Steelers Damage Hull Playoff Hopes: (EIHL) Match Report

Sunday 16th March 2013 - Sheffield Steelers (29-16-4) v Hull Stingrays (23-23-4) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 5pm

The penultimate home league game of the season with Hull fighting hard for a play off spot and it really being a nothing game for the Steelers.


Doyle in goal for the Steelers, Bowns in goal for the Stingrays, Sheffield was still without captain Goertzen but had Mark Thomas back in the team. The Puck was dropped and Sheffield would start the better of the two teams as Ben Bowns had to save off Jeff Legue from just in front of goal followed by Langlais seeing his shot from the blue line padded away, then a good chance came the way of Hull as Nikolai Ladygin saw his shot blocked by the Sheffield D in front of Doyle that was followed by Sheffield taking the first penalty of the game as DiCasmirro was deemed two minutes for slashing and Hull went on the power play and their best opportunity fell to Sylvain Cloutier who shot onto the blocker of Doyle as he put the puck over the glass. Hull would soon be back on the power play again followed by a line brawl well not really a line brawl but Meyers hit Doucet down hard next to Doyle's goal and that caused a reaction from Matthew Davies who hit Meyers down and forced everyone else to jump in pushing and shoving. Bowns was soon back up to his old tricks again this time denying Dowd after great work by Sheffield to keep the puck in the zone on the delayed penalty. Both teams would get opportunities on the man advantage but neither could make it count as both goal tenders denied anything thrown at them. On 17:15 Sheffield broke the deadlock after Stefan Meyer fantastically protected the puck to eventually get his back hand shot off only for Robert Dowd to score the rebound for a 1-0 lead with DiCasmirro getting the second assist on the goal. Two glorious chances for Hull at the end of the period as Langlais blocks Pacha shot as Cloutier shot just over followed by Doucet just tipping the puck agonisingly over the bar.
End of the 1st Period: Sheffield Steelers 1-0 Hull Stingrays
Shots on Goal: Stingrays - Steelers 11-5 Stingrays

Sheffield began the second period on the power play but nothing would come of it other than Baldwin shot that Bowns took to the body. The puck would be going back and fourth in between zones but Doyle wasn't facing much rubber but Ben Bowns had to be strong and stand up against good efforts from Sheffield, Steelers had an interesting style as they seemed to be trying to outsmart Bowns as they was skating on goal and trying on the back hand on more than one occasion. Sheffield would score again on 29:10 as Phil Hill would take a slap shot from the blue line only for Jonathan Phillips to tip it over the shoulder of Ben Bowns for 2-0. Hull didn't let that stop them getting back into the game and they looked at Carl Lauzon to spark them into life and he cleverly skated into the Sheffield zone before he deked the puck away from the Steelers d man before Doyle used his stick to take the puck straight of Lauzon's stick before the Hull forward ran into the Sheffield goaltender. Jason Silverthorn tripped up Meyer as he was skating into the Hull zone and Sheffield would then go on to the power play and Gord Baldwin had hit Lauzon against the boards which opened up a big hole which Lauzon then exploited and found himself on the breakaway before putting the puck under Frank Doyle to bring the Hull Stingrays within one goal on 34:10. Hull thought they had levelled the game as Silverthorn was played in front of goal and Frank Doyle came out with the puck in his glove and straight up the other end Ben Bowns bettered Doyle's save as he denied DiCasmirro with the knee pads and then the Sheffield forward had the whole goal to aim at but Bowns some how made the save on his back hand shot.
End of the 2nd Period: Sheffield Steelers 2-1 Hull Stingrays
Shots on Goal: Steelers 12-8 Stingrays

Hull starter the third period on the front foot and it was thanks to Baldwin who blocked a scoring chance followed by Dowd's sliding poke check to deny Lauzon on the point that would be followed by a Chris Blight breakaway but wouldn't be able to get the puck any further than the pads of Ben Bowns. Stefan Meyer would then have one of his shifts where he hold onto the puck brilliantly before he eventually fed Lacroix who had his shot turned away by Bowns. Chris Blight made it 3-1 on 49:29 after he picked the puck up on off the boards he eventually shot through traffic and beat Bowns blocker side but just over a minute later with Phillips in the box for tripping, Hull won a face off in the Steelers zone and Omar Pacha player Lauzon on the blue line who fired a fierce slap shot that beat Doyle glove side to bring Hull back within one goal at 50:28. Sheffield were riding their luck at times during the game and Hull was probably unlucky not to find another goal and wouldn't give up and would pull Ben Bowns at 59:43 in an attempt to equalise the game and would see Pacha shoot wide but Hull would run out of time and would lose 3-2 in Sheffield.
Shots on Goal: Steelers 9-6 Stingrays

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 3-2 Hull Stingrays

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Sheffield  - 1-1-1-0-[10]-{0/5}-32
Hull         - 0-1-1-0-[12]-{1/4}-19

Sheffield Man of the Match: #1 Frank Doyle
Hull Man of the Match: #33 Ben Bowns

Referee: #13 Scott Dalgleish
Referee:
Linesman: #8 Dave Farren
Linesman: #22 Paul Staniforth

It was a victory for the Steelers that confirmed a second place finish in the elite league table but it was also a victory that took play off qualification out of Hulls own hands as they only have one game remaining and that is against the Steelers in Hull and if Sheffield were to win that game and Fife won one of their two remaining games it would mean Hull would miss out on a quarter final place.

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