duroe @TommyLee_93 wrote:

DC sacking in my opinion, wrong move and bad timing. Players fault for not turning up not his. Now we have no coaching staff leading up to 2nd leg of cc semi final. It's a joke, This organisation is a laughing stock, If he was disappointed with DC why not let him go earlier instead of this late. And personally deserved at least a year

And the final one was wrote by Joe Hattersley @JoeHattersley in which I think was the best tweet of the day:

Whether you agree with the sacking or not. Tony Smith has got to be applauded for having the balls to do this. As he says the fans come first.

Captain Steven Goertzen is in temporary charge while the Steelers look for a replacement for Doug Christiansen and I would like to put on record my thanks to DC for his effort and commitment to the Sheffield Steelers, it is just one of them things that didn't work out and I want to wish him all the best for his future coaching roles and especially with Great Britain.

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

Thursday 13 February 2014

De Ja-vu - Steelers Go Down In The 1st Leg (Cup 1st Leg): Match Report

Wednesday 12th February 2013 - Sheffield Steelers (7-3-0) v Nottingham Panthers (9-1-0) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 7:30pm

Sheffield v Nottingham, a big semi-final game and it would be the same story as the final the year before as Sheffield would need to go to Nottingham needing to win by 2+ goals.

Christiansen Canned

Before I go any further, I want to put on record my thanks to Doug Christiansen for his time in charge of the Sheffield Steelers. While not the most popular man, he never came to Sheffield with the intention of not leading us to success and victory, it just didn't work out. I wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

So he's gone. Big Budget Doug has bitten the bullet for inconsistent form, underperformance from players, poor systems and a big dose of dull, uninspiring hockey. We've all seen this coming for some time, and its clear that DC is not a good fit for the Steelers. Lets regroup, appoint a coach we know can deliver success, and try to salvage our season...

...is what I would have written in December, if Tony Smith had bowed to fan opinion (like he says he has today) and removed Christiansen from his post back then.

Frozen Steel Meets: Tom Squires

Fresh from his release from the Hull Stingrays, and his subsequent signing by the Sheffield Steeldogs, we spoke to ex-Steeler, and friend of the blog, Tom Squires, about his experiences in the UK Hockey system.

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Game Preview: CC Semi Final 1st Leg

So I've been whining recently that games haven't massively mattered, mostly due to the sheer dominance of the Belfast Giants. So it makes a refreshing change for something to be on the line tonight, even if it is another game against the Panthers.

They hold the current bragging rights, after the 5-2 walkover in the NIC. Sunday's result should have boosted confidence though, especially in 4 goal Stefan Meyer.

The game is preceded by news that Marc LeFebvre has become the head coach of the Coventry Blaze - I'll talk about this later in the week but for now we wish him well and look forward to a hockey game of some actual relevance.

Steelers Team News
Well once again, two key injuries and no status reports. Mark Thomas and Robert Dowd were both absent from the lineup on Sunday, and your guess is as good as mine to if they'll play tonight.

The more curious case is that of Jeff Legue, who was a healthy scratch for Sunday's 5-1 defeat of Coventry. A lot depends on the status of Thomas as to whether he'd get back in the team for me - I'm of the school of thought that you shouldn't change a winning team for anybody, even Jeff Legue. But Doug will know his mind and decide accordingly.

Prediction
Put a pin in a board. Which Steelers side will turn up? We do seem to perform in the games that matter, and I think in one-off games we can beat anybody. Lets hope we can win two one-offs and win the second leg too.

Tonight, I'm going Steelers 4-2 Panthers in the hope of having a little bit of a lead to take to the NIC next Tuesday.

Cheers folks, you know the drill.

@FrozenSteelBlog
@IAmMcCausland
@AwkwardGinge
@TomWalkeden

Sunday 9 February 2014

Steelers Bounce Back Against Blaze: Match Report

Sunday 9th February 2013 - Sheffield Steelers (21-14-3) v Coventry Blaze (17-15-6) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 5pm

What a difference 24 hours makes!! A terrible performance in Nottingham on the Saturday followed by a very convincing 5-1 win against Coventry at the Motorpoint on the Sunday for a two point weekend.

