Welcome to our preview of the next Sheffield Steelers game.
After the demolition of the Belfast Giants on Sunday, Steelers take a sidestep in midweek as they play the first leg of their Challenge Cup semi-final against these:
It's the current leaders of the Elite League and the defending Challenge Cup holders, Andrew Lord's Cardiff Devils. However due to apparent ice availability issues, this first leg will be played at Ice Sheffield rather than in the Arena. To me personally, that dilutes the chances we have of making the Final to be played again in IAW on the first Sunday in March. And added to that, do you remember what happened the last time we played a Challenge Cup semi-final at Ice Sheffield? Yeah, we got absolutely hammered.
Yet when the chips are down so to speak, the Steelers can actually turn up and upset the proverbial applecart. You only have to look back at that game against the Giants for example. Nobody gave the Steelers much hope against a Giants side which had the best of the head to head record this season' but produce they did. It will be tougher against the Devils though, they are an exceptional hockey side and are as good as last season's if not better.
Team news will see the return of Zack Fitzgerald to the line up after the American defenceman had completed a five game suspension. It means that Steelers will have seven defencemen to choose from so don't be surprised if Paul Thompson sits an import forward and pushes Mark Matheson into a forward role to put the Devils under pressure. Devils will be without offensive defenceman Gleason Fournier as he sits game two of a two game suspension but they will just carry regardless without him. They have match winners all the place so Steelers will really produce their best ever showing to overcome.
My prediction? If this had been at the Arena, I would have fancied the Steelers to take this with a two goal advantage. As it is, we are at Ice Sheffield so I think it will be a single goal win for us which will be good for team morale but will also give the Devils an advantage considering how poor our record is at IAW overall. 3-2 the score. What about you?
Thanks for reading guys. If you want to get involved please contact us on Twitter or find us on Facebook and like us and leave a comment:-
@FrozenSteelBlog
@FrozenSteelMNL
@FrozenSteelJr
@BTI_Podcast
@hockeybhoy
@Disgu15ed
@SedgyFergus
@georgefbarber
Check out Breaking The Ice Available to listen and download on iTunes and SoundCloud.
Or Email the team at Frozen Steel
You can also get involved in Steelers related discussions by joining the forums at Steel Talk
No comments:
Post a Comment