Baldwin and DiCasmirro were back for the Steelers, Legue, Dowd and Thomas sit out, the game however got underway without referee Mike Hicks. The game started without incident with both teams having some good offensive pressure and it wouldn't be till the Steelers third power play opportunity on 12:15 when a defensive mistake allowed Shea Guthrie to skate on through on a breakaway only to beat Doyle on the backhand to give the visitors a one goal lead shorthanded and at the time of the goal Sheffield were struggling to do the simple things right. Coventry wasn't ahead for long when on 14:53 Chris Blight would skate behind the net to pass to Baldwin on the blue line who would fire a snapshot only for Stefan Meyer to tip it past Mike Zacharias for his first of the night. The Blaze would come close to take the lead towards the end of the 1st period when a shot by Steven Chalmers took a deflection of a Steeler onto the crossbar and then just after Frank Doyle would have to glove a Adam Henrich shot wide. Both teams would go into the 1st break all square after a slightly dull first period.

Second period would start and Sheffield would come out firing, with the Steelers on the power play after Shea Guthrie was called for interference Stefan Meyer would score his second of the night on the power play beating Zacharias after passes from Langlais and Kohn on 21:00. Coventry would have a great chance to get back into the game with Hill and Hewitt both in the box it allowed the Blaze with a 5 on 3 power play for just under a minute but Coventry would struggle to set up as the Sheffield penalty kill was very aggressive and stayed in the face of the Coventry forwards continuously, as Sheffield were getting back to full strength the captain Steven Goertzen would lead from the front and lay a big hit down on Tanaka and Sheffield would continue to put pressure on the Coventry goal as DiCasmirro and Hill would both see shots turned away but on 29:07 a great offensive play by Goertzen let Lacroix in to play in Stefan Meyer for his hat-trick goal at the back post to leave Zacharias with no chance and that was quickly followed by a fight between Danny Meyers of all people and Gerome Giudice it was a fight full of a lot of holding but Danny Meyer eventually threw a few big punches on the Coventry man. Coventry wouldn't create much offensively as it was Zacharias who was the more active of the two goaltenders denying three chances from Sheffield but wouldn't be beaten again in the period and Sheffield would take a 3-1 lead into the second intermission.

In a second period that turned out to be fantastic by the Steelers the third period just turned out to be very dominate by the Steelers and on 43:34 Maxime Lacroix would pick up a loose puck to fire a fierce slap shot from the point that beats Zacharias to give Sheffield a 4-1 lead and that was after Stefan Meyer had seen a goal waves off after he tried to go five hole on Zacharias only for the whistle to go and then the puck to trickle loose and over the line. Soon after Zacharias would be thankful after a poor clearance by the Coventry goaltender gave Spencer and Hewitt the opportunity to extend the lead from just in front but wouldn't be able to get past the pads of Zacharias but with Giudice in the box for hooking and Sheffield back on the power play Maxime Lacroix would find space to shoot on goal only for the Coventry netminder to spill a rebound only for Stefan Meyer to tap into the open goal for Sheffield's 5th of the game and his 4th on 49:23. Soon after Lacroix saw his night end early when he received a 2+10 for checking from behind which was followed by the second fight of the night this time between Chris Blight and Steven Chalmers with Blight laying down the law on what happens if you go after his line mate, Coventry would find themselves on the power play their best opportunity fell to Tanaka and Kelsey Wilson but with 43 seconds left in the game Andy Jaszczyk was sent out to replace Frank Doyle in goal for the first time since Sheffield played in Edinburgh back in September during a 10-3 victory, Jaszczyk would see the dying seconds out comfortably and would face one shot that would fly across the face of goal with causing any problem.

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 5-1 Coventry Blaze

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Sheffield    - 1-2-2-0-[36]-{2/7}-37
Coventry  - 1-0-0-0-[30]-{0/5}-27

Sheffield Man of the Match: #10 Stefan Meyer
Coventry Man of the Match: #17 Russell Cowley

Referee: #27 Mike Hicks
Referee:
Linesman: #22 Paul Staniforth
Linesman: #38 Danny Beresford

So Sheffield improve to 22-14-3 and take a 2 point weekend going into Wednesdays Semi-final 1st leg against the Nottingham Panthers where Sheffield will want to get revenge for the loss in Sheffield on Saturday night.

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

Fan Match Report - Panthers 5-2 Steelers

I'd say reader Dorian Franklin wasn't too impressed last night. The attached pic is his game report.

Panthers outplay Steelers: Match Report

Saturday 8th February 2013 - Nottingham Panthers (19-13-5) v Sheffield Steelers (21-13-3) @ National Ice Center. Face off: 7pm

With both teams on a two game losing streak both sets fans were hoping for a big game and a big performance but Nottingham would be the only fans leaving happy after Nottingham ran out comfortable 5-2 winners.

With Steelers missing Baldwin (suspended) and DiCasmirro (International Duty) the derby game got underway and it was the Steelers that started the better of the two teams when Kowalski had to make a fantastic double save first of Geortzen and was very quickly to deny Chris Blight just seconds later. Nottingham would begin to step their game up and Frank Doyle had cleared a puck he was ran into by Greg Jacina which got a reaction from Mark Thomas who went at him looking for a fight but would both receives penalties and Sheffield would find themselves on the power play, Sheffield wouldn't manage to set up and would see Nottingham kill the power play. With Nottingham on their first power play of the night a shot by Jonathan Weaver from the blue line on 7:32 would find it's way through traffic to give Nottingham a 1-0 lead. Some big hits would be thrown down as Fata put a big hit on Kalus but was only bettered by Salters on Dowd. Kowalski almost had his head in his hand as a puck got caught up in his stick and he very nearly put it into his own net. With the game being largely controlled by the home side Sheffield had very few scoring chances and when they did would only shoot into the body of Kowalski. On 15:19 and with Nottingham back on the power play Stevie Lee would fire a snapshot on the blue line only for Leigh Salters to fantastically tip it past Doyle to give the Panthers a two goal lead at the end of the 1st period.

The second period didn't get much better for the Steelers as Nottingham came out firing after just 1:16 Kalus found space to shoot a snapshot from the right hand face off circle to beat Doyle at his post and you can guarantee it's a shot the Sheffield goaltender would have wanted back. Nottingham would soon be back on the on power play which saw Francis hit the post and a dull Sheffield performance was summed up by David Clarke after being allowed the time and space to get a pass away while on the floor. Sheffield would have a great opportunity to score but wouldn't be able to tap it into the open goal but Nottingham would clear and break with Francis who would square to Lachowicz to shoot into an open goal for 4-0 on 26:49 which would be followed by Doug Christiansen calling a time out to try and breathe some life into his team. Nottingham continued to control the flow of the game but Sheffield would get a 5 on 3 opportunity but the best opportunity for the Steelers was somehow kept out and covered up by Kowalski who was having a fantastic game. Nottingham were skating faster and harder and finishing hits and Sheffield at times were struggling to just pass to each other. Nottingham would take a very comfortable 4-0 lead in to the break and if Sheffield was going to score I myself couldn't see where it was going to come from.

The third period started in very similar fashion to the second as after just 40 seconds Lachowicz found himself along in the face off circle and shot a snapshot that beat Doyle through the five hole to put Nottingham five goals to the good and another shot that Doyle would have wanted back. Doyle wouldn't concede anymore but would make some great saves of Matt Francis, Greg Jacina on the doorstep but on 50:25 and with the Steelers on the power play Dustin Kohn would receive a puck from Chris Blight for his first Sheffield point and would shoot on goal beating Kowalski and going in off the back post to take away the Nottingham's shut-out. Like I said previously if Sheffield were to score I had no idea where it was coming from but what a goal it was. Nottingham would get a final power play opportunity but wouldn't find a way past Doyle and didn't have too as the damage was already done. With the clock ticking down and with only 2:05 remaining in the game Dan Green replaced Craig Kowalski in goal to see out the remainder of the game and Green would be called upon straight away as he saved fantastically of Kohn just in front but would gift Sheffield a second goal on 59:07 after spitting up a rebound Jason Hewitt jumped onto the loose puck to score into the open goal. Despite the two Sheffield goals Nottingham would go onto win 5-2 a result which means the Belfast Giants can go and win the league title in Nottingham next weekend just like Nottingham won it in Belfast the previous year.

FINAL SCORE: Nottingham Panthers 5-2 Sheffield Steelers

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Nottingham - 2-2-1-0-[14]-{2/7}-33
Sheffield      - 0-0-2-0-[18]-{1/5}-37

Nottingham Man of the Match: #33 Craig Kowalski
Sheffield Man of the Match: #20 Jonathan Phillips

Referee: #26 Dean Smith
Referee:
Linesman: #14 James Kavanagh
Linesman: #33 Gordon Pirry

A poor performance by the Steelers in Nottingham but that result levels the season series at 4-4 and Sheffield and Nottingham meet again on Wednesday in the 1st leg of the Challenge Cup semi-final but before that face the Coventry Blaze at the Motorpoint in a league match where the fans will want a reaction after tonights match.

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

Game Preview: vs Coventry (9/2/14)

Well last night sucked.

However, with Belfast now just four wins away from wrapping up the league title, we can relax safe in the knowledge that a win would have counted for nothing too.

Never mind, onwards and upwards. We host the Blaze tonight.

Steelers Team News
Nate Dicasmirro sat out last night after travelling back from Italy, but returns to contention tonight, as does Gord Baldwin, who missed out due to suspension. Reports came in that Robert Dowd left the NIC with yet another injury, so his status will be up in the air.

Tonight sees the first time Kelsey Wilson returns to the Motorpoint since signing for the Blaze. If Drew Fata doesn't give him a big welcome back with his fists then something is gravely wrong.

I don't condone unnecessary violence.  But whats left to play for?

Prediction: Steelers by 2

Saturday 8 February 2014

Game Preview: @Panthers, 8/2/14

Sorry for the quiet spell this week, to be honest with you I'm struggling to get excited about regular season games. Especially as we seem to be playing this weekend's opponents every five minutes.

However, inspired by the extremely talented women of the US Ice Hockey team, I'm going to attempt to become interested in our game in the NIC tonight.

Friday 7 February 2014

Game 199 and 200 Coming Up!!

This weekend see the Sheffield Steelers visit the National Ice Center in Nottingham on Saturday before hosting the Coventry Blaze on a Sunday evening and hosting Nottingham on Wednesday in the 1st Leg of the challenge cup semi-final.

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Two Disallowed Goals Sink Steelers in Belfast: Match Report

Sunday 2nd Febuary 2014 - Belfast Giants (30-5-2) v Sheffield Steelers (21-12-3) @ Odyssey Arena. Face off: 4pm

Game two of the Belfast weekend started in the same fashion as the night before very fast for the home side when after only 34 seconds David Phillips received the puck on the blue line before firing a snapshot to open the scoring for the Giants but like the night before it didn't take Sheffield long to equalise with the Steelers on the power play Kohn would play Legue who fired one his trademark slap shots to level the scores at 1-1 on 2:40, It was a another game and another top performance by Stephen Murphy after he had to turn away big chances by DiCasmirro after Chris Blight had worked his way around the zone to create numerous scoring chances. Sheffield would have the puck in the back of the net for a second time but referee Hicks would wave it off for high stick after fantastic work by Steven Goertzen to skate into the Belfast zone and get a shot away that would rebound up for new signing Chris Blight to hit it out of mid-air past Murphy. On 16:05 Nate DiCasmirro was thrown into the penalty box for tripping and then on 17:51 some fantastic passing by the Giants on the power play as Sandrock passed through the crease for Craig Peacock to shoot into the open goal to give the Giants a 2-1 lead at the end of the 1st.

Sheffield came out for the second period looking up for it and it was a fantastic start for the travelling team after only 49 seconds of the second period a pass by Langlais for the point allowed Dustin Kohn to score into the open goal at the back post. Sheffield would see a second goal disallowed with Jonathan Phillips battling away in front of Murphy, Goertzen skated behind the Belfast goal to play the puck which possibly went in off a Belfast player or possibly Phillips and Sheffield thought they had a goal where the puck was actually 3/4 over the goal line but again Hicks would wave no goal. Both goaltenders would called upon in this game with Murphy having to prevent several shot and then when Doyle is almost caught out behind his net Belfast shot from in front and after a big deflection Doyle somehow managed to save the shot. After his three goals the previous night Jeffrey Swzez was given a playing misconduct by Hicks after a head shot on Maxime Lacroix it was an incident that a lot of people believed should had seen the Giants forward thrown out the game. Dustin Whitecotton would force the best out of Doyle of the weekend after his received the puck to the left of Doyle to shot on goal and forced an acrobatic save out of the Sheffield goaltender. After some fantastic strength by Stefan Meyer to keep the puck in the Giants zone allowed him to play in Chad Langlais who was able to skate in front of goal and shoot past Murphy on 35:49 to give Sheffield a 3-2 lead which they held on to for the remainder of the period.

Third period got underway and Murphy had to be on form to make to fantastic saves 1st of Goertzen and then Legue but Giants would skate up the other end and Doyle would go to cover up the loose puck before it is poke away by Sandrock and Craig Peacock would pick up the loose puck to score into the empty goal on 41:34. A poor decision by Hicks just after the 46th minute mark after an accidental collision Phill Hill was thrown into the penalty box for high sticking and it was an incident that Hill couldn't avoid and was extremely unfortunate. With the Giants on the power play again and some very click passing by the home side Sandrock received the puck on the point and would shoot from the point only for his shot to be tipped by Saurette past Doyle on 46:49 to give Belfast a 4-3 lead which would turn out to be the game winning goal. Sheffield wouldn't be able to find a way past Murphy with several big scoring chances and Belfast would go on to take all four points after a 4-3 win. On 60:00 Gord Baldwin was given a game misconduct for abuse to an official after three calls made by the referee cost Sheffield two valuable points.

FINAL SCORE: Belfast Giants 4-3 Sheffield Steelers

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Belfast    - 2-0-2-0-[24]-{2/6}-29
Sheffield - 1-2-0-0-[44]-{1/6}-31

Belfast Man of the Match: #71 Craig Peacock
Sheffield Man of the Match: #2 Chad Langlais

Belfast would improve to 31-5-2 after taking four points of the Sheffield Steelers moving them just 7 wins away from winning the Elite League title and just 3 win away from retaining the conference title.

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

Monday 3 February 2014

The Belfast Weekend: The Greenbunch's Diary

Ahead of the Belfast weekend we asked you good people to send us your travel diaries. Here's the first, direct from The Greenbunch.

Sunday 2 February 2014

Szwez triple downs Steelers: Match Report

Saturday 1st Febuary 2014 - Belfast Giants (29-5-2) v Sheffield Steelers (21-11-3) @ Odyssey Arena. Face off: 7pm

A Jeffrey Szwez hat trick and an outstanding performance by Stephen Murhpy helped the league leader to 4-2 victory over the Steelers.

Saturday 1 February 2014

Chris Blight is a Steeler

So we woke up this morning to the news that Chris Blight had joined the Sheffield Steelers after being released by Cardiff Devils.

It was a bit of surprise to me especially after we had been rejected an approach by Hull Stingrays for Jereme Tendler, and as we know the situation down in Cardiff at the moment is terrible and I don't think that many people ae surprised that Blight is another player to be released by the Devils and now it makes you think how long till their best player Mac Faulkner is given the boot.

No Slight On You Tends, But I'm Quite Alright With Blight

After yesterday's failed attempt at prising Jereme Tendler away from Hull, I had a feeling that we had somebody else lined up. Bob Westerdale had said in his report that we were looking at two players. Tendler was one, but the other, we now know him to be....

http://www.cardiffdevils.com/news/devils-news/chris-blight-departs